“During our discussions, I first congratulated President Mboso on his re-election. Then, we talked about envisioning reforms to further improve the democratic process in the DRC," declared the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Belgium.

Belgian Minister Hadja Lahbib shared her concerns with the Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament, Christophe Mboso Nkodia Pwanga, about the lifting of the moratorium on the execution of the death penalty in the DRC.

"I also expressed my concerns about the lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty. You know Belgium is worried and advocates for the universal abolition of the death penalty, which we will obviously continue to defend everywhere," added Hadja Lahbib.

Reacting to these concerns, the speaker of the Lower House clarified his guest's understanding.

“We voted for the moratorium at the time. We suspended the execution of the death penalty, and we came back to it due to the extremely serious situation in the East of the country. That's the only reason that led us to this. We know of many cases of treason, and I believe that, given the seriousness of the situation, we were obliged to reinstate the death penalty.”

And he added emphatically:

"Well, all countries in the world have gone through this. When there was the World War, the Hundred Years' War in France, they all reinstated the death penalty. All those who reacted during the 1st and 2nd World Wars were guillotined. All these European countries reinstated the death penalty. And afterwards, they abolished it. But we are just at the beginning of establishing a state, with a lot of aggression in the East of the country, we were forced to revert to the death penalty."

Gisèle Tshijuka