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Statue of Former Belgian King Re-erected in Congo


A statue of former Belgian King Leopold the Second has been re-erected in the Democratic Republic of Congo after spending nearly 40 years in a garbage dump.

Minister of Culture Christophe Muzungu said Thursday his nation is restoring its history.

The six-meter-high figure of King Leopold the Second on a horse was put in a traffic circle Wednesday at the end of Kinshasa's June 30 Boulevard, a street named for the date of Congo's independence from Belgium.

Leopold took control of Congo in 1885 and left a brutal legacy. He enslaved the Congolese and forced them to collect rubber for sale to the West. As many as 10 million people died from beatings or other punishments.

Former President Mobutu Sese Seko removed the statue in 1967.

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP.

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