Baudouin. Close to the Heart

A Coburg of Congo (1x2)

Air date: Jul 23, 2013

The second episode zooms in on the relationship Baudouin has with Congo. At the colony, he seems to be a true Coburg: in 1960, he finds it difficult to relinquish the vast land, along with its mineral resources. Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of an independent Congo, is assassinated in Katanga with the help of the Belgians. Forty years later, the commission on the death of Lumumba decides that King Baudouin is not to blame for the murder, but he did gone beyond his remit. Again the involvement of Belgians is suggested when the Prime Minister of the former colony Burundi, Louis Rwagasore, is assassinated. The king uses all his power to prevent the assassin from being executed. Mobutu Seseko asks out loud: why did Baudoiun stay loyal to the Burundi dictator, and why was he mistaken on Rwanda's Juvénal Habyarimana?