The Silk Road Journal by Mahika Ming

In August Sri Lankans will be paying homage to the Buddha’s tooth relic in Kandy with the Perahera pagent. The Buddha was a great philosopher who preached for the benefit of all especially the lowest levels in the society to overcome their grievances.  The ceremony has in fact blessed the country in many ways including the inflow of hard currency through visiting foreign tourists. Due to the COVID – 19 pandemic most hard currency inflow channels have dried & only the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) related investment projects are on schedule in most struggling economies. Historically Sri Lankan elite have had serious conflicts about the ownership of the Tooth Relic but since independence many in the lower levels in the social pyramid have benefited with the financial resources related to the Tooth Relic.

Republic of Congo is in the center of the African continent & it’s geographically a large country of which an airplane will take about three hours to reach from one end to the other. Congo was ruled by many colonial forces & Belgium was the most dominating among them. It is noted that about 10 million Congolese were assassinated within 20 years during the Belgium occupation under the orders of King Leopold II of Belgium. Congo gained independence after a struggle & it is believed that Patrice Lumumba was the most notable personality in that struggle.

Prime Minister Lumumba is now known to have been assassinated in January 1961 by separatists & Belgian mercenaries in Katanga area after the territory's 1960 declaration of independence. USA & Brussels saw Lumumba as an ally of Soviet Russia & ultimately became a victim of Cold War rivalries. According to sources after he was shot his body has been dissolved in acid & one tooth has been saved as a souvenir by a Police commissioner who was a member of the team which disposed the remains. Sixty years later the Belgium government took steps to hand over the tooth relic to Lumumba’s family. It is expected that ordinary people in their thousands will be paying homage to the last remains of Lumumba when it is finally laid to rest.

According to Chinese & Congolese statistics, Congo is an active partner of the BRI. Even during the COVID pandemic BRI support has helped Congo to stand on its own. The Lubumbashi General Hospital was developed, Zongo 2 hydroelectric power plant was supported & 10,000 African villages were constructed along with the Agricultural Demonstration Center. China is Congo’s largest trading partner & bilateral trading has increased 325% since year 2001.

The writer is an analyst with interests in the financial and sustainable development sectors with postgraduate exposure in the Far East (mahika.ming@gmail.com).