Diplomacy ?

If I understand correctly what I read in my paper, our minister of foreign aid (my politically incorrect word for "ontwikkelingssamenwerking" or development cooperation) is getting impatient because he has some € 82 mio to spend in Congo, and the Congolese government is refusing to fix a data where the transfer of than fortune can be discussed. Our minister might even consider traveling to Kinshasa to defuse the situation.

The diplomatic relations between the two countries are frozen rock solid since another of our ministers - our very undiplomatic minister of foreign affairs - said what he thought about Congolese government, corruption and democracy.

Apparently, our development guy cannot stand that the crisis is forcing Belgium to play second fiddle in Congo, a country which remains one of his main development priorities.

See : http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=3F1VJ104&word=negatieve+gevolgen+congo.

My honest opinion : let the Congolese government stew in its own juice ; there are enough other countries which could use that fortune. But then I think Belgian "interests" in Congo will never allow that to happen ...