The Parliament Speaker of the Democratic Republic of Congo Boshab Mabuj-Ma–Bilenge is in official visit to the Republic of Serbia on 5 and 6 April 2011. On the first day of his visit Speaker Mabuj-Ma–Bilenge visited the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and expressed his regret at the unacceptable words uttered there about the people of Africa.

The delegation of the Democratic Republic of Congo was received by the Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Prof. Dr Dragoljub Micunovic.

At the beginning of the meeting, Prof. Dr Micunovic apologized on the behalf of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia to the Congolese delegation for the recent statement made by one of the deputies. Micunovic added that the deputy personally apologized for his words. Micunovic informed the delegation that the statement had been widely condemned by the National Assembly, as well as other state institutions and the public. Prof. Micunovic stressed that such words have never been spoken in the Serbian Parliament’s long history and concluded that the incident was accidental and expressed hope that it would never happen again. It is important that our future relations be founded on mutual tolerance and assistance, concluded Prof. Micunovic.

Prof. Micunovic reminisced about the tragic fate of the first Congolese President Patrice Lumumba, adding that a street and student dormitory in Belgrade bear his name.

Speaker Mabuj-Ma-Bilenge was grateful for and encouraged by the apology. He stressed that Congo was ready to continue and expand both parliamentary cooperation and cooperation on the diplomatic and economic plane.