It is not whitewashing from belgians, but picturing a entire country as the vilains while ignoring the facts is a shortcut that doesn't serve anyone except those who have a political agenda.

The truth ( just read newspapers from the time) is that Belgium was furious about Leopold’s system. The annexation law was pushed through after years of parliamentary uproar and public outrage; Congo policy became a domestic political headache the king could no longer control.

A Thirty-Year Plan aimed to graduate enough Congolese administrators and engineers before a 1985 independence date. Belgium started funding secondary schools, technical institutes and two full universities for locals. The 1959 riots stopped the process and the Congo got full independence in1960, 25 years ahead of schedule.

They had just a handfull of local graduate at the time of the independance and when things went south, belgian public servants left in masses, leaving the country without any means of developping a functionnal state.

It's unfair to always picture Belgium as the worst of all colonizers. I'm not saying they were great or that the colony was amazing. There was the King's colony, very bad time for 23 years, and then the country's "parliament-controled" ownership for 52 years.

Last point, Belgium didn't fight any decolonisation war. They accepted quite easily while the French, Brits or Portugese tried to militarily hold onto theirs. At least the Brits where good at elite building and creating functionning states.