Archives Africaines (Belgium)
The Archives Africaines of the Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs in Brussels contains records related to colonial Congo Free State, Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi, 1885-1962. The archives was transferred in 1960 to the Ministère belge des Affaires étrangères. In 2015 the archives went to the Belgian State Archives, an arrangement expected to continue until 2018. The Archives Africaines includes "the archives of the former Ministry for Colonies (5 km), the archives of the Governor-General of the Congo (4.5 km), and the files on former colonial personnel (1.4 km)." Archives. Records prior to 1906  remain scarce. "As early as 1888 Leopold II created an archival service for his Congo Free State that operated as part of the Departement de l'Interieur at Brussels. The king established the archives as his personal property, however; and in 1906 the major part of the administrative records of the Congo Free State were systematically destroyed." As of 2015 the extant records are organized by originating office ("fonds"). Fonds Ministère des Colonies. The following is a list of groups of records within the larger set of records from the Ministère des Colonies. Fonds Gouvernement Général de Léopoldville. These records arrived  in Belgium in 1960. The following is a list of groups of records within the larger set of records from the Gouvernement Général de Léopoldville. Fonds Ruanda-Urundi. The records in this group arrived in Belgium in 1961. Staff. Archivists of the Archives Africaines have included Claudine Dekais (circa 1996). Madeleine van Grieken-Taverniers was archivist of the Ministere des Colonies, circa 1955-1958.