 In 2006 Joseph Kabila was confirmed as president through the first nationwide free elections in the Congo since 1960.On 30 June – 2 July 2010, King Albert II and Yves Leterme, the Belgian Prime Minister, visited Kinshasa to attend the festivities marking the 50th anniversary of Congolese independence.Certain practices and traditions from the colonial period have survived into the independent Congolese state.