could pass regulations, but any such legislation had to be approved by a ministerial decree within six months. Therefore, some of the reforms he wanted – such as recruiting magistrates from the ranks of local experienced administrative officers with a law degree - could not be put into practice. Ryckmans also stressed the importance of the independence of administration from private interests, such as the large mining companies, and the right of both Protestants and Catholics to receive government subsidies for their schools. World War II His first five years in the Belgian Congo - during which he was twice on leave – were years of progress for the administration. In September 1939 World War II broke out in Europe, but Belgium remained neutral. On 10 May 1940, Germany invaded Belgium, bringing the country into the war. On that day, four of Ryckmans's eight children were in Belgium. Two daughters, who first fled as refugees into France with their aunt, managed to get to Lisbon, and were reunited with their parents in September, while two of his sons spent the whole war in Belgium. In the Belgian Congo it was unclear how Belgium's surrender on 28 May 1940, and the following German occupation, should affect the colony. Ryckmans, who was strongly pro-Allied, insisted that the Belgian Congo declare its allegiance to the Allies. However, he encountered various opposition - on the one hand, the colonial military command initially advocated neutrality, while on the other hand some officers wanted to fight the Italian Royal Army in Italian Ethiopia, even though Belgium was not yet formally at war with the Kingdom of Italy. As a result, some whites in the Belgian Congo believed Ryckmans was "too soft". The Governor-General had received no instructions from the Belgian government in exile, established in London, which since its hesitations in July 1940 had lost much of its prestige. Instead, he engaged in important discussions with the Allies who saw the Belgian Congo as an important provider of strategic materials needed for the war effort – at first gold, and then (following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and United States' entry into the war) tin, rubber – and finally uranium. Ryckmans attended the Brazzaville Conference from 30 January to 8 February 1944. Meanwhile, the Belgian government in exile wanted to curb Ryckmans' powers, censor his speeches and curb his independence. At the same