What is ironic about the juxtaposition of the deserted African village and the metropolis of Brussels?

THis book is cloaked in darkness. Africa, England, and Brussels are all described as gloomy and grey despite sunshine being out. This is a reflection of a state of being rather than the whether. THis darkness of European mood and dispositions extends into Africa with their arrival. It is toxic to the villages that flourished before. Like a virus the colonists infect what was once vibrant and turn it into an even darker Europe.