Patrice Lumumba, who was killed as a result of the collaboration of the Belgian government and the CIA, was the first prime minister of the independent Congo. Lumumba's body, who was shot to death in 1961, was melted with acid.
Anyone who goes to the capital Kinshasa must pass by Patrice Lumumba's statue. The statue's right hand is in the air, wearing a suit and bone-rimmed glasses.
Lumumba was head of the Congo's first elected government. However, he remained in office only from June 1960 to September. The Lumumba murder remains one of the greatest unpunished crimes in postcolonial Africa.
Perhaps the beginning of the end for the young head of government is June 30, 1960. On that day, the King of Belgium declares the independence of Congo. Official celebrations are held, speaking at the ceremony, Lumumba slams the racist practices of the colonial masters. Congolese people who listen to the talk on the radio at home are happy. The King of Belgium and foreign diplomats are horrified.
The goals of the young politician do not fit the plans of the Western powers. Lumumba wants Congo to be completely freed from the shackles of its colonial past. It intends to unite the huge country of many ethnic groups. It does not want to transfer its popular raw material resources to foreign companies. More than anyone else, Belgium and the United States perceive its political influence as a threat to them. That's why they want to get rid of Lumumba.
The young republic is quickly dragged into chaos. The Congolese army revolts against the Belgian officers commanding it.
But Belgium intervenes militarily in the country. Upon the outbreak of civil war, Lumumba intervenes with his own troops in Katanga and Kasai. It requests assistance from both the United Nations and the Soviet Union. Seeing that Congo has shifted to the socialist front and Moscow will have an impact on the entire African continent, the USA is worried. Belgians and Americans support military commander Joseph-Désiré Mobutu. There is a military coup in the country.
Lumumba's old friend Mobutu seizes the Congo in 1965. Then he rules the country with an iron fist for 30 years.
Lumumba is dismissed as prime minister by the President of the Congo in September. He is placed under house arrest, escapes a month later, but is captured by Mobutu's troops, brutally beaten, and tortured. Lumumba was shot here on 17 January 1961 by a unit commanded by Belgian officers. It is officially announced that Lumumba escaped and was killed by angry villagers.
It is only later that the public learns the role of Western powers and the gruesome details. In Belgium, in 2000, an investigative commission was established in the parliament to investigate the Lumumba murder. In 2002, then Foreign Minister Louis Michel apologized to Lumumba's relatives and the people of Congo for the role played by Brussels.
Lumumba's opposition to the USA and Belgium and his country's interests above all brings him to be seen as a folk hero in Congo. This is the reason why it is considered as "Che Guevara of the Congo".
June 2022
The Belgian government has handed to his family, the last piece of the body of Patrice Emery Lumumba. Belgian Prime Minister De Croo also apologized for his country's role in Lumumba's murder.
A Belgian ex-soldier named Gerard Soete stated in a television program he participated in 2000 that he had hidden the bullet that killed Lumumba and the two remaining teeth, and showed them in front of the cameras.