Congolese statesman and prime minister (1960), born in Katako Kombé, C Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire, and earlier Belgian Congo). He studied at a Protestant mission school, wrote essays and poems, and became an accountant. He was imprisoned for embezzlement, and on his release became active in politics, founding and leading the Congolese National Movement. When the Congo became an independent republic in June 1960 he was made premier. Almost immediately the country was plunged into chaos by warring factions, and after being deposed in September 1960, he was assassinated in 1961, becoming a national hero.
Patrice Émery Lumumba (2 July 1925 – 17 January 1961) was an African anti-colonial leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo after he helped to win its independence from Belgium in June 1960. Only ten weeks later, Lumumba's government was deposed in a coup during the Congo Crisis. Patrice Lumumba continues to serve as a significant inspirational figure in the Congo as well as throughout Africa.
Path to Prime Minister
Lumumba was born in Onalua in the Katakokombe region of the Kasai province of the Belgian Congo, a member of the Tetela ethnic group. In 1955, Lumumba became regional head of the Cercles of Stanleyville and joined the Liberal Party of Belgium, where he worked on editing and distributing party literature. His two-year sentence was commuted to twelve months after it was confirmed by Belgian lawyer Jules Chrome that Lumumba had returned the funds, and he was released in July 1956. Lumumba and his team represented the MNC at the All-African People's Conference in Accra, Ghana, in December 1958. At this international conference, hosted by influential Pan-African President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Patrice Lumumba further solidified his Pan-African beliefs.
In late October 1959, Lumumba as leader of the MNC was again arrested for allegedly inciting an anti-colonial riot in Stanleyville where thirty people were killed, for which he was sentenced to six months in prison. Despite Lumumba's imprisonment at the time, the MNC won a convincing majority in the December local elections in the Congo. As a result of pressure from delegates who were enraged at Lumumba's imprisonment, he was released and allowed to attend the Brussels conference. On the 31st of May, it was confirmed that Lumumba and the MNC had won electoral victory and the right to form a government. Lumumba and the MNC formed the first government on June 23, 1960, with thirty-five-year-old Lumumba as Congo's first prime minister and Joseph Kasavubu as its president.
Congolese independence from Belgium was finally gained on June 30, 1960. On Independence Day, in a ceremony attended by dignitaries, the foreign press, and the Belgian elite including King Baudouin, Patrice Lumumba delivered his famous independence speech after being officially excluded from the event programme, despite being the elected Congolese Prime Minister. In direct contrast to the paternalistic glorification of colonialism in the speech of King Baudouin, as well as the relatively harmless speech of President Kasavubu, Lumumba's inflammatory anti-colonial speech resonated with the Congolese for its inspired honesty while simultaneously humiliating and alienating the colonialists.
Deposed and arrested
Lumumba's rule was marked by the political disruption when the province of Katanga declared independence under Moïse Tshombe in June 1960 with Belgian support. Despite the arrival of United Nations troops, unrest continued and Lumumba sought Soviet aid. In September, Lumumba was dismissed from government by Kasavubu, an act of dubious legality; Lumumba was arrested on December 1, 1960, by troops of Mobutu. Mobutu said Lumumba would be tried for inciting the army to rebellion and other crimes. United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld made an appeal to Kasavubu asking that Lumumba be treated according to due process of law. The USSR denounced Hammarskjöld and the Western powers as responsible for Lumumba's arrest and demanded his release. seek Lumumba's immediate release, the immediate restoration of Lumumba as head of the Congo government, the disarming of the forces of Mobutu, and the immediate evacuation of Belgians from the Congo. report that Lumumba had been mistreated by his captors, his followers threatened (on December 9) to arrest all Belgians and "start cutting off the heads of some of them" unless Lumumba was released within 48 hours.
Lumumba was then transported on January 17, 1961, from the military prison in Thysville near Leopoldville to a 'more secure' prison in Jadotville in the Katanga Province. There were reports that Lumumba and his fellow prisoners, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, were beaten by provincial police upon their arrival in secessionist Katanga.
Death of Lumumba
Sixty-seven days after he came to power, Patrice Lumumba was dismissed by state president Joseph Kasavubu. Lumumba, in turn, tried to dismiss Kasavubu, but to no avail. Lumumba was placed under informal house arrest at the prime minister's residence.
Following his house arrest, Lumumba made the decision to escape;
Further humiliation followed at Mobutu's villa, where soldiers beat the elected prime minister in full view of television cameras. Lumumba was dispatched first to Thysville military barracks, one hundred miles from Leopoldville. It is established that Belgium wanted Lumumba taken to Katanga, which was under the rule of an enemy of Lumumba, Moise Tshombe. The Belgian Commission investigating the assassination of Lumumba reached the conclusions: that Belgium wanted Lumumba arrested; that it was not particularly concerned with Lumumba's physical well being; while informed of the danger to Lumumba's life it did not take any action to avert it.
Lumumba was beaten again on the flight to Elizabethville on January 17, 1961.
That same night it is said Lumumba was bundled into another convoy that headed into the bush. Lumumba and two other comrades (Mpolo and Okito) from the government were lined up against a large tree. Lumumba's corpse was then buried nearby.
As to why Mpolo and Okito were executed, the apparent reason is that they would be possible political players in the events after Lumumba's death. When Lumumba's death was formally announced on Katangese radio, it was accompanied by an implausible cover involving an escape and murder by enraged villagers. Later, under cover of this yarn, the Belgians dug up Lumumba's corpse and dissolved it in concentrated sulfuric acid.
For many years there was much speculation over the roles that western governments had played in the prime minister's murder. With the disclosure of certain documents by author Ludo De Witte, it was finally established that Belgian soldiers were in position around Lumumba at every stage of the assassination, right up to his death.
Under its own 'Good Samaritan' laws, Belgium was clearly legally culpable for failing to prevent the assassination from taking place.
The Belgian Commission finds that Belgium had not actively sought the death of Lumumba by his transfer to Katanga, but did not show foresight either; Interestingly the same report mentions that there had previously been U.S. and Belgian plots to kill Lumumba. Among them was a CIA sponsored attempt to poison him, after U.S. president Dwight Eisenhower apparently ordered the CIA to eliminate Lumumba.
The Belgian commission's 2001 report led to an official apology. In February of 2002, the Belgian government apologized to the Congolese people, and admitted to a "moral responsibility" and "an irrefutable portion of responsibility in the events that led to the death of Lumumba." In July of the same year documents released by the United States government revealed that while the CIA had been kept informed of Belgium's plans, they had no direct role in Lumumba's eventual death.
However, this same disclosure showed that US perception at the time was that Lumumba was a Communist. Eisenhower's apparent call for Lumumba's elimination must have been brought on by this perception. Both Belgium and the United States were clearly influenced in their unfavourable stance towards Lumumba by the cold war.
Lumumba's political legacy
Lumumba in the 2006 Congolese elections
Patrice Lumumba continues to serve as an inspirational figure in contemporary Congolese politics. In the 2006 elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, multiple political parties claim to be motivated by the teachings of Lumumba. Antoine Gizenga, who served as Lumumba's Deputy Prime Minister in the post-independence period, is a 2006 Presidential candidate under the Unified Lumumbist Party (Parti Lumumbiste Unifié (PALU)) .
Lumumba's family and politics
Patrice Lumumba's family is actively involved in contemporary Congolese politics. Patrice Lumumba was married and had five children; François was the eldest followed by Patrice junior, Julienne, Roland and Guy-Patrice Lumumba.
François Lumumba was 10 years old when Patrice died. Since 1992, François Lumumba has been the leader of the Mouvement National Congolais Lumumba (MNC-L), his father's original political party founded in 1958 .
Lumumba's youngest son Patrice-Guy, who was born six months after his father's death, was a presidential candidate in the 2006 elections, running independently , but received less than 1% of the vote. She says that Lumumba had faith that his message would live on after his death.
User Comments Add a comment…