Nomad_Africa_Edition12

We are proud of this struggle, of tears, of fire, and of
blood, to the depths of our being, for it was a noble and
just struggle, and indispensable to put an end to the
humiliating slavery which was imposed upon us by force.”
their representative, while Lumumba held
onto the loyalty of most other party members.
Nevertheless, in the election in May 1960,
Lumumba's MNC gained a stunning majority,
in Stanleyville (Kisangani). While the MNC
did not by any means gain a national majority
its showing was indicative of substantial
support for national identification and a rejection
of ethnicity-based politics. A coalition
government with the ABAKO party, led
by Joseph Kasavubu, was formed with the
MNC accepting Kasavubu as president and
Lumumba as Prime Minister of the Republic.
Seemingly a brilliant move at the time, it
however set in motion a political drama of
epic proportions. The charismatic nationalist,
Lumumba led the only party in parliament
with a nationwide rather than ethnic
or regional base. Within days, however,
Congo’s troops mutineered against their allwhite
officer corps (a holdover from the
colonial era) and started terrorising the European
population.
Belgium responded by sending forces to reoccupy
the country and helping Congo’s
richest province, Katanga, to secede. Their
objective was to secure European interests
and protect white settlers from the ensuing
violence. This action however infuriated Lumumba
privately, but he condoned the intervention
publicly. However, he sought UN
intervention and demanded that a neutral
UN peacekeeping force be deployed rather
than a partisan Belgium 6000 strong force.
When Lumumba was not able to induce the
UN force to invade and capture control of
Katanga, and having no luck from the United
States, he called on Soviet aid. Other Congolese
politicians recognised what the introduction
of Soviet forces into the Congo
imbroglio would mean.
What followed was a chain of events that
plunged the Congo into a deep political
crises with dire ramifications that were to be
endured by the population for decades to
come.
When Kasavubu dismissed Lumumba as
prime minister, it had the opposite effect
and given Lumumba’s nature, Lumumba
himself provoked a constitutional crisis by
attempting to fire Kasavubu in turn and
when that failed, he attempted to set up an
alternative government in Stanleyville
(Kisangani).
According to historical reports years later,
what transpired was a quagmire of subterfuge
that involved Belgium officers, the
CIA, MI6 the British Intelligence, and the
Katangan authorities themselves.
Lumumba was arrested under orders from
the Belgian Minister of Colonies by and
forcibly taken to the state of Katanga. He arrived
in Elizabethville, now Lubumbashi, on
17 January 1961. It was here, where he was
tortured and beaten with 2 other politicians,
Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, and
eventually assassinated by firing squad in
the evening by Belgian and Katangan
forces, while Katangan President Tshombe
and his cabinet deliberated on what to do
with Lumumba.
All three politicians were executed one after
the other, their bodies eventually buried,
and then dismembered, dissolved in sulphuric
acid and vanishing without a trace.
Declassified documents would later reveal,
however, that the CIA had plotted to assassinate
Lumumba, other Congolese leaders
such as Mobutu Sese Seko and Joseph
Kasavubu were complicit and received
money and weapons directly from the CIA.
The US Government believed that Lumumba
was a communist and was siding
with the Soviet Union.
Yet another report released in 2017 revealed
that the American role in Lumumba's murder
was only under consideration by the CIA,
but the plan was not carried out.
In Congo, Lumumba's 1961 assassination is
viewed as the country's original sin. Coming
less than seven months after independence,
it was a stumbling block to the ideals of national
unity, economic independence and
Pan-African solidarity that Lumumba had
championed, as well as a shattering blow to
the hopes of millions of Congolese for freedom
and material prosperity.
The assassination took place at a time when
the country had fallen under four separate
governments: the central government in
Kinshasa (then Léopoldville); a rival central
government by Lumumba's followers in
Kisangani (then Stanleyville); and the secessionist
regimes in the mineral-rich provinces
of Katanga and South Kasai.
Patrice Lumumba is, next to Nelson Mandela,
possibly one of the most iconic African
figures that most readily come to mind
when Africa is discussed in relation to its
struggle against imperialism and racism.
Leaving behind his legacy, Lumumba was
the first Congolese to espouse views contrary
to traditional Belgian views of colonisation,
while highlighting the suffering of the
indigenous population under European rule.
He was alone among other leaders by in-
Issue 12 | ...Celebrating the world’s richest continent | www.nomadafricamag.com | 57