Lumumba was born in Onalua in the Kasai province of the
Belgian Congo. He was educated at a Catholic missionary school and the government post office training school, passing the one-year course with distinction. He subsequently worked in Leopoldville (now
Kinshasa) and Stanleyville (now
Kisangani) as a postal clerk. 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. After traveling on a three-week study tour in Belgium, he was arrested in
1955 on charges of embezzlement of post office funds. His two-year sentence was commuted to 12 months after it was confirmed by Belgian lawyer Jules Chrome that Lumumba had returned the funds, and he was released in July
1956. After his release he helped to found the non-tribal
Mouvement National Congolais (MNC) in
1958, later becoming the organization's president. 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 30 people were killed, for which he was sentenced to six months in prison. Not coincidentally, the trial's start date of January 18,
1960 was also the first day of a round-table conference in Brussels to finalize the future of the Congo. 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. The conference culminated on January 27th with the declaration of Congolese independence and the establishment of
June 30, 1960 as the independence date with national elections from May 11-25, 1960. 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 35-year-old Lumumba as Congo's first prime minister and
Joseph Kasavubu as its president. In accordance with the constitution, on June 24 the new government passed a vote of confidence and was ratified by the Congolese Chamber and Senate.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 Kasa Vubu, Lumumba's inflammatory anti-colonial speech resonated with the Congolese for its inspired honesty while simultaneously humiliating and alienating the colonialists Ludo De Witte, The Assassination of Lumumba, Trans. by Ann Wright and Renée Fenby, 2002 (Orig. 2001), London;New York: Verso, ISBN 1-85984-410-3, pp. 1-3..
Deposed and arrestedLumumba'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; in retaliation, he attempted to dismiss Kasavubu from the presidency. On September 14 a coup d'etat headed by Colonel Joseph Mobutu (who would later gain infamy as dictator
Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa za Banga) and supported by Kasavubu was successful. Lumumba was arrested on
December 1,
1960 by troops of Mobutu. He was captured in
Port Francqui and flown to
Leopoldville in handcuffs. 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.The United Nations Security Council was called into session on
December 7 to consider Soviet demands that the U.N. 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. Soviet Representative
Valerian Zorin refused U.S. demands that he disqualify himself as Security Council President during the debate. Secretary General
Dag Hammarskjöld, answering Soviet attacks against his Congo operations, said that if the U.N. forces were withdrawn from the Congo "I fear everything will crumble."Following a U.N. 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.The threat to the U.N. cause was intensified by the announcement of the withdrawal of their U.N. Congo contingents by
Yugoslavia, the
United Arab Republic,
Ceylon,
Indonesia,
Morocco, and
Guinea. The Soviet pro-Lumumba resolution was defeated on
December 14 by a vote of 8-2. On the same day, a Western resolution that would have given Hammarskjöld increased powers to deal with the Congo situation was vetoed by the Soviet Union.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 LumumbaPatrice LumumbaSixty-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. UN troops were positioned around the house to protect him.Following his house arrest, Lumumba made the decision to escape; this would prove a fatal mistake. Smuggled out of his residence at night in a visiting diplomat's car, he began a long journey towards
Stanleyville. Mobutu's troops were in hot pursuit. Finally trapped on the banks of the Sankuru River, he was captured by soldiers loyal to Colonel Mobutu.He appealed to local
UN troops to save him. The UN refused on orders from headquarters in New York, reasoning that he had escaped from UN protection. He was flown first to
Leopoldville, where he appeared beaten and humiliated before journalists and diplomats.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.After the military personnel of Thysville mutinied, a more secure place was sought. 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
17 January,
1961. He was seized by Katangan soldiers commanded by Belgians and driven to Villa Brouwe. He was guarded and brutalized still further by both Belgian and Katangan troops while President Tshombe and his cabinet decided what to do with him.That same night it is said Lumumba was bundled into another convoy that headed into the bush. It drew up beside a large tree. Three firing squads had been assembled. Some sources say that the firing squads were commanded by a Belgian and that another Belgian had overall command of the execution site. The Belgian Commission's findings were that the execution was carried out by Katanga's authorities. Their report suggests that apart from Katangan ministers, four Belgian officers were present at the execution site, but were under the command of Katangan authorities. Lumumba and two other comrades (Mpolo and Okito) from the government were lined up against a large tree. President Tshombe and two other ministers were present for the executions, which took place one at a time. Lumumba's corpse was then buried nearby. The execution most likely took place on 17 January 1961 between 9:40 pm and 9:43 pm according to the Belgian report.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.Nothing was said for three weeks - though rumor spread quickly. 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. Only a couple of teeth and a fragment of skull survived the process which were kept as souvenirs.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. On a more formal level and (more importantly) straightforwardly proven, Belgium was in breach of their obligation to refrain from actions, which jeopardized the freedom and integrity of another state, as it stemmed from U.N. Resolution 290 of 1949.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; he died within five hours of his arrival there. Neither did they try to establish his welfare at any point. Interestingly the same report mentions that there had previously been U.S. and Belgian plots to kill Lumumba. Obviously either they failed or they were abandoned. Among them was a
CIA sponsored attempt to poison him, after U.S. president
Dwight Eisenhower apparently ordered the CIA to eliminate Lumumba . CIA chemist
Sidney Gottlieb was a key person in this by devising a poison resembling toothpaste. Sidney Gottlieb "obituary" . However, the plan is said to have failed because the local CIA Station Chief,
Larry Devlin, had a conscience issue and did not go forward.
Patrice LumumbaThe 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. He seemed to gravitate around the Soviet Union. Arguably that was because that was the only place he could find support in his country's effort to rid itself of colonial rule, and not because he was a communist. However the United States were very wary of him becoming too close to the Soviets, and influenced by them. On the other hand Belgium obviously had other additional, more pragmatic, reasons for opposing him. Among others they apparently felt that the Belgian interests in the Congo were not served by his government. Additionally, the Belgian head of state - i.e. the King - seemed to have an even more hostile stance than his government; he had a different attitude than the ministers of Foreign Affairs and African Affairs, who were handling the Congo case. In the words of the Belgian there was a conflict between the King and his government, which led to him taking individual actions and withholding important information from his ministers.
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