Patrice Émery Lumumba, African Hero

Patrice Émery Lumumba was born on July 1925  was a Congolese politician, independence leader African nationalist and pan-Africanist who served as the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo after independence. As a member of the Congolese National Movement (MNC), he led the MNC from 1958 until his assassination in January 1961.

Raised in a Catholic family, he was educated at a Protestant primary school, a Catholic missionary school, and finally the government post office training school, where he was a distinction student. He was remembered as a vocal, precocious young man, regularly pointing out the errors of his teachers in front his peers, often to their irritation.

Later he became an editor and distributor of Liberal party of Belgium. After a study tour in Belgium in 1956, he was arrested on charges of embezzlement of $2500 from the post office. He was convicted and sentenced one year imprisonment and a fine.

After his release, Lumumba helped establish the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC) party in 1958, and quickly became the leader. The MNC, unlike other Congolese parties was not based on ethnicity. It promoted a platform that included independence, gradual Africanisation of the government, state-led economic development, and neutrality in foreign affairs. Lumumba had a large popular following, due to his personal charisma, excellent oratory, and ideological sophistication. As a result, he had more political autonomy than those dependent on Belgian connections.

Congo was the largest and richest country in Africa. The Congolese were demanding independence from the brutal rule of the Belgian Colonizers. Patrice Lumumba led the peaceful solution that would end the Belgian rule. On June 30^th 1960 King Bordua arrived in Leopold vile a capital named after his uncle to hand over power to the Congolese. On Independence Day all dignitaries were in presence from both sides as King Bordua was to announce the official transfer. However his speech was filled with the blessing the Belgian rule has brought to the Congolese in freeing them from colonization, from sleeping sickness disease and the like. Which offended the young newly appointed Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. Though he was not scheduled to speak, he got up and delivered a speech that enraged the King. Lumumba said, “Who can forget the shootings, the deaths of so many brothers, who would not be cowed by a regime based on oppression and exploitation.” The Congolese were elated while the Belgians were angered and demanded an apology at the dinner program that evening. Lumumba said “I had things to say, and I said them if anyone was offended I apologies and I ask we turn things around and start anew.”

This apology was not enough for the Belgian king who start to plan his revenge that night.

Limumba wanted to govern his country independently but as there were not a lot of Congolese university graduates, it was enforced that for the next five years the Belgians would handle some of the country’s sectors like the military. Days after the independence a mutiny started where the military was killing, looting and raping citizens and officials. Belgian troops reoccupied Congo and disarmed the militants. Lumumba turned to the US for support, which president Eisenhower of the time denied him the much needed alliance.

Lumumba then turned to the then USSR for support of troops to drive out the Belgians. He send a telegram to Krusheve but it was leaked by his secretary and was accessed by the Belgians and the US. Who saw this move as a treat to them. At the time the main producers of cobalt, a mineral that was in high demand was produced by Congo and Russia. The US who is a major consumer of the mineral saw this move as a treat to their economy and President Eisenhower ordered the elimination of Lumumba from power.

The soviet support in troops and aircrafts has angered not just the US but other western nations and they agreed to send a UN troop under the disguise of stabilizing the crisis in the country.

Lumumba promoted his personal secretary, Mobutu, to army chief of staff to oversee the stabilization of the country with the UN troops. However, the UN’s mission in the country was far from stabilization. The UN placed Lumumba under house arrest and started killing his supporters. Lumumba was sneaked out of his house by his supporters.

Mobutu has allied with the US. and planed a coup.

When Lumuba disappeared from his house Mobutu requested a helicopter from the Belgians to assist the search for Lumumba. He was arrested and murdered in view of villagers. It was nearly six months from when Congo celebrated its independence and the brave speech made by Lumumba in the presence of the King. His body was mutilated, dissolved them in sulfuric acid where the bones were ground and scattered and his gold teeth taken as a souvenir by the  Belgian Gendarmerie officer Gerard Soete .

A hunt for his followers led them to migrate to the neighboring Brazaville and start a warfare led by Kabila.

It is the history of Africa where outsiders manipulate Africans to turn on each other and glorify the west. Today the Belgian King Philippe has visited DR Congo and apologized for the actions of King Leopold, who is the brother of his great- great -grandfather and wishes to continue relation with Congo. The tooth of Lumumba has been returned to the country based on the persistent request of his daughter.

Only time will tell what this new reconciliation will bring forth.