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Patrice Lumumba: the most important assassination of the 20th century
The US-sponsored plot to kill Patrice Lumumba, the hero of Congolese independence, took place 50 years ago today
Ludo De Witte, the Belgian author of the best book on this crime, qualifies it as "the most important assassination of the 20th century". The assassination's historical importance lies in a multitude of factors, the most pertinent being the global context in which it took place, its impact on Congolese politics since then and Lumumba's overall legacy as a nationalist leader.
For 126 years, the US and Belgium have played key roles in shaping Congo's destiny. In April 1884, seven months before the Berlin Congress, the US became the first country in the world to recognise the claims of King Leopold II of the Belgians to the territories of the Congo Basin.
When the atrocities related to brutal economic exploitation in Leopold's Congo Free State resulted in millions of fatalities, the US joined other world powers to force Belgium to take over the country as a regular colony. And it was during the colonial period that the US acquired a strategic stake in the enormous natural wealth of the Congo, following its use of the uranium from Congolese mines to manufacture the first atomic weapons, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs.
With the outbreak of the cold war, it was inevitable that the US and its western allies would not be prepared to let Africans have effective control over strategic raw materials, lest these fall in the hands of their enemies in the Soviet camp. It is in this regard that Patrice Lumumba's determination to achieve genuine independence and to have full control over Congo's resources in order to utilise them to improve the living conditions of our people was perceived as a threat to western interests. To fight him, the US and Belgium used all the tools and resources at their disposal, including the United Nations secretariat, under Dag Hammarskjöld and Ralph Bunche, to buy the support of Lumumba's Congolese rivals , and hired killers.
In Congo, Lumumba's assassination is rightly viewed as the country's original sin. Coming less than seven months after independence (on 30 June, 1960), 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. Since Lumumba's physical elimination had removed what the west saw as the major threat to their interests in the Congo, internationally-led efforts were undertaken to restore the authority of the moderate and pro-western regime in Kinshasa over the entire country. These resulted in ending the Lumumbist regime in Kisangani in August 1961, the secession of South Kasai in September 1962, and the Katanga secession in January 1963.
No sooner did this unification process end than a radical social movement for a "second independence" arose to challenge the neocolonial state and its pro-western leadership. This mass movement of peasants, workers, the urban unemployed, students and lower civil servants found an eager leadership among Lumumba's lieutenants, most of whom had regrouped to establish a National Liberation Council (CNL) in October 1963 in Brazzaville, across the Congo river from Kinshasa. The strengths and weaknesses of this movement may serve as a way of gauging the overall legacy of Patrice Lumumba for Congo and Africa as a whole.
The most positive aspect of this legacy was manifest in the selfless devotion of Pierre Mulele to radical change for purposes of meeting the deepest aspirations of the Congolese people for democracy and social progress. On the other hand, the CNL leadership, which included Christophe Gbenye and Laurent-Désiré Kabila, was more interested in power and its attendant privileges than in the people's welfare. This is Lumumbism in words rather than in deeds. As president three decades later, Laurent Kabila did little to move from words to deeds.
More importantly, the greatest legacy that Lumumba left for Congo is the ideal of national unity. Recently, a Congolese radio station asked me whether the independence of South Sudan should be a matter of concern with respect to national unity in the Congo. I responded that since Patrice Lumumba has died for Congo's unity, our people will remain utterly steadfast in their defence of our national unity.
Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja is professor of African and Afro-American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People's History
Posted by Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja Monday 17 January 2011 10.39 GMT guardian.co.uk Global development
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Senesino 17 January 2011 11:33AM
Russia continues to have a University in Moscow named after this victim of yankee imperialist thuggery.
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smuglyfrombrazil 17 January 2011 11:35AM
Lumumba... yet another victim of the US's long quest for replacing genuine people with their own SOBs and dragging freedom and justice back a few decades for their benefit and at the expense of generations.
I look forwards to the day the bully gets bullied.
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KhusroK 17 January 2011 11:55AM
It would seem that even after 50 years the US has learnt nothing and forgotten nothing
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cjwells 17 January 2011 12:03PM
Bet the Yanks won't declare a public holiday on this guy's birthday... Amazing how history and what we're told is important always depends on the victor. Wonderful hypocrisy; I mean, mudering this guy really stopped the Soviets' nuclear program in its tracks...
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sutski123 17 January 2011 12:07PM
Here here @Smuglydobrazil. A very sad tale indeed.
P.S As a long serving barman, I always wondered where the name for Hot chocolate and rum and cream (a Lumumba) came from......
I will now always toast to the hopefully rapid and spectacular downfall of the murderers every time I have a Lumumba.
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Kritik 17 January 2011 12:08PM
Thanks to the Americans and Belgians a decent man was killed and replaced with a thug like Mobuto whose legacy of pillage and plunder has become the way of politics in the Congo for the assassinated despot Laurent Kabila & the present US lackey, Joseph Kabila.
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barelife 17 January 2011 12:26PM
"PovertyMatters Blog - In partnership with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation" -- I had to laugh at that framing the article. Interesting piece, nonetheless.
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sweetas23 17 January 2011 12:44PM
Africa ... in fact the DRC may never recover from the murder of the great man...
Patrice Lumumba R.I.P
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DThornton68 17 January 2011 12:56PM
Nice piece. We should never forget the US imperialist atrocities that have taken place over the last 50 years. WHat happened to the great American dream, eh?
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GiuseppeH 17 January 2011 1:01PM
One of the great tragedies of the 20th Century, and one that spurned even greater tragedy.
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Finisterre 17 January 2011 1:40PM
It's amazing and terrible how a relatively small group of dour, paranoid men could rely on 'game theory', and their own inability to imagine any other mindset than their own grasping insecurity, to destabilise so much of the world.
Riane Eisler wrote a book about the 'dominator model' of organising society and how, after violently overthrowing the prehistoric 'partnership model' societies, it has continued to strangle any prospect of unity and peace for centuries. So much so that our definition of power is almost instinctively 'power over' rather than 'responsibility for'. The deaths of Lumumba and Salvador Allende (among others), and the lives of Hitler and Stalin, and the American Way: they're all connected by the false need to dominate and destroy rather than nurture, create and share. It doesn't have to be this way, but we've stopped being able to see that.
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osinugao 17 January 2011 1:50PM
The fact of the matter is that Africa has become worse for it since this tragic event. It is very sad that since Lumumba's death Congo and indeed the great Lakes Region have been very unstable. Indeed if we learn from the lessons of history could recent events in cote d'ivoire portend a bad omen. Only time will tell.
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wincentiveman 17 January 2011 2:45PM
This article romanticizes its way past some important facts that should make Lumumba less of a folk hero and focus responsibility for his fate on Belgium, not the US. Lumumba was an ill-educated opportunist who plunged his country into civil war. He boasted 4 years of elementary school and one year training as a postal clerk. Fearing a similar fate to the French in Algeria, the Belgians hastily packed their bags after years of rape, plunder and enslavement of the Congo. Trouble began when Congolese soldiers under Belgian command mutinied. Belgian troops attemped to restore order, but only provoked the march to civil war. Lumumba was impetuous, dictatorial and verging on madness. He refused to negotiate with western diplomats at the highest levels. His invitation to the Soviets to provide aid was opportunistic and was met by Russian Cold War enthusiasm to win a foothold in Africa as in Cuba. Che Guevara joined the fight with 120 Cubans but came to learn that Lumumba's army was a "parasite" army incapable of battle, but devastatingly cruel to civilians who they plundered. Che gave up in disgust. Lumumba was beaten and shot to death under orders of Tshombe by Katangese soldiers supervised by Belgian officers in the presence of Verscheure, a Belgian police commissioner. Fearful of discovery, the Belgians during the night dug up the corpse, hacked it to pieces, put the remains in sulphuric acid and ground the bones and teeth to prevent identification. In 2001 a Belgian govt. inquiry formally admitted Belgium's "share of responsibility".
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Thumbjack 17 January 2011 3:47PM
Excellent summary by Nzongola-Ntalaja of the Lumumba assassination, its historical context and its legacy.
It is reassuring to see that 50 years of distortion and smear have not even remotely obscured the facts of the case (even though some are still clearly under the influence...ahem, wincentiveman).
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DuncanTarrant 17 January 2011 6:05PM
I am an MK (missionaries' kid) who was born in western Congo, in a town called Rethy. With the so called 'civil war' in the early nineties my family and I became refugees in uganda, just across the border from where we were living in Arua (Lugbara /West Nile province). I was only 3 and could not have understood what was going on. I distinctively remember seeing what I thought were Fireworks, but evidently must have been some kind of explosive weaponry...
Anyway as you can clearly understand, as I have grown older, I have become increasingly more and more interested in the history of my country of birth. I would more than willingly have dual nationality (congolese/british) if it weren't for the sheer amount of corruption/paperwork/bribery that i would have to go through to get this processed, (not to mention the possibility of national service in the congolese army).
Anyway I'm rambling, my point is that as far as I can see, the assassination of Lumumba, brutal as it was lead the way for full scale African instability. Yes Lumumba was not the most educated man, but he was a gifted orator. He stood for the people, and he understood them, because he was one of them. Not like we have now, where the ruling classes are rich politicians. Who often don't seek social reform, because they benefit from an oppressive system of governing, even here in the UK, I doubt that politicians will bring about a robin hood tax and banking reform or tighten up on tax evasion because they benefit from not doing so...
Any way in response to comments about che geuvara's exploits in congo, he came in 1965. 4 years after Lumumba died, and spent his 7 months fighting with Laurent Kabila against well trained mercenaries. Firstly, of course these untrained peasants stood no chance against mercenaries and secondly Laurent Kabila is one of those who only ever talked the talk, and never walked the walk in terms of being for the people.
So please don't smear Lumumba's name. He would not have advocating the parasite tactics used by Kabila's armies.
Also Lumumba was never really a communist. He played his cards right on high stakes, and the Americans cheated him of his prize. The bid to communists was clearly a bluff to try and win some bargaining power over the Americans. Lumumba could see that he was caught in a power struggle for resources, but also that the Americans and Belgians were trying to make him their puppet. To avoid this he played the communism card but he played it as a show of his independance, not as a serious bid for Russia to come to congo. Unfortunately the American's started ****ting themselves and well now this 'maniac' couldn't be left to his own devices if the west were serious about national security.
Ridiculous, because the assassination of Lumumba and the introduction of Mobutu lead to the metaphorical necrocracy. (The people were powerless and lead by an inept and abusive government which slowly leads to the deterioration and effective death of the country.)
I think that the saddest thing about this story is that it set the standard for the rest of African politics. It said that it was OK governments to mess with the politics in Africa in order to gain access to resources and domination in that country with little concern for the welfare of the people and the consequences of introducing a dictatorship. Uganda, Kenya, Congo, Algeria, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, The Ivory Coast, South Africa and the list goes on...
I am disgusted every time I think about it.
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DuncanTarrant 17 January 2011 6:06PM
* Sorry I was born in EASTERN Congo.
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maiaH 17 January 2011 6:20PM
I remember reading in Le Monde that the French were organising a massacre of tribal peoples somewhere in africa by arming the 'government' side and claiming there was a rebellion, having signed a deal to split the oil the tribes lived on, a few years back. And iraq of course, although there was a rival theory that the usa were after a permanent military base not oil.
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Thumbjack 17 January 2011 7:15PM
...I think that the saddest thing about this story is that it set the standard for the rest of African politics. It said that it was OK governments to mess with the politics in Africa in order to gain access to resources and domination in that country with little concern for the welfare of the people and the consequences of introducing a dictatorship. Uganda, Kenya, Congo, Algeria, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, The Ivory Coast, South Africa and the list goes on...An excellent post, DuncanTarrant.
I am disgusted every time I think about it...
And, one might add, the complicity of USA and particularly France in the '95 massacre of the Rwanda Tutsi.
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Sabstance 17 January 2011 7:50PM
This comment has been removed by a moderator. Replies may also be deleted.
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Thumbjack 17 January 2011 8:07PM
Interesting side-note: for those following events in SWA-Namibia in the eighties, it was a shock to find General Dewan Prem Chand appointed as force commander of UNTAG, the UN transitional assistance group (peace-keeping, monitoring).
This was the same Prem Chand who had commanded UN operations on the ground in the Congo during those crucial months when the UN first rebuffed Lumumba's appeals for intervention against the massive arms build-up by USA and Belgium in Katanga (the rebuffal triggered Lumumba's appeal to the Soviets for help) and then, when supposedly protecting PL, connived in his betrayal to the Belgian mercenaries and Tshombe's rebels.
When Prem Chand was designated for Namibia during the (itself somewhat tainted) Martti Ahtisaari commission, the role of the UN (and Prem Chand) in the betrayal of Lumumba was known full well.
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Finisterre 17 January 2011 8:12PM
An excellent post, DuncanTarrant.Seconded, that was fascinating and well-informed. Thanks for typing it all out!
Incidentally, DT, I read The Poisonwood Bible recently, having seen rave reviews of it. I enjoyed the Africa-related detail more than the dysfunctional Price family, but it was a good read. Have you read it? Did it echo any of your experience? (I hope mostly not!)
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Sulaak 17 January 2011 8:50PM
wincentivemanGet your facts right.
17 January 2011 2:45PM
This article romanticizes its way past some important facts that should make Lumumba less of a folk hero and focus responsibility for his fate on Belgium, not the US. Lumumba was an ill-educated opportunist who plunged his country into civil war. He boasted 4 years of elementary school and one year training as a postal clerk. Fearing a similar fate to the French in Algeria, the Belgians hastily packed their bags after years of rape, plunder and enslavement of the Congo. Trouble began when Congolese soldiers under Belgian command mutinied. Belgian troops attemped to restore order, but only provoked the march to civil war. Lumumba was impetuous, dictatorial and verging on madness. He refused to negotiate with western diplomats at the highest levels. His invitation to the Soviets to provide aid was opportunistic and was met by Russian Cold War enthusiasm to win a foothold in Africa as in Cuba. Che Guevara joined the fight with 120 Cubans but came to learn that Lumumba's army was a "parasite" army incapable of battle, but devastatingly cruel to civilians who they plundered. Che gave up in disgust. Lumumba was beaten and shot to death under orders of Tshombe by Katangese soldiers supervised by Belgian officers in the presence of Verscheure, a Belgian police commissioner. Fearful of discovery, the Belgians during the night dug up the corpse, hacked it to pieces, put the remains in sulphuric acid and ground the bones and teeth to prevent identification. In 2001 a Belgian govt. inquiry formally admitted Belgium's "share of responsibility".
1.Congo had only 6 university graduate in 1960 and Lumumba had a secondary education and was working a postal clerk. Black African were not allowed to hold management position.
2. The Belgium officer cadre that dominated the Army refused to support the change of political power, this led to the revolt.
3. When the rebellion started , Lumumba immediately flew to USA to meet Eisenhower the then US president who refuse to meet him. He was later advised by the American to invited the UN as peacekeeper ( I hope you recall their incompetence in Serbia, Lebanon, Paletine, Iraq and now CIV )
4. Lumumba later visited the soviet Union when he realise that he would not get military support from the West.
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Toyin 17 January 2011 10:22PM
Thank you for marking this day.
A few days ago was the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jrs birth, in a few days time it will also be anniversary of the assassination of the great Amilcar Cabral.
Patrice Lumumba alongside Thomas Sankara, Kwame Nkrumah, Malcom X are just a few of the many great African leaders from a generation that were either assassinated or overthrown by western agents. Today they remain unceremoniously eradicated from eurocentric history books used in schools, in order to perpetuate a narrow disingenuous monologue about corrupt Berlusconiesque or Chiraqesque type African leaders.
It was not always this way, it will not always be this way.
In what is believed to be Lumumbas last letter to his wife before he was assassinated he wrote;
My dear companion,He had a vision which Pan Africanists today still share.
I write you these words without knowing if they will reach you, when they will reach you, or if I will still be living when you read them. All during the length of my fight for the independence of my country, I have never doubted for a single instant the final triumph of the sacred cause to which my companions and myself have consecrated our lives. But what we wish for our country, its right to an honorable life, to a spotless dignity, to an independence without restrictions, Belgian colonialism and its Western allies-who have found direct and indirect support, deliberate and not deliberate among certain high officials of the United Nations, this organization in which we placed all our confidence when we called for their assistance-have not wished it.
They have corrupted certain of our fellow countrymen, they have contributed to distorting the truth and our enemies, that they will rise up like a single person to say no to a degrading and shameful colonialism and to reassume their dignity under a pure sun.
We are not alone. Africa, Asia, and free and liberated people from every corner of the world will always be found at the side of the Congolese. They will not abandon the light until the day comes when there are no more colonizers and their mercenaries in our country. To my children whom I leave and whom perhaps I will see no more, I wish that they be told that the future of the Congo is beautiful and that it expects for each Congolese, to accomplish the sacred task of reconstruction of our independence and our sovereignty; for without dignity there is no liberty, without justice there is no dignity, and without independence there are no free men.
No brutality, mistreatment, or torture has ever forced me to ask for grace, for I prefer to die with my head high, my faith steadfast, and my confidence profound in the destiny of my country, rather than to live in submission and scorn of sacred principles. History will one day have its say, but it will not be the history that Brussels, Paris, Washington or the United Nations will teach, but that which they will teach in the countries emancipated from colonialism and its puppets. Africa will write its own history, and it will be, to the north and to the south of the Sahara, a history of glory and dignity.
Do not weep for me, my dear companion. I know that my country, which suffers so much, will know how to defend its independence and its liberty. Long live the Congo! Long live Africa!
Patrice
May the Ancestors guide and protect us. Ase
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DuncanTarrant 17 January 2011 11:34PM
Thank you for the feedback, sorry for any grammatical mistakes and tautologies that might be in my previous post. I had a reread and noticed a few, I hope they don't hamper the reading of my comment.
In response to Thumbjack, yes it's true that the west were well and truly involved in the Rwandan massacres. But what's worse is the fact that Mobutu, the man the west brought into power allowed the Interahamwe (hutu rebels) into Congo, in fact many people suggest that he was involved in allowing many rebel groups to base themselves in the congolese jungles. This did nothing for relations between Congo and its neighbours, where these rebel groups came from. e.g. the LRA from Uganda, and the Interahamwe from Rwanda. In 1996 the ADFL ( Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire) gained large support from the tutsis in rwanda and the ugandan government because this helped them to get rid of these rebel groups.
Yes, Finisterre, I have read The Poisonwood Bible, and found it thoroughly enjoyable. I myself have two older sisters who were both under 18 months old when my parents moved out to Congo. They were out there for 10 years from 88 to 98, and I can happily say that most of our experiences were very different to those of the Price Family. After all this was during the decline of the Mobutu regime, and 30-40 years on form the story told in poisonwood bible. Many of the references to the culture in Congo are very true, and would often have me nostalgic. Market day for example, or the way women would do just about everything, even the ones who didn't have legs, and the ridiculous amount of things they could balance on their heads...
I used to be fluent in the tribal language and my eldest sister still is - Ki-lugbara. I hope one day to relearn it. We have visited several times since and I enjoyed each visit more than the last.
Some key differences to note however is that we were based in a town literally on the congo-uganda border. This means we were a lot closer to 'civilisation' and no where near as cut off as the prices. We had much more help from the missionary service that my parents worked for -CMS. I have heard many stories from my parents about the hyperinflation of the currency in circulation at the end of Mobutu's time, and the effect of being so far away from Kinshasa- the capital when the new Zaire was brought in resulting in many of our friends becoming bankrupt because they could not change their old money in for the new in time. In fact even now there is a large section of eastern congo that uses Ugandan currency, after all the ugandan shilling is more stable and stronger than the new zaire.
Obviously I have to remind you that as I was only 5 when we left Africa I don't remember in great detail my life in Africa, but I do remember things broadly, and I remember key people etc. and more importantly I feel like an african and wish to move back as soon as I can, in fact I have applied to SOAS to read Swahili.
Anyway some other books that I would recommend are:
The State of Africa- Martin Meredith
The Shadow of the Sun: My African Life -Ryszard Kapuscinski
Blood River - Tim Butcher Blood River by Tim Butcher ~ Published By Chatto & Windus
In The Footsteps Of Mr Kurtz -Michela Wrong
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Thumbjack 18 January 2011 4:16PM
By one of those fortuitous confluences of history, Nelson Mandela's inauguration was taking place at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on 10th May 1994, attended by many of the world's heads of state, including Mitterand.
At the very moment that leaders were gathering in Pretoria, France was about to send military men and hardware, from a spearhead in Zaire, into Rwanda to repel the advance of the RPF, restore the collapsing Habyarimana loyalists and bolster the retreating Interehamwe.
The genocide of Tutsis throughout the country had by then been proceeding unhindered for five weeks, with confused reports emerging, much hand-wringing in the world's press, and the USA, United Nations and other bodies obfuscating and procrastinating. The only effective opposition was happening through the advance of the RPF.
France had long opposed the RPF-in-exile (francophone-geopolitics, a longstanding hatred of the less pliable Tutsis, other reasons) and had for years armed, trained lent its support to the Hutu-dominated government and security forces in Rwanda. (France's hatred for Kagame and the RPF persists to the present day.)
It is my belief (here isn't the place to go into my reasons for saying this) that Mandela, on that day at the Union Buildings, quietly but directly confronted Mitterand over France's impending military interference and shamed him into agreeing to lay off and leave the RPF only to its business. If I remember, Kagame, not yet appointed president, was also attending Mandela's inauguration. At that time, RPF had a vital ally in the ANC, as well, of course, as in Tanzania and Uganda, to which they had long been exiled. In the chaos of events there, and probably with US tacit support, France would have got away with this and things would have turned out vilely different for that region.
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Thumbjack 18 January 2011 4:29PM
That should be: ...and leave the RPF alone to do its business...
Toylin, thanks for posting that letter. Such a waste of a good men, but at least his influence lives on...
DuncanTarrant, thanks for your further thoughts and recommendations. As for the desperate situation in Congo, let us hope that it doesn't take worse bloodbaths than Rwanda '94 to get all those governments, NGOs and UN agencies currently paying lip service to finding a resolution to get their heads and hearts sorted out and make some real and compassionate progress towards helping that troubled country. Such a troubled history...
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jfjordan 18 January 2011 7:06PM
Thanks to prof. Nzongola for reminding us of the history of the Congo both pre- as well as post-colonial and the role of the US in derailing the promise of the Congo. Lumumba was a great hope not only for the Congo but for much of Africa and the African diaspora.
I am however always amazed at how our British and other western European colleagues seem to forget the role their governments played in the neo-colonial game. By all means be clear on the historical and contemporary role of the United States, and by all means make sure British, French and other NATO powers and their intelligence forces own up to their enabling complicity. Oftentimes while mouthing tacit support for post-colonial governments.
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kantarakamara 19 January 2011 8:06AM
wincentivemanBeing prejudiced is one thing, but to deliberately concoct lies against a man who was selected for assassination, not because of anything he had actually done, but because of what he represented -- namely a Congolese nation that took its own decisions in its own interests -- betrays a mentality that is beyond comprehension.
You could have checked up on the falsities you spew if you were interested in the truth. Instead, because of your mindset, you just came and disseminated false information -- as has been demonstrated above in such an admirably restrained manner by the poster, Sulaak .
The trouble in the Congo in 1960 an inevitable disaster from beginning to end.The Belgian commander of the Force Publique, a soldier who did not subscribe to the hypocrisy manufactured in Brussels (whereby Belgians controlled every vital thing in the country yet it was pretended that the country was ruled by the Congolese) stupidly convened a meeting of soldiers in their barracks after the independence day parade and told them -- wrote on a blackboard actually to make his meaning unmistakable -- "[la situation] apres l'independance est la meme chose qu'avant l'independance." (the situation after indpendence is the same as before independence.)
This incited an almost immediate MUTINY amongst the Congolese troops, who had swallowed the dream that they were going to take over Belgian posts, drive cars and live in bungalows like the Belgian officers. Have you ever witnessed a mutiny by armed troops?
Eveyrthing disintegrated very very quickly. And the Belgians poured oil on the troubled waters by parachuting more soldiers in -- soldiers of that incredibly thick the Force Publique commander.
The Congolese Government saw the invasion as a reimposition of Belgian rule. Lumumba appealed for outside help to get the Belgians out. He went to the Americans, but they were not about to upset a NATO MEMBER in favour of a "flaky" African leader. In the end, it was United Nations troops who were sent to restore order.
But UN headquarters was under the control of the Americans (despite Dag Hammarskjoeld being Secretary-General) and they covertly supported Belgium's objectives. And Belgian policy was decided by Union Miniere du Haut Katanga and Socioete Generale.
With capitalism in full charge, any attempt by Lumumba to strengthen his own hand by obtaining Soviet airplanes, or even the assistance of African countries like Ghana and the United Arab Republic, was not to be countenanced.
So the Western countries (Britain had by now joined a conspiracy in New York, through Lord Lansdowne) mounted a two-track military/political attack on the Congo: in public, they supported the UN's peace-keeping efforts. But in private, they sabotaged any action by the UN in support of Lumumba. They secretlgit through to, through some of the commanders on the ground, who were used AGAINST the legitimate Primke Minister who invited the UN in, Patrice Lumumba. Once, Lumumba was prevented from boradcasting on his own radio station, guarded by UN troop On another, an ports weas closed when the UN learnt he wanted to fly to his stronghold.
It is amazing that Lumumba, who was a former postal clerk "evolue", who had never held an executive position in his life, deid not go mad with frustration as he tried to disentange himself from all this.
Meanwhile, money was poured in by the Belgians and the Americans to bribe his Congolese opponents to ease him out:. Kasavubu, Mobutu (a paid Belgian/CIA agent) and Moise Tshombe.
Even so, Lumumba proved able, through his eloquence and the innate strength of his nationalist/patriotic position, to retain command of the Congolese Parliament. So Mobutu was paid to stage a coup.
Lumumba still thrived. Finally, instructions went from from the top in Washington -- CIA Director Allen Dulles conveyed instructed the CIA station in the Congo that the physical elimination of Lumumba to prevent a "Communist takeover" of the Congo had been authorised.
A poisoned toothpaste was sent but there was no opportunity to introduce it to Lumumba's bathroom. Then a rifle with telescopic sights was sent, plus an assassin called Gottlieb [aka "Joe from Paris".] Again, it could not be used.
All this has been published: in the Church Commission (USA) reporet and De Witte's book. Both contain documents that were originally marked SECRET.
And yet you come here to repeat the libels with which Belgfium and the USA tried to justify their murderous enterprise against one of Africa's most authentic leaders. The souls of the 5 million or so Congolese whose lives have been forfeited to the consequences of ruining the Congo politically over the past 50 years, will haunt you and your like for ever. If you don't believe me, go and read what can happen to you in Joseph Conrad's "The Heart of Darkness"
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kantarakamara 19 January 2011 8:17AM
I am sorry: my posting was messed up during editing it and I have to repost:
wincentivemanBeing prejudiced is one thing, but to deliberately concoct lies against a man who was selected for assassination, not because of anything he had actually done, but because of what he represented -- namely a Congolese nation that took its own decisions in its own interests -- betrays a mentality that is beyond comprehension.
You could have checked up on the falsities you spew if you were interested in the truth. Instead, because of your mindset, you just came and disseminated false information -- as has been demonstrated above in such an admirably restrained manner by the poster, Sulaak .
The trouble in the Congo in 1960 was an inevitable disaster from beginning to end.The Belgian commander of the Force Publique, a soldier who did not subscribe to the hypocrisy manufactured in Brussels (whereby Belgians controlled every vital thing in the country yet it was pretended that the country was ruled by the Congolese) stupidly convened a meeting of soldiers in their barracks after the independence day parade and told them -- wrote on a blackboard actually to make his meaning unmistakable -- "[la situation] apres l'independance est la meme chose qu'avant l'independance." (the situation after indpendence is the same as before independence.)
This incited an almost immediate MUTINY amongst the Congolese troops, who had swallowed the dream that they were going to take over Belgian posts, drive cars and live in bungalows like the Belgian officers. Have you ever witnessed a mutiny by armed troops?
Everything disintegrated very very quickly. And the Belgians poured oil on the troubled waters by parachuting more soldiers in -- soldiers like that incredibly thick Force Publique commander.
The Congolese Government saw the invasion as a reimposition of Belgian rule. Lumumba appealed for outside help to get the Belgians out. He went to the Americans, but they were not about to upset a NATO MEMBER in favour of a "flaky" African leader. In the end, it was United Nations troops who were sent to restore order.
But UN headquarters was under the control of the Americans (despite Dag Hammarskjoeld being Secretary-General) and they covertly supported Belgium's objectives. And Belgian policy was decided by Union Miniere du Haut Katanga and Societe Generale.
With capitalism in full charge, any attempt by Lumumba to strengthen his own hand by obtaining Soviet airplanes, or even the assistance of African countries like Ghana and the United Arab Republic, was not to be countenanced.
So the Western countries (Britain had by now joined a conspiracy in New York, through Lord Lansdowne) mounted a two-track military/political attack on the Congo: in public, they supported the UN's peace-keeping efforts. But in private, they sabotaged any action by the UN in support of Lumumba. They secretly got through to some of the commanders on the ground, who were used AGAINST the legitimate Primke Minister who invited the UN in, Patrice Lumumba. Once, Lumumba was prevented from boradcasting on his own radio station, guarded by UN troops. On another, an airport wes closed when the UN learnt he wanted to fly to his stronghold.
It is amazing that Lumumba, who was a former postal clerk "evolue", who had never held an executive position in his life, did not go mad with frustration as he tried to disentange himself from all this.
Meanwhile, money was poured in by the Belgians and the Americans to bribe his Congolese opponents to ease him out: Kasavubu, Mobutu (a paid Belgian/CIA agent) and Moise Tshombe.
Even so, Lumumba proved able, through his eloquence and the innate strength of his nationalist/patriotic position, to retain command of the Congolese Parliament. So Mobutu was paid to stage a coup.
Lumumba still thrived. Finally, instructions went from from the top in Washington -- CIA Director Allen Dulles conveyed it tothe CIA station chief in the Congo -- that the physical elimination of Lumumba to prevent a "Communist takeover" of the Congo had been authorised.
A poisoned toothpaste was sent but there was no opportunity to introduce it to Lumumba's bathroom. Then a rifle with telescopic sights was sent, plus an assassin called Gottlieb [aka "Joe from Paris".] Again, it could not be used.
All this has been published: in the Church Commission (USA) report and De Witte's book. Both contain documents that were originally marked SECRET.
And yet you come here to repeat the libels with which Belgium and the USA tried to justify their murderous enterprise against one of Africa's most authentic leaders. The souls of the 5 million or so Congolese whose lives have been forfeited to the consequences of ruining the Congo politically over the past 50 years, will haunt you and your like for ever. If you don't believe me, go and read what can happen to you in Joseph Conrad's "The Heart of Darkness"</
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thomasdoubter 19 January 2011 9:33PM
So, once again we take a trip to the Left's fantasyland where if only the US had never been involved then everything would be just amazing and the Congo would today be a happy place. Even though it is true that our most forgotten of presidents (Chester Arthur) was indeed the first to recognize King Leopold's control of the Congo basin the evidence indicates that he was duped by that devious monarch and not seeking any sort of imperial advantage. In fact the roots of the Congo's violence are not traceable to the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, but indeed go back much further to the horrors of the Congo Free State (which incidentally many Americans played prominent roles in putting an end to).
The assertion that all would have been well and good in the Congo had only Lumumba lived. First of all, he was a politician who did not play the game of politics all that well: his first act in office was to raise the pay of all government employees EXCEPT THE ARMY, and in a newly independent country with no strong tradition of national or cultural unity is this not begging for a coup d'etat to take place whenever the first opportunity arises? Then he combined this with the attempt to play one superpower off of the other even before independence. These are not the actions of a man who could have navigated the chaotic and violent world of Congolese politics successfully or for very long. Even though the current mythology holds that he was the universal choice of all the Congolese people how many of their languages could he speak? And in fact I would also pose that at the time there may have been a sizable portion of the population who did not even know who he was.
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