Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Emery Lumumba
(1925-1961), Congolese politician, was born in the Sankuru-Kasai province of
the Belgian Congo. In October 1958 he was one
of the founders of the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC), an organisation that
strived for a peaceful immediate independence for the Belgian
Congo. The MNC congres in Stanleyville
in October 1959 led to riots.
Lumumba was held
responsible, arrested and jailed for six months. His enormous popularity among
the Congolese people was the reason for his release and participation in the
round-table conference in Brussels
in January 1960.
The conference agreed on a date for independence, 30
June, with national elections in May. Although there was a multiplicity of
parties, the MNC came out far ahead in the elections, and Lumumba emerged as
the leading nationalist politician of the Congo. Maneuvers to prevent his
assumption of authority failed, and he was asked to form the first government,
which he succeeded in doing on 23
June 1960.
A few days after independence, some units of the army
rebelled, largely because of objections to their Belgian commander. In the
confusion, the mineral-rich province
of Katanga proclaimed
secession. Belgium
sent in troops, ostensibly to protect Belgian nationals in the disorder. But
the Belgian troops landed principally in Katanga, where they sustained the
secessionist regime of Moise Tshombe.
The Congo
appealed to the United Nations to expel the Belgians and help them restore
internal order. As prime minister, Lumumba did what little he could to redress
the situation. His army was an uncertain instrument of power, his civilian
administration untrained and untried; the United Nations forces (whose presence
he had requested) were condescending and assertive, and the political alliances
underlying his regime very shaky. The Belgian troops did not evacuate, and the Katanga
secession continued.
Lumumba travelled to New York to discuss the
situation in the Congo
with Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld on 24 July 1960 (UN Photo 123836, MB).
Since the United Nations forces refused to help
suppress the Katangese revolt, Lumumba appealed to the Soviet
Union for planes to assist in transporting his troops to Katanga. He
asked the independent African states to meet in Léopoldville in August to unite
their efforts behind him. His moves alarmed many, particularly the Western
powers and the supporters of President Kasavubu, who pursued a moderate course
in the coalition government and favoured some local autonomy in the provinces.
On 5 September President Kasavubu dismissed Lumumba.
The legalities of the move were immediately contested by Lumumba. There were
thus two groups now claiming to be the legal central government. On 14
September power was seized by the Congolese army leader Colonel Joseph Mobutu
(president of Zaire
as Mobutu Sese Seko), who later reached a working agreement with Kasavubu. In
October the General Assembly of the United Nations recognized the credentials
of Kasavubu's government. The independent African states split sharply over the
issue.
In November Lumumba sought to travel from Leopoldville, where the United Nations had provided him
with provisory protection, to Stanleyville,
where his supporters had control. With the active complicity of foreign intelligence
sources, Joseph Mobutu sent his soldiers after Lumumba. He was caught after
several days of pursuit and spent three months in prison, while his adversaries
were trying in vain to consolidate their power. Finally, aware that an
imprisoned Lumumba was more dangerous than a dead Prime Minister, he was
delivered on 17 January 1961,
to the Katanga
secessionist regime, where he was executed the same night of his arrival, along
with his comrades Mpolo and Okito. His death caused a national scandal
throughout the world, and, retrospectively, Mobutu proclaimed him a
"national hero."
Links
The biography of Patrice Lumumba in Wikipedia.
Catalogue
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 29 May 1961
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last revised: 16 September 2010