Patrice Lumumba

Patrice Émery Lumumba (Alternatively found as Patrice Hemery Lumumba.) born Isaïe Tasumbu Tawosa; 2 July 192517 January 1961) was a Congolese politician, independence leader and revolutionary who served as the first prime minister of the First Congolese Republic (modern day Democratic Republic of the Congo) from June until September 1960, following his party's success in the May 1960 election. Lumumba was the leader of the Congolese National Movement (MNC) from 1958 until his assassination in 1961. Ideologically an African nationalist and pan-Africanist, he played a significant role in the transformation of the Congo from a colony of Belgium into an independent republic.

Shortly after Congolese independence in June 1960, an army mutiny marked the beginning of the Congo Crisis. Both Katanga and South Kasai declared independence, which Lumumba responded to by sending the Congolese army to put down the secessions. In 2022, Lumumba's tooth was returned by the Belgian government to his family.

Lumumba is widely seen as a martyr for anti-colonial liberation and the pan-African movement.

Early life and career

Patrice Lumumba was born on 2 July 1925 as Isaïe Tasumbu Tawosa to Julienne Wamato Lomendja and her husband, François Tolenga Otetshima, a farmer, in Onalua, in the Katakokombe region of the Kasaï province of the Belgian Congo. He was a member of the Tetela ethnic group, where he was referred to with the name Élias Okit'Asombo. His original surname means "heir of the cursed" and is derived from the Tetela words / ('heir', 'successor') and ('cursed or bewitched people who will die quickly'). He had three brothers (Charles Lokolonga, Émile Kalema, and Louis Onema Pene Lumumba) and one half-brother (Jean Tolenga). 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 passed the one-year course with distinction. He was known for being a vocal, precocious young man, regularly pointing out the errors of his teachers in front of his peers. This outspoken nature would come to define his life and career. Lumumba spoke Tetela, French, Lingala, Swahili, and Tshiluba.

Outside of his regular studies, Lumumba took an interest in the Enlightenment ideals of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire. He was also fond of Molière and Victor Hugo. He wrote poetry, and many of his works had anti-imperialist themes. He worked as a travelling beer salesman in Léopoldville and as a postal clerk in Stanleyville for eleven years. Lumumba married three times. He married his first wife Henriette Maletaua a year after arriving in Stanleyville in 1945; they divorced in 1947. In the same year, he married Hortense Sombosia, but this relationship also fell apart and they divorced in 1951. He began an affair with Pauline Kie while still married to Hortense. While he had no children with his first two wives, his relationship with Kie resulted in a son, François Lumumba. Though he remained close with Kie until his death, Lumumba ultimately ended their affair to marry Pauline Opangu in 1951, who was 14 years old at the time.

In the period following World War II, young leaders across Africa increasingly worked for national goals and independence from the colonial powers. After a study tour in Belgium in 1956, he was arrested on charges of embezzlement of $2500

Leader of the MNC

After his release, Lumumba helped found the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC) party in 1958 and quickly became the organisation's leader. Baudouin's speech praised developments under colonialism, his reference to the "genius" of his great-granduncle Leopold II of Belgium, glossing over atrocities committed during his reign over the Congo Free State. The King continued, "Don't compromise the future with hasty reforms, and don't replace the structures that Belgium hands over to you until you are sure you can do better. Don't be afraid to come to us. We will remain by your side, give you advice."

Lumumba, who had not been scheduled to speak, delivered an impromptu speech that reminded the audience that the independence of the Congo had not been granted magnanimously by Belgium:

Prime minister

Independence

Independence Day and the three days that followed it were declared a national holiday. The Congolese were preoccupied by the festivities, which were conducted in relative peace. Meanwhile, Lumumba's office was overtaken by a flurry of activity. A diverse group of individuals, Congolese and European, some friends and relatives, hurried about their work. Some undertook specific missions on his behalf, sometimes without direct permission. Numerous Congolese citizens showed up at the office at whim for various reasons. Lumumba, for his part, was mostly preoccupied with a lengthy itinerary of receptions and ceremonies. On 3 July Lumumba declared a general amnesty for prisoners, but it was never implemented. The following morning he convened the Council of Ministers to discuss the unrest among the troops of the Force Publique.

Many soldiers hoped that independence would result in immediate promotions and material gains, but were disappointed by Lumumba's slow pace of reform. The rank-and-file felt that the Congolese political class—particularly ministers in the new government—were enriching themselves while failing to improve the troops' situation. Many of the soldiers were also fatigued from maintaining order during the elections and participating in independence celebrations. The ministers decided to establish four committees to study, respectively, the reorganisation of the administration, the judiciary, and the army, and the enactment of a new statute for state employees. All were to devote special attention to ending racial discrimination. Parliament assembled for the first time since independence and took its first official legislative action by voting to increase the salaries of its members to FC 500,000. Lumumba, fearing the repercussions the raise would have on the budget, was among the few to object, dubbing it a "ruinous folly".

Outbreak of the Congo Crisis

On the morning of 5 July 1960, General Émile Janssens, commander of the Force Publique, in response to increasing excitement among the Congolese ranks, summoned all troops on duty at Camp Léopold II. He demanded that the army maintain its discipline and wrote "before independence = after independence" on a blackboard for emphasis. That evening the Congolese sacked the canteen in protest of Janssens. He alerted the reserve garrison of Camp Hardy, 95 miles away in Thysville. The officers tried to organise a convoy to send to Camp Léopold II to restore order, but the men mutinied and seized the armoury. The crisis which followed came to dominate the tenure of the Lumumba government. The next day Lumumba dismissed Janssens and promoted all Congolese soldiers one grade, but mutinies spread out into the Lower Congo.

Although the trouble was highly localised, the country seemed to be overrun by gangs of soldiers and looters. The media reported that Europeans were fleeing the country. In response, Lumumba announced over the radio, "Thoroughgoing reforms are planned in all sectors. My government will make every possible effort to see that our country has a different face in a few months, a few weeks." In spite of government efforts, the mutinies continued. The same day the Belgian Navy bombarded Matadi after it had evacuated its citizens, killing 19 Congolese civilians. This greatly inflamed tensions, leading to renewed Congolese attacks on Europeans. Shortly thereafter Belgian forces moved to occupy cities throughout the country, including the capital, where they clashed with Congolese soldiers. On the whole, the Belgian intervention made the situation worse for the armed forces.

The State of Katanga declared independence under regional premier Moïse Tshombe on 11 July, with support from the Belgian government and mining companies such as Union Minière. Lumumba and Kasa-Vubu were denied use of Élisabethville's airstrip the following day and returned to the capital, only to be accosted by fleeing Belgians. They sent a protest of the Belgian deployment to the United Nations, requesting that they withdraw and be replaced by an international peacekeeping force. The UN Security Council passed United Nations Security Council Resolution 143, calling for the immediate removal of Belgian forces and establishment of the United Nations Operation in the Congo (ONUC). Despite the arrival of UN troops, unrest continued. Lumumba requested UN troops to suppress the rebellion in Katanga, but the UN forces were not authorised to do so under their mandate. On 14 July Lumumba and Kasa-Vubu broke off diplomatic relations with Belgium. Frustrated at dealing with the West, they sent a telegram to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, requesting that he closely monitor the situation in the Congo.

Visit to the United States

Lumumba decided to travel to New York City in order to personally express the position of his government to the United Nations. Shortly before his departure, he announced that he had signed an economic agreement with a US businessman who had created the Congo International Management Corporation (CIMCO). According to the contract (which had yet to be ratified by parliament), CIMCO was to form a development corporation to invest in and manage certain sectors of the economy. He also declared his approval of the second security council resolution, adding that "[Soviet] aid was no longer necessary" and announced his intention to seek technical assistance from the United States. On 22 July, Lumumba left the Congo for New York City. He and his entourage reached the United States two days later after brief stops in Accra and London. There they rendezvoused with his UN delegation at the Barclay Hotel to prepare for meetings with UN officials. Lumumba was focused on discussing the withdrawal of Belgian troops and various options for technical assistance with Dag Hammarskjöld.

African diplomats were keen that the meetings would be successful; they convinced Lumumba to wait until the Congo was more stable before reaching any more major economic agreements (such as the CIMCO arrangement). Lumumba saw Hammarskjöld and other staff of the UN Secretariat over three days on 24, 25, and 26 July. Though Lumumba and Hammarskjöld were restrained towards one another, their discussions went smoothly. In a press conference, Lumumba reaffirmed his government's commitment to "positive neutralism".

On 27 July, Lumumba went to Washington, D.C. to meet with the US Secretary of State and appeal for financial and technical assistance. The US government informed Lumumba that it would offer aid only through the UN. The following day he received a telegram from Gizenga detailing a clash at Kolwezi between Belgian and Congolese forces. Lumumba felt that the UN was hampering his attempts to expel the Belgian troops and defeat the Katangan rebels. On 29 July, Lumumba went to Ottawa, the capital of Canada, to request help. The Canadians rebuffed a request for technicians and said that they would channel their assistance through the UN. Frustrated, Lumumba met with the Soviet ambassador in Ottawa and discussed a donation of military equipment. When he returned to New York the following evening, he was restrained towards the UN. The United States government's attitude had become more negative, due to reports of the rapes and violence committed by ANC soldiers, and scrutiny from Belgium. The latter was chagrined that Lumumba had received a high-level reception in Washington. The Belgian government regarded Lumumba as communist, anti-white, and anti-Western. Given their experiences in the Congo, many other Western governments agreed with the Belgian view.

Frustrated with the UN's apparent inaction towards Katanga as he departed the US, Lumumba decided to delay his return to the Congo. He visited several African states. This was apparently done to put pressure on Hammarskjöld and, failing that, to seek guarantees of bilateral military support to suppress Katanga. Between 2 and 8 August, Lumumba toured Tunisia, Morocco, Guinea, Ghana, Liberia, and Togo. He was well received in each country and issued joint communiques with their respective heads of state. Guinea and Ghana pledged independent military support, while the others expressed their desire to work through the United Nations to resolve the Katangan secession. In Ghana, Lumumba signed a secret agreement with President Nkrumah providing for a "Union of African States". Centred in Léopoldville, it was to be a federation with a republican government. They agreed to hold a summit of African states in Léopoldville between 25 and 30 August to further discuss the issue. Lumumba returned to the Congo, apparently confident that he could now depend upon African military assistance. He also believed that he could procure African bilateral technical aid, which placed him at odds with Hammarskjöld's goal of funnelling support through ONUC. Lumumba and some ministers were wary of the UN option, as it would supply them with functionaries who would not be directly under their authority.

Attempts at re-consolidation

On 9 August, Lumumba proclaimed a state of emergency throughout the Congo. He subsequently issued several orders in an attempt to reassert his dominance on the political scene. The first outlawed the formation of associations without government sanction. A second asserted the government's right to ban publications that produced material likely to bring the administration into disrepute. On 11 August the printed an editorial which declared that the Congolese did not want to fall "under a second kind of slavery". The editor was summarily arrested and four days later publication of the daily ceased. Shortly afterward, the government shut down the Belga and Agence France-Presse wire services. The press restrictions garnered a wave of harsh criticism from the Belgian media.

Lumumba decreed the nationalisation of local Belga offices, creating the Agence Congolaise de Presse, as a means of eliminating what he considered a centre of biased reporting, as well as creating a service through which the government's platform could be more easily communicated to the public. Another order stipulated that official approval had to be obtained six days in advance of public gatherings. On 16 August Lumumba announced the installation of a for the duration of six months.

Throughout August, Lumumba increasingly withdrew from his full cabinet and instead consulted with officials and ministers he trusted, such as Maurice Mpolo, Joseph Mbuyi, Kashamura, Gizenga, and Antoine Kiwewa. Lumumba's office was in disarray, and few members of his staff did any work. His , Damien Kandolo, was often absent and acted as a spy on behalf of the Belgian government. Lumumba was constantly being delivered rumours from informants and the , encouraging him to grow deeply suspicious of others. In an attempt to keep him informed, Serge Michel, his press secretary, enlisted the assistance of three Belgian telex operators, who supplied him with copies of all outgoing journalistic dispatches.

Lumumba used Congolese troops in August to attempt to put down a secessionist rebellion in South Kasai, which was home to strategic rail links necessary for a campaign against rebels in Katanga. The operation had successes but devolved into ethnic violence. The army was involved in massacres of Luba civilians. Amid international approbation, the army was withdrawn in September, and its secession was not quashed until the following year.

The people and politicians of South Kasai held Lumumba personally responsible for the actions of the army. Kasa-Vubu publicly announced that only a federalist government could bring peace and stability to the Congo. This broke his tenuous political alliance with Lumumba and tilted the political favour in the country away from Lumumba's unitary state. Ethnic tensions rose against him (especially around Leopoldville), and the Catholic Church, still powerful in the country, openly criticised his government. Even with South Kasai subdued, the Congo lacked the military force needed to retake Katanga. Lumumba held an African conference in Leopoldville from 25 to 31 August, but no foreign heads of state appeared and no country pledged military support. Lumumba demanded once again that UN peacekeeping soldiers assist in suppressing the revolt, threatening to bring in Soviet troops if they refused. The UN subsequently denied Lumumba the use of its forces. The possibility of a direct Soviet intervention was thought increasingly likely.

Dismissal

Kasa-Vubu's revocation order

President Kasa-Vubu began fearing a Lumumbist coup d'état would take place. On the evening of 5 September, Kasa-Vubu announced over radio that he had dismissed Lumumba and six of his ministers from the government for the massacres in South Kasai and for involving the Soviets in the Congo. Upon hearing the broadcast, Lumumba went to the national radio station, which was under UN guard. Though they had been ordered to bar Lumumba's entry, the UN troops allowed the prime minister in, as they had no specific instructions to use force against him. Lumumba denounced his dismissal over the radio as illegitimate, and in turn labelled Kasa-Vubu a traitor and declared him deposed. Kasa-Vubu had not declared the approval of any responsible ministers of his decision, making his action legally invalid. Lumumba noted this in a letter to Hammarskjöld and a radio broadcast at 05:30 on 6 September. Later that day Kasa-Vubu managed to secure the countersignatures to his order of Albert Delvaux, Minister Resident in Belgium, and Justin Marie Bomboko, Minister of Foreign Affairs. With them, he announced his dismissal of Lumumba and six other ministers at 16:00 over Brazzaville radio.

Lumumba and the ministers who remained loyal to him ordered the arrest of Delvaux and Bomboko for countersigning the dismissal order. Bomboko sought refuge in the presidential palace (which was guarded by UN peacekeepers). Early in the morning of 7 September, Delvaux was detained and confined in the Prime Minister's residence.

Meanwhile, the Chamber of Deputies convened to discuss Kasa-Vubu's dismissal order and hear Lumumba's reply. Delvaux made an unexpected appearance and took to the dais to denounce his arrest and declare his resignation from the government. He was enthusiastically applauded by the opposition.

Lumumba then delivered his speech. Instead of directly attacking Kasa-Vubu ad hominem, Lumumba accused obstructionist politicians and ABAKO of using the presidency as a front for disguising their activities. He noted that Kasa-Vubu had never before offered any criticism of the government and portrayed their relationship as one of cooperation. He lambasted Delvaux and Minister of Finance Pascal Nkayi for their role in the UN Geneva negotiations and for their failure to consult the rest of the government. Lumumba followed his arguments with an analysis of the Loi Fondemental and finished by asking Parliament to assemble a "commission of sages" to examine the Congo's troubles.

The Chamber, at the suggestion of its presiding officer, voted to annul both Kasa-Vubu's and Lumumba's declarations of dismissal, 60 to 19. The following day Lumumba delivered a similar speech before the Senate, which subsequently delivered the government a vote of confidence, 49 to zero with seven abstentions. According to Article 51, Parliament was granted the "exclusive privilege" to interpret the constitution. In cases of doubt and controversy, the Congolese were originally supposed to appeal constitutional questions to the Belgian Conseil d'État. With the rupture of relations in July this was no longer possible, so no authoritative interpretation or mediation was available to bring a legal resolution to the dispute. Numerous African diplomats and newly appointed ONUC head Rajeshwar Dayal attempted to get the president and prime minister to reconcile their differences, but failed. On 13 September, the Parliament held a joint session between the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Though several members short of a quorum, they voted to grant Lumumba emergency powers.

Mobutu's coup

On 14 September, Mobutu announced over the radio that he was launching a "peaceful revolution" to break the political impasse and therefore neutralising the President, Lumumba's and Iléo's respective governments, and Parliament until 31 December. He stated that "technicians" would run the administration while the politicians sorted out their differences. In a subsequent press conference, he clarified that Congolese university graduates would be asked to form a government, and further declared that all Eastern Bloc countries should close their embassies. Lumumba was surprised by the coup and that evening he travelled to Camp Leopold II in search of Mobutu to try and change his mind. He spent the night there but was attacked in the morning by Luba soldiers, who blamed him for the atrocities in South Kasaï. A Ghanaian ONUC contingent managed to extricate him, but his briefcase was left behind. Some of his political opponents recovered it and published documents it supposedly contained, including letters from Nkrumah, appeals for support addressed to the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, a memorandum dated 16 September declaring the presence of Soviet troops within one week, and a letter dated 15 September from Lumumba to the provincial presidents (Tshombe excepted) entitled "Measures to be applied during the first stages of the dictatorship". Some of these papers were genuine, while others, especially the memorandum and the letter to the provincial presidents, were almost certainly forgeries.

Despite the coup, African diplomats still worked towards a reconciliation between Lumumba and Kasa-Vubu. According to the Ghanaians, a verbal agreement of principle concerning closer co-operation between the Head of State and the government was put into writing. Lumumba signed it, but Kasa-Vubu suddenly refused to reciprocate. The Ghanaians suspected that Belgium and the United States were responsible. Kasa-Vubu was eager to re-integrate Katanga back into the Congo through negotiation, and Tshombe had declared that he would not participate in any discussions with a government that included the "communist" Lumumba.

After consultation with Kasa-Vubu and Lumumba, Mobutu announced that he would summon a round table conference to discuss the political future of the Congo. His attempts to follow through were disrupted by Lumumba who, from his official residence, was acting as though he still held the premiership. He continued to hold meetings with members of his government, senators, deputies, and political supporters, and to issue public statements. On numerous occasions he left his residence to tour the restaurants of the capital, maintaining that he still held power. Frustrated by the way he was being treated by Lumumba and facing intense political pressure, by the end of the month Mobutu was no longer encouraging reconciliation; he had aligned with Kasa-Vubu. He ordered ANC units to surround Lumumba's residence, but a cordon of UN peacekeepers prevented them from making an arrest. Lumumba was confined to his home. On 7 October, Lumumba announced the formation of a new government that included Bolikango and Kalonji, but he later proposed that the UN supervise a national referendum that would settle the split in the government.

On 24 November, the UN voted to recognise Mobutu's new delegates to the General Assembly, disregarding Lumumba's original appointees. Lumumba resolved to join Deputy Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga in Stanleyville and lead a campaign to regain power. On 27 November, he left the capital in a convoy of nine cars with Rémy Mwamba, Pierre Mulele, his wife Pauline, and his youngest child. Instead of heading with all haste to the Orientale Province border—where soldiers loyal to Gizenga were waiting to receive him—Lumumba delayed by touring villages and making conversation with the locals.

On 1 December, Mobutu's troops caught up with Lumumba's party as it crossed the Sankuru River in Lodi. Lumumba and his advisers made it to the far side, but his wife and child were behind them and were captured on the far bank. Fearing for their safety, Lumumba took the ferry back, against the advice of Mwamba and Mulele, who both, fearing they would never see him again, bid him farewell.

Mobutu's men arrested him. He was moved to Port Francqui the next day and flown back to Léopoldville. Mobutu announced Lumumba would be tried for inciting the army to rebellion and other crimes.

UN response Hammarskjöld made an appeal to Kasa-Vubu asking that Lumumba be treated according to due process. The Soviet Union denounced Hammarskjöld and the First World as responsible for Lumumba's arrest and demanded his release.

The United Nations Security Council was called into session on 7 December 1960 to consider Soviet demands that the UN seek Lumumba's immediate release, the immediate restoration of Lumumba as head of the Congo government, the disarmament of the forces of Mobutu, and the immediate evacuation of Belgians from the Congo. The Soviets also requested the immediate resignation of Hammarskjöld, the arrests of Mobutu and Tshombe, and the withdrawal of UN peacekeeping forces. Some supported Lumumba's release, while others thought he was dangerous. Kasa-Vubu, Mobutu, Foreign Minister Justin Marie Bomboko, and Head of Security Services Victor Nendaka Bika personally arrived at the camp and negotiated with the troops. Conflict was avoided, but it became apparent that holding a controversial prisoner in the camp was too great a risk. Harold Charles d'Aspremont Lynden, the last Belgian Minister of the Colonies, ordered that Lumumba, Mpolo, and Okito be taken to the State of Katanga. According to Belgian sociologist and writer Ludo De Witte, this was essentially a death sentence for Lumumba.

Lumumba was forcibly restrained on the flight to Elisabethville on 17 January 1961. On arrival, his associates and he were conducted under arrest to the Brouwez House, where they were brutally beaten and tortured by Katangan officers, while Tshombe and his cabinet decided what to do with him.

Later that night, Lumumba, Mpolo, and Okito were driven to an isolated spot where three firing squads had been assembled that were commanded by Belgian contract officer Julien Gat. The orders to murder Lumumba were given by Katangan leaders. The last stage of the execution was personally undertaken by the Belgian contracts led by Police Commissioner Frans Verscheure. The remains were initially moved for reburial to a place near the border with Northern Rhodesia. On the afternoon and evening of 21 January, Soete and his brother dug up Lumumba's corpse a second time, then cut it up with a hacksaw and dissolved it in concentrated sulfuric acid.

Announcement of death and reactions

No statement was released until three weeks after Lumumba's killing, despite rumours that Lumumba was dead. Katangan Secretary of State of Information Lucas Samalenge was one of the first people to reveal Lumumba's death, on 18 January. According to De Witte, Samalenge went to the bar Le Relais in Élisabethville and "told everyone willing to listen that Lumumba was dead and that he had kicked his corpse. He went around repeating the story until the police took him away."

On 10 February, the radio announced that Lumumba and two other prisoners had escaped. His death was formally announced over Katangan radio on 13 February: it was alleged that he was killed by enraged villagers three days after escaping from Kolatey prison farm.

Lumumba's assassination sparked protests in at least twenty countries, including Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ghana, China, Venezuela, and the United States.

After the announcement of Lumumba's death, street protests were organised in several European countries; in Belgrade, protesters sacked the Belgian embassy and confronted the police, and in London, a crowd marched from Trafalgar Square to the Belgian embassy, where a letter of protest was delivered and where protesters clashed with police. In New York City, a demonstration at the United Nations Security Council turned violent and spilled over into the streets.

Foreign involvement in Lumumba's killing

Belgian involvement

Lumumba's execution was carried out by a firing squad led by Belgian mercenary Julien Gat; Katangan Police Commissioner Verscheure, who was Belgian, had overall command of the execution site.

In the early 21st century, De Witte found documents challenging the idea that Belgian officers operating in Katanga only took orders from the Katangan authorities. De Witte suggests that Belgian officers were also following Belgian government policy and orders. The Belgian Minister of African Affairs Count Harold d'Aspremont Lynden, who had been tasked with organising Katanga's secession, on 6 October 1960, sent a cable to Katanga saying that policy from now on would be the "definitive elimination of Patrice Lumumba". Lynden had also insisted on 15 January 1961, that an imprisoned Lumumba should be sent to Katanga, which essentially would have been a death sentence.

Archival materials reviewed by the Belgian parliamentary inquiry show that several Belgian plans for Lumumba's physical elimination circulated among diplomats and officers, none of which were discouraged by the Belgian government. In February 2002, the Belgian government formally apologised 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".

Evidence showed Belgium conducted a significant covert intervention effort. The Belgian government spent the modern equivalent of €6.2 million to support anti-Lumumba politicians, opposition newspapers, clandestine radio operations, and propaganda networks designed to weaken Lumumba's authority. Prime Minister Gaston Eyskens, working through adviser Jef Van Bilsen, directly pressured Congolese President Kasa-Vubu to dismiss Lumumba from office. Davignon was the last surviving member of 10 Belgians who were accused of complicity in Lumumba's assassination in a 2011 lawsuit filed by Lumumba's children The 2001 Belgian parliamentary inquiry said that Davignon was "tasked with convincing then-Congolese President Joseph Kasa Vubu to dismiss Lumumba [as prime minister] and providing him with the necessary legal arguments." Davignon had written a telex in September 1960 stating that it was a "primordial problem to remove Lumumba and achieve unity of the Congolese leaders against him". In March 2026, the Brussels Criminal Court's Council Chamber decided that Davignon would stand trial. Davignon denied the charges. He died on 18 May 2026.

The separatist Katangan regime was heavily supported by the Belgian mining conglomerate Union Minière du Haut-Katanga.

United States involvement

Political scientist, Stephen R. Weissman writes that the CIA's covert intervention during the Congo Crisis became the largest such operation in the agency's history up to that point, costing between $90–150 million He further reports that CIA officers worked closely with Belgian intelligence, jointly funding anti-Lumumba senators, political demonstrations, labor disruptions, and propaganda campaigns aimed at destabilizing Lumumba's government. Michael P. Holt writes that Devlin also helped direct the search to capture Lumumba and arrange his transfer to the separatist authorities in Katanga. John Stockwell, a CIA officer in the Congo and later a CIA station chief, wrote in 1978 that the CIA base chief in Elizabethville was in direct contact with Lumumba's killers on the night he was executed. Stockwell, who knew Devlin well, believed that Devlin knew more than anyone else about the murder.

The 1975 Church Committee found that while the CIA had conspired to kill Lumumba, it was not directly involved in the murder.

The ongoing Cold War influenced the US government's perception of Lumumba; they accused him of being a communist and worried he would come under Soviet influence due to his appeals for Soviet aid. However Lumumba did not request support from the USSR because he was a communist, and he had initially requested aid from the United States.

Lumumba denied being a communist and publicly professed that his personal preference was for neutrality between the Eastern Bloc and Western Bloc. Declassified US intelligence suggests that US policymakers exaggerated the communist threat in Congo with Lumumba's removal becoming a "prime objective" of CIA covert operations, despite the threat of communism in Congo being weak. Allen Dulles said in 1962 that "I think we overrated the Soviet danger, let's say, in the Congo."

Stuart A Reid writes that "It speaks to the flimsy basis of America's engagement in the Congo crisis that fifteen years on, when Richard Helms, Richard Bissell's deputy at the CIA, testified before the Church Committee, he could not recall which camp Lumumba belonged to." Reid quotes Helms as having stated "I am relatively certain that he represented something that the United States government didn't like, but I can't remember anymore what it was. Was he a rightist or leftist?…What was wrong with Lumumba? Why didn't we like him?"

The 2001 report by the Belgian Commission describes previous US and Belgian plots to kill Lumumba. Among them was a CIA-sponsored attempt to poison him. Eisenhower authorised a failed CIA operation to assassinate Lumumba in August 1960. However, the plot to poison him was abandoned. CIA chemist Sidney Gottlieb, a key person in the plan, devised many toxic materials to be used for the assassination. In September 1960, Gottlieb brought a vial of the poison to the Congo, and CIA station chief Larry Devlin developed plans to place it on Lumumba's toothbrush or in his food. Devlin testified in 1975 that he had given instructions to assassinate Lumumba.

The impending inauguration of John F. Kennedy in January 1961 caused fear among Mobutu's faction, and within the CIA, that the incoming Kennedy administration would favour the imprisoned Lumumba. While awaiting his presidential inauguration, Kennedy had come to believe that Lumumba should be released from custody, though not be allowed to return to power. Lumumba was killed three days before Kennedy's inauguration on 20 January, though Kennedy did not learn of the killing until 13 February. Kennedy was informed by United Nations ambassador Adlai Stevenson and according to Jacques Lowe who was with him at the time "his hand went to his head in utter despair, 'Oh, no,' I heard him groan".

Church Committee In 1975, the Church Committee went on record with the finding that CIA chief Allen Dulles had ordered Lumumba's assassination as "an urgent and prime objective". Furthermore, declassified CIA cables quoted or mentioned in the Church report, and in Kalb (1982), mention two specific CIA plots to murder Lumumba: the poison plot and a shooting plot.

The Committee later found that while the CIA had conspired to kill Lumumba, it was not directly involved in the murder.

US government documents In the early 21st century, declassified documents revealed that the CIA had plotted to assassinate Lumumba. The documents indicate that the Congolese leaders who overthrew Lumumba and transferred him to the Katangan authorities, including Mobutu Sese Seko and Joseph Kasa-Vubu, received money and weapons directly from the CIA. The same disclosure showed that, at the time, the U.S. government believed that Lumumba was a communist, and feared him because of what it considered the threat of the Soviet Union in the Cold War.

However, later intelligence assessments show that Lumumba was not aligned with the Soviet Bloc, and that fears of communist expansion in Congo were largely exaggerated. The interview from the Senate Intelligence Committee's inquiry on covert action was released in August 2000. However, documents released in 2017 revealed that an American role in Lumumba's murder was only under consideration by the CIA. CIA Chief Allan Dulles had allocated $100,000 to accomplish the act, but the plan was not carried out.

United Kingdom involvement In June 2001, newly discovered documents by De Witte revealed that while the US and Belgium actively plotted to murder Lumumba, the British government secretly wanted him "got rid of" because they believed he posed a serious threat to British interests in the Congo, such as mining facilities in Katanga. Howard Smith, who was to become head of MI5 in 1979, said, "I can see only two possible solutions to the problem. The first is the simple one of ensuring Lumumba's removal from the scene by killing him. This should solve the problem".

In April 2013, in a letter to the London Review of Books, British parliamentarian David Lea reported having discussed Lumumba's death with MI6 officer Daphne Park shortly before she died in March 2010. Park had been posted to Leopoldville at the time of Lumumba's death, and was later a semi-official spokesperson for MI6 in the House of Lords. According to Lea, when he mentioned "the uproar" surrounding Lumumba's abduction and murder, and recalled the theory that MI6 might have had "something to do with it", Park replied, "We did. I organised it." The BBC reported that, subsequently, "Whitehall sources" described the claims of MI6 involvement as "speculative".

Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld frequently coordinated anti-Lumumba strategies with both the United States and the United Kingdom, reflecting broader Western alignment against Lumumba under the guise of UN neutrality.

Repatriation of his remains The mausoleum of Patrice Lumumba was inaugurated in 2022 in Kinshasa at the place de l'Échangeur.

On 30 June 2020, Lumumba's daughter, Juliana Lumumba, appealed directly in a letter to Philippe, King of the Belgians, the return of "the relics of Patrice Émery Lumumba to the ground of his ancestors", describing her father as "a hero without a grave". The letter stated: "Why, after his terrible murder, have Lumumba's remains been condemned to remain a soul forever wandering, without a grave to shelter his eternal rest?" On 10 September 2020, a Belgian judge ruled that Lumumba's remains – which then consisted of just a single gold-capped tooth (Gerard Soete had lost the other tooth of Lumumba between 1999 and 2020) – must be returned to his family.

In May 2021, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi announced that there would be a repatriation of the last remains of Lumumba, however, the handover ceremony was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 9 June 2022, during a speech in the DRC to the country's parliament, King Philippe reiterated regrets for Belgium's colonial past in its former colony, describing Belgian rule as a "regime ... of unequal relations, unjustifiable in itself, marked by paternalism, discrimination and racism" that "led to violent acts and humiliations".

On 20 June, Lumumba's children received the remains of their father during a ceremony at Egmont Palace in Brussels, where the federal prosecutor formally handed custody to the family. The Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, apologised on behalf of the Belgian government for his country's role in Lumumba's assassination: "For my part, I would like to apologise here, in the presence of his family, for the way in which the Belgian government influenced the decision to end the life of the country's first prime minister." "A man was murdered for his political convictions, his words, his ideals", he added. Later the full-sized coffin was brought out in public and draped in the Congolese flag for the Congolese and wider African diaspora of Belgium to pay their respects before the return. His remains were laid to rest 30 June 2022. On 18 November 2024, the mausoleum was vandalised and Lumumba's coffin broken, with the interior ministry saying that his tooth was safe.

Political ideology Lumumba did not espouse a comprehensive political or economic platform. According to Patricia Goff, Lumumba was the first Congolese to articulate a narrative of the Congo that contradicted traditional Belgian views of colonisation, and he highlighted the suffering of the indigenous population under European rule. Goff writes that Lumumba was alone among his contemporaries in encompassing all Congolese people in his narrative (the others confined their discussions to their respective ethnicities or regions), and he offered a basis for national identity that was predicated upon having survived colonial victimisation, as well as the people's innate dignity, humanity, strength, and unity. Lumumba's ideal of humanism included the values of egalitarianism, social justice, liberty, and the recognition of fundamental rights. He viewed the state as a positive advocate for the public welfare and its intervention in Congolese society as necessary to ensure equality, justice, and social harmony. Scholars associate Lumumba with the intellectual tradition known as "Red Africa", in which African Marxist and revolutionary thinkers positioned him as a martyr of global anti-imperialism and a foundational figure of left-wing African liberation politics.

Legacy

Within Congo, Lumumba's legacy became politically charged: student organizations, church leaders, and nationalist activists invoked his image to contest neocolonial structures and demand political reform. Journalist Michela Wrong remarked that "He really did become a hero after his death, in a way that one has to wonder if he would have been such a hero if he had remained and run the country and faced all the problems that running a country as big as Congo would have inevitably brought." Drama scholar Peit Defraeya wrote, "Lumumba as a dead martyr has become a more compelling figure in liberationist discourse than the controversial live politician." Historian Pedro Monaville wrote that "his globally iconic status was not commensurate with his more complex legacy in [the] Congo." Cooptation of Lumumba's legacy by Congolese presidents and state media has generated doubts in the Congolese public about his reputation.

Commemoration and official tributes

In 1961, Adoula became Prime Minister of the Congo. Shortly after assuming office he went to Stanleyville and laid a wreath of flowers at an impromptu monument established for Lumumba. After Tshombe became Prime Minister in 1964, he also went to Stanleyville and did the same. On 30 June 1966, Mobutu rehabilitated Lumumba's image and proclaimed him a "national hero". He declared a series of other measures meant to commemorate Lumumba, though few of these were ever executed aside from the release of a banknote with his visage the subsequent year. This banknote was the only paper money during Mobutu's rule that bore the face of a leader other than the incumbent president. In the following years, state mentions of Lumumba declined and Mobutu's regime viewed unofficial tributes to him with suspicion. Following Laurent-Désiré Kabila's seizure of power in the 1990s, a new line of Congolese francs was issued bearing Lumumba's image.

In 1961, a street in Belgrade was named after Lumumba.

In January 2003, Joseph Kabila, who succeeded his father as president, inaugurated a statue of Lumumba. In Guinea, Lumumba was featured on a coin and two regular banknotes despite not having any national ties to the country. This was an unprecedented occurrence in the modern history of national currency, as images of foreigners are normally reserved only for specially-released commemorative money. As of 2020, Lumumba has been featured on 16 different postage stamps. Many streets and public squares around the world have been named after him. The Peoples' Friendship University of Russia in Moscow (then Peoples' Friendship University of the USSR) was renamed "Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University" in 1961. It was renamed again in 1992 and back in 2023.

In 2013, the planned community of Lumumbaville was named after him.

In popular culture Lumumba is viewed as one of the "fathers of independence" of the Congo. The image of Lumumba appears frequently in social media and is often used as a rallying cry in demonstrations of social defiance. His figure is prevalent in art and literature, mostly outside of the Congo. He was referenced by numerous African-American writers of the American civil rights movement, especially in their works of the post-civil rights era. Malcolm X declared him "the greatest black man who ever walked the African continent".

Among the most prominent works featuring him are Aimé Césaire's 1966 play, Une saison au Congo, and Raoul Peck's 1992 documentary and 2000 feature film, Lumumba, la mort d'un prophète and Lumumba, respectively.

There is an Italian 1968 feature film 'Seduto alla sua destra' by Valerio Zurlini, where the last days of the character Maurice Lalubi (played by Woody Strode), based upon Patrice Lumumba, are presented as the Passion of Christ. This movie was included in the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, which was cancelled due to the events of May 68 in France.

The 2024 Oscar-nominated documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat directed by Johan Grimonprez depicts the Congolese independence process and Lumumba's death.

Congolese musicians Franco Luambo and Joseph Kabasele both wrote songs in tribute to Lumumba shortly after his death. Other musical works mentioning him include "Lumumba" by Miriam Makeba, "Done Too Soon" by Neil Diamond and "Waltz for Lumumba" by the Spencer Davis Group. His name is also mentioned in rap music; Arrested Development, Nas, David Banner, Black Thought, Damso, Baloji, Médine, Sammus and many others have mentioned him in their work.

In popular painting, he is often paired with notions of sacrifice and redemption, even being portrayed as a messiah, with his downfall being his passion. Tshibumba Kanda-Matulu painted a series chronicling Lumumba's life and career. Lumumba is relatively absent from Congolese writing, and he is often portrayed with only subtle or ambiguous references. Congolese authors Sony Lab'ou Tansi's and Sylvain Bemba's fictional Parentheses of Blood and Léopolis, respectively, both feature characters with strong similarities to Lumumba. In written tributes to Mobutu, Lumumba is usually portrayed as an adviser to the former. Writer Charles Djungu-Simba observed, "Lumumba is rather considered as a vestige of the past, albeit an illustrious past". His surname is often used to identify a long drink of hot or cold chocolate and rum.

Tribute at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations During the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations held in Morocco, Michel Nkuka Mboladinga, a Congolese supporter of the DR Congo national football team gained attention by standing motionless for the full duration of all of his teams group-stage matches in a pose resembling Lumumba's memorial statue in Kinshasa. Dressed in attire reminiscent of him, the fan was nicknamed "Lumumba Vea" by fans and media. He did this as a symbolic tribute to Lumumba's legacy of national pride. The gesture was widely shared on social media and reported in international news outlets. He repeated his tribute at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Honours Grand Cordon of the Order of the Throne (8 August 1960). Supreme Companion in gold of the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo (16 June 2004, posthumously). Grand Cordon of the Order of Independence (3 August 1960).

Footnotes