What Led To The Assassination of Patrice Lumumba?
Lumumba was only a known African leader on the international scene for a little more than two years before he was killed. Despite this, he became an idol for newly independent Africa, which was made even more prominent by the notion that the West had played a part in his killing.
In October of 1958, Lumumba established the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC), which was the first political party in Congo to have a nationwide presence.
Following his participation in the inaugural All-African People’s Conference, which took place in Accra, Ghana, in December 1958, Patrice Lumumba returned to the Congo as a far more radical nationalist. In January of 1959, in the wake of the bloody repression of two days’ worth of riots in Léopoldville, the Belgian government revealed a plan to lead the Congo to independence over the course of the next five years.
Some of the more extreme nationalists criticized this as being too sluggish and advocated a boycott of the upcoming elections for rural councils and municipalities. After this, Belgian authorities began their campaign of repression, which resulted in the murder of thirty people on October 30, 1959, when they used force to break up an MNC gathering in Stanleyville. Lumumba was arrested on charges of inciting a disturbance, and he was subsequently taken into custody. After that, the MNC decided to change its plan. It ran for office and ended up getting 90% of the votes in Stanleyville.
After that, Belgium saw that it had an obligation to speed up the process of independence and, as a result, it called for a meeting of all political parties to be held in Brussels in the month of January 1960. Because the MNC would not participate in the summit unless Lumumba was present, he was granted early release from prison.
In the elections that took place in May of 1960, one month before the Congo’s formal declaration of independence on June 30, 1960, Patrice Lumumba’s political party, the MNC, won the majority of seats. By any measure, the nation could not have been considered ready for independence. In addition, the Belgians had produced a new constitution prior to the handover of government authority that assigned the same competencies as those of the central government to six of the country’s provincial governments. This arrangement was an invitation to an immediate power struggle between the provinces and the center, and it occurred shortly after the handover of government authority.
As expected, such a power struggle broke out in the first few days after the country gained its independence. Lumumba, who favored a strong, centralized, and truly national government, was made prime minister, while his political rival, Joseph Kasavubu, who favored a loose federal structure and the creation of a BaKongo state, became president. Lumumba thought that a strong, centralized, and truly national government was best.
Riots, which were then followed by a mutiny within the Force Publique, which demanded better pay and conditions, were the initial indicators that the system was beginning to fail. These upheavals caused people all throughout Europe to leave their homes. The vast mineral richness of the Congo meant that a number of Western nations, including the former colonial powers of Belgium, Britain, and France, as well as the United States, with the primary motivation of Cold War strategy, were not prepared to see these resources become unavailable to the West.
Lumumba was accused of “selling” the country to the Soviet Union, which led to a political struggle between him and Moise Tshombe, the charismatic political leader of the mineral-rich Katanga province. Tshombe’s sympathies were pro-Western, and he enjoyed close ties with Western business interests. Lumumba was accused of “selling” the country to the Soviet Union.
The new prime minister felt that he and the Congolese people had been treated unfairly when he was not scheduled to speak at the formal ceremony handing over power on June 29, 1960. On Independence Day, which was attended by the King of the Belgians, the new prime minister felt that he and the Congolese people had been treated unfairly.
Lumumba defied protocol and delivered a radical speech in response to King Baudouin’s paternalistic speech, in which he praised Belgium’s great “civilizing mission” in the Congo. In his speech, Lumumba condemned the brutality and injustice of Belgian rule in the Congo. King Baudouin had delivered a paternalistic speech. By doing this, the Belgian prime minister just proved what the Belgian government already thought, which was that Lumumba was an unrelenting enemy of Belgian interests in the area.
Tshombe made the announcement that Katanga would be breaking away from the Congo on July 11, 1960. The next day, Lumumba made a plea to the United Nations for assistance in reestablishing order and preserving the unity of the Congo by preventing Katanga from breaking away from the country. The United Nations was up against a difficult challenge, and despite the fact that Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold moved quickly, the organization was unable to prevent Katanga’s imminent separation from the rest of the Congo.
The soldiers of the government were successful in regaining control of Kasai Province and stopping a second secession attempt there. Tshombe attempted a breakaway from Belgium, which had significant economic stakes in Katanga’s mineral wealth; Belgium aided Tshombe in his attempt by providing mercenaries and other forms of political support. As a direct result of this assistance, the province was not to be brought back under the control of the central government for a period of three years.
After Lumumba was fired by Kasavubu in September (at that point, the West viewed him as “too independent”), the United Nations recognized the new Kasavubu government that was set up in October; this split African opinion, dividing continental opinion between radicals who supported Lumumba and moderates who supported Kasavubu.
Lumumba was given UN security while in Leopoldville, but on December 2nd, when he attempted to travel to Stanleyville, the heart of his support, he was kidnapped by Kasavubu soldiers. On January 17, 1961, he was delivered to Tshombe in Katanga, where he was subjected to torture before being put to death. The Assassination of Patrice Lumumba happened on January 17, 1961. After his passing, Lumumba was elevated to the status of a national and continental hero. Tshombe’s death hurt not only the United Nations, which couldn’t help him, but also his reputation.
Even though he was the first Congolese leader to organize a national rather than a regional party, Lumumba’s significance stemmed more from the symbolism associated with him than from any actual political accomplishments he may have accomplished. People thought that he was the victim of Western interference in the affairs of a young, weak state that would not be allowed to run itself because of its potential wealth.
Documents that were made public in Belgium in the year 1999 showed proof of main Belgian culpability in Lumumba’s assassination. On December 9, 1999, the Belgian parliament made the decision to establish a commission of investigation to investigate Lumumba’s death and Belgium’s responsibility for it.
Also Read: The Nationalist Leader Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Biography (1909-1987)
