On 17th January 1961 Patrice Lumumba, first and only elected Prime Minister of Congo, was murdered. The circumstances of his death remained a mystery, the identity of his killers unknown. Lumumba headed Congo's largest political party and was elected prime minister when Belgium granted independence to the country on June 30, 1960, after almost a century of colonial rule. Many in the West viewed the charismatic prime minister as a dangerous radical because he wanted to nationalize the new country's lucrative, Belgian-owned gold, copper and uranium mining industry. The killing made Lumumba an anti-colonial martyr and a liberation symbol to many Africans and Asians. It inspired revolutionaries from South Africa and Cuba to Vietnam and Algeria. A Belgian parliamentary probe determined in 2002 that the government was "morally responsible" for Lumumba's death. Brussels officially apologized for its role in his death but refused to pay compensation to his family or to prosecute those involved. A U.S. Senate committee found in 1975 that the U.S. administration had also hatched a separate plan to kill the Congolese leader because Washington viewed the leftist leader as a potential threat. Historians agree that top Belgian officials and officers conspired to overthrow Lumumba and organized his execution Jan. 17, 1961. The death ushered in the long, corrupt dictatorship of Congo's western-backed leader Mobutu Sese Seko, who was finally overthrown in 1997. The Belgian army captain who commanded the firing squad, was given a new name and secretly transferred to the Belgian brigade in West Germany to avoid public exposure. Lumumba was hastily buried after the execution. But Belgian policemen later dug up the corpse, dissolved it in acid and crushed the remaining bones to avoid turning the grave into a pilgrimage site. We DEMAND that there be a trial for all Belgian and United States officials involved in the incident. The man that Africans and the entire world grew to love was made a sacrificial lamb for trying to stand up for his people. The Western world has exploited the African continent for hundreds of years but no longer can Africa and Africans sit back and allow this to happen. As we fight the forces of corruption and neo-colonialism in the world; we aim to also bring justice to those who engaged in such a brutal, inhumane and senseless assassination against this charismatic young African leader.


Call The Belgian Embassy And Make A ComPlaint

EMBASSY OF BELGIUM (London)

 

17 Grosvenor Crescent
London SW1X 7EE                
T 020 7470 3700        
F 020 7470 3795                  
london@diplobel.fed.be    

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