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The Tragic True Story Of Patrice Lumumba
Marina Manoukian - 13h agoIn 2022, 61 years after his death, the only known remaining body part of Patrice Lumumba was finally laid to rest. The first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lumumba was a staunch anti-colonialist whose visions of Congo's decolonization put him in the crosshairs of the CIA.
The Guardian calls Lumumba's murder "the most important assassination of the 20th century," and considering how many assassinations there were in the 20th century, the magnitude of that statement becomes clear. But the CIA wasn't the only one who wanted to eliminate Lumumba's influence. Belgian authorities had been trying to stifle and silence Lumumba since his early political days. Not to mention the internal enemies and rivals in Lumumba's own circles. And the United Nations doesn't have clean hands either.
Some argue that Lumumba's assassination ultimately galvanized a generation of student activists. The Conversation writes that "the murder opened the eyes of many to the violence of neocolonialism." And in response, student activists in the 1960s pushed for decolonization and pushed for pan-African unity, continuing Lumumba's vision. Ultimately, it's impossible to say what would've happened in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had Lumumba stayed alive and remained prime minister. But one thing is for certain; Lumumba's death was the result of two colonial powers who were determined to stifle an anti-colonial movement.
Although Patrice Lumumba's assassination was claimed to be the result of an internal power struggle in the DRC, both the coup and his assassination were part of a CIA-sponsored plot. But the CIA didn't work alone. The Africa I Know writes that the CIA worked with the British, Belgian officials -- who had their own assassination plot -- and Lumumba's Congolese political rivals like Mbutu and Tshombe.
In "Memories of Violence in Peru and the Congo," Gilbert Shang Ndi writes that "it is well established that Belgian officials and CIA officials on the ground connived with the local arch-enemies of Lumumba in eliminating him." Declassified UK also writes that British officials did all they could to encourage Lumumba's enemies to execute him. And there's little doubt that Daphne Park, MI6 station chief in the DRC under cover of consul at the British embassy, was well aware of the CIA's plot.
By the time Lumumba was assassinated, the CIA had already tried to poison him several times. And according to "Colonial Mentality in Africa" by Michael Nkuzi Nnam, he became a CIA target when he appealed to the Soviet Union for aid, at which point CIA director Allen Dulles wrote, "consequently, we conclude that his removal must be urgent and prime objective." Dulles even described Lumumba as "a Castro, or worse," per The New York Times Magazine. Meanwhile, Lumumba never called himself a communist or a socialist and was a self-described African nationalist.
So here we have an African pushing for national sovereignty and independence from western colonizers who was murdered by the United States Central Intelligence Agency. After Lumumba was murdered he was replaced by a man more favorable to western interests. You all know his name:
MOBUTU.
Thus the Congo became a failed black state and it was because of interference by white nations. There are similar stories all over the continent.
