Born on July 2, 1925, in Onalua, Belgian Congo, now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Patrice Hemery Lumumba was assassinated shortly after being made the prime minister of Congo.
He was from the Batetela ethnic group, one of the smallest in Belgian Congo. Lumumba attended a Protestant mission school. After his education, he began work at Kindu-Port-Empain, where he became active in the club of the évolués, a group of Western-educated Africans.
In Kindu-Port-Empain, he started writing for Congolese publications. He wrote essays and poems for Congolese journals; these works were the beginning of his actions that revealed how much he cared about the state of Congo.
Lumumba applied for and received full Belgian citizenship. Following this, he moved to Léopoldville to work as a postal clerk before becoming an accountant in the post office in Stanleyville.
He became the regional president of a Congolese trade union of government employees not affiliated with the Belgian authority in 1955. He also became an active member of the Belgian Liberal Party in the Congo.
He got arrested after being falsely accused, and he became even more active in politics once he came out. This eventually led to him and other Congolese leaders launching the First nationwide Congolese political party, the Congolese National Movement with the alias, MNC.
He attended the first All-African People’s Conference in Accra, Ghana, in December 1958. During this conference, he was made a member of the permanent organisation set up by the panel and met other African nationalists.
After the conference, Lumumba’s nationalism outlook took on a bit of military nationalism. In response to the pressure from nationalism, the Belgian government started local elections in Congo in December 1959. The nationalists, on the other hand, were suspicious of this move and announced a plan to protest against the polls. The Belgian government didn’t respond kindly to this threat, and a clash led to 30 deaths. The Belgian government then imprisoned Lumumba on the grounds of inciting violence.
The MNC entered the elections and won 90% of the votes. Lumumba was released and flown into Brussels from prison. The Belgian government convened a Round Table Conference and agreed to set independence on June 30 and national elections in May. MNC emerged victorious after the polls, with Lumumba emerging as the nationalist leader of Congo.
Soon after forming his government, the Congo crisis broke out, and Lumumba was not equipped to handle it. He sought support from the United States and the United Nations to suppress the Belgian-supported Katangan secessionists led by Moïse Tshombe. The United States and United Nations didn’t offer any help.
Soon enough, there was a military coup, and on hearing about it, Lumumba attempted to escape to join his supporters but was captured and imprisoned on his way. He was tortured and brutally beaten and then executed by firing squad following command from the Belgian government. He was buried in a shallow grave immediately after.
The government wanted to make the bodies of Lumumba and his trusted officials disappear. Hence, they dug up the bodies, dismembered them, dissolved the bodies in sulfuric acids and ground their bones. The government kept the secret of the murder, and three weeks later, when rumours began, the government tried to avert the blame from themselves. Afterwards, there were protests in numerous European countries.
On June 30, 2020, Juliana Lumumba, Lumumba’s daughter, wrote to Philippe, King of the Belgians, asking for the returns of Lumumba and on.
On September 10, 2020, a Belgian judge ruled that Lumumba’s remains, a single tooth, had to be returned to his family.
On June 20 2021, Lumumba’s children received his remains.
