On this day in 1961, Patrice Lumumba was assassinated by colluding US, UN, British and Belgian forces just 201 days after becoming Prime Minister.
Coming to power during Congolese Independence Day on June 30th 1960, Lumumba immediately condemned Belgium's colonial horrors and focused on developing his country to serve the interests of the Congolese people.
This immediately put him in the cross-hairs of the West, with the Belgian ruling class invading and occupying Katanga, a resource rich state in southern Congo, just days later.
The state of Katanga then illegally seceded from The Congo, led by neo-colonial stooge Moise Tshombe. This violation of international law led Lumumba to ask the UN for help.
The UN however, led by Secretary General Hammarskjold, completely backed the Belgian occupation and illegal secession of Katanga, and blocked aid from Ghana, Guinea and Moscow from reaching The Congo.
In August 1960 Allen Dulles, head of the CIA, declared the removal of Lumumba "an urgent and primary objective", sending CIA scientist Sidney Gottleib to assassinate him using toxic biological material.
Simultaneously, SG Hammarskjold accused Lumumba's army of committing genocide on the white and Black populations of The Congo, and Belgian mercenaries, known as the Gendarmarie, were allowed to enter the country.
The UN grounded the Congolese government's planes and closed all Congolese radio stations, preventing Lumumba from travelling and mobilising the masses. Kasa Vubu, the Congolese president, then relieved Lumumba of his duties amidst UN pressure, with no legal authority to do so.
The UN immediately facilitated the delivery of 9 tons of weapons to Katanga for Tshombe and the Belgians.
The USA and the UN transferred $1 million into the account of military leader Mobutu Sese Seko, giving him the task of neutralising Lumumba and his supporters. Belgium also gave 20 million francs to the soldiers of the Congolese army, paying for their loyalty.
Lumumba supporters were subsequently murdered by the Belgian Gendarmarie with Mobutu putting Lumumba under house arrest, surrounding his house with Congolese and UN troops.
Lumumba and his political entourage, after briefly escaping, were imprisoned on December 1st. At least 7000 Lumumba supporters were then murdered by the Gendarmarie, another in the long list of African genocides perpetrated by Europeans.
British PM Macmillan and US President Eisenhower regularly discussed how best to dispose of Lumumba, and their plan came to fruition on January 17th 1961.
Lumumba and his entourage were tortured and beaten half to death by the Gendarmarie and Mobutu's soldiers. They were then transferred to a remote location, executed by firing squad, and their bodies were dissolved in acid.
The situation that DR Congo is in today can be traced directly to this period of events, and "the most important assassination of the 20th century".
Western governments backed Tshombe then Mobutu as dictator, the IMF control the Congolese economy - with loans w/ 50% interest attached and citizens only afforded one meal a day - and resources are controlled by Euro-American corporations that force citizens into slave labour...
"If I die tomorrow, it is because a white has armed a Black" - Patrice Lumumba
Here are some sources on Lumumba's assassination: 'The Assassination of Lumumba' - Ludo de Witte 'Patrice Lumumba' - Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja 'Foreign Intervention in Africa' - Elizabeth Schmidt
http://m.thehindu.com/news/international/world/british-peer-reveals-mi6-role-in-lumumba-killing/article4567513.ece… http://londonprogressivejournal.com/article/view/1114/cia-and-mi-linked-to-assassinations-in-the-congo-in-sixties
