Patrice Lumumba

Born: July 2, 1925Birthplace: Onalua, Katako-Kombe Territory, Sankaru District, Kasai, Belgian CongoDied: c. January 17, 1961Place of death: Katanga, CongoPrime minister of Congo (June-September, 1960) Passionate, outspoken, and brilliant, Lumumba galvanized a national movement and rose to international significance quickly during the Congolese independence movement. His ideals of a unified Congo not dependent on foreign powers and a return to African values resonated with his country and later the continent. He became the independent Congo’s first elected prime minister. After his brief tenure and murder he became a hero for independence movements all over the world.Area of achievement Government and politics

Early Life

Patrice Lumumba (pah-trees luh-MUHM-bah) was born in the village of Onalua in the Katako-Kombe Territory of the Belgian Congo. He was one of four sons born to a poor Roman Catholic farming family. He briefly attended Catholic and, later, Protestant mission schools. Government policy during Belgian rule limited Africans to learning manual skills, so much of Lumumba’s early education focused on learning farming and other tasks. His teachers, however, recognized his intelligence and loaned him books, encouraging him to read and study on his own.

In 1944, Lumumba moved to Stanleyville (now Kisangani) and got a job as a postal clerk. It was during his years in Stanleyville that he became a political activist. He started meeting other young African intellectuals to discuss news, politics, and other issues. He also began contributing poems and editorials to newsletters for the colony’s évolué community, those indigenous Congolese who adopted European-colonialist values and behaviors. He quickly earned the reputation of one who was willing to speak out about the abuses of colonialism. In 1957, Lumumba moved to Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), where he took a job for a local brewery and within a year became its sales manager. Lumumba married Pauline Opangu, a villager from his home area, in 1951, and they eventually had eight children.

Life’s Work

Lumumba’s first political position was regional president of a trade union of Congolese government employees that was not affiliated with Belgian trade unions. He also became a member of the Belgian Liberal Party that supported increased rights for the Congolese. In 1956 he toured Belgium. When he returned he was accused of embezzling money from the post office, found guilty, and sentenced to twelve months in prison. After his prison time his political activism increased. In 1958 he helped found the Congolese National Movement (Mouvement National Congolais, or MNC), the first nationwide Congolese political party. He soon became its leader. In December he attended the first All-African People’s Conference in Ghana and was inspired by the goals of pan-Africanism.

Belgian authorities in 1959 announced that they would begin a five-year phase-in for Congolese independence, with local elections to be held in December. Lumumba, however, initially recommended a boycott of the elections, but he later participated and won easily in Stanleyville. He then represented the MNC, as its leader, at a major conference in Brussels, in which Belgium agreed to national elections in Congo in May, 1960, followed by Congolese independence in June.

The MNC and Lumumba won the May election, earning the right to form a government. More than fifteen significant political parties had won seats during the election, so Lumumba had to make many compromises and take leaders from opposition parties into his cabinet. He finally succeeded in establishing a coalition government, with Joseph Kasavubu, leader of a rival party, on June 23, 1960. Lumumba would serve as prime minister and Kasavubu as president. On June 30, independence day, Lumumba gave a fiery speech in which he insulted the king of Belgium and reminded his audience of the atrocities of colonial rule.

Lumumba stood for a unified independent Congo and was against the division of the country along tribal or regional lines. He dreamed of a Congo that would be ruled not by “guns and bayonets but by a peace of the heart and of the will.” He supported pan-Africanism and the liberation of all colonial territories in Africa. He proclaimed that his regime would be one of “positive neutralism,” which he defined as a return to African values and the rejection of any imported ideologies (including Western and Soviet).

Despite high ideals and vision, Lumumba’s government quickly succumbed to division and rivalry, as various competing parties vied for power in the new government and took sides with outside forces, including Belgium, the United States, and the Soviet Union. Within days the army rebelled against the remaining Belgian officers. The Katanga province party, headed by Moïse Tshombe , sought to retain close ties with Belgium, in contrast to the positions of other parties and individuals. The province seceded, and the country quickly descended into chaos. Lumumba responded by firing the Belgian commander and requesting assistance from the United States and the United Nations. When the United Nations refused to use troops to quell the secession, Lumumba turned to the Soviet Union for assistance. The situation deteriorated further when Lumumba used Soviet troops and supplies to stop another secessionist movement in Kasai province. Angered by Lumumba’s use of Soviet troops, President Kasavubu dismissed Lumumba as prime minister, a legally dubious move, on September 5. Lumumba responded by dismissing Kasavubu as president. Into this power vacuum stepped twenty-nine-year-old colonel Joseph Mobutu, the commander of Congolese troops in Leopoldville. Mobutu, later called Mobutu Sese Seko , seized power, ousted both Lumumba and Kasavubu, and requested and received assistance from the United States and the United Nations.

Lumumba was placed under informal house arrest in September, then was arrested on December 1 by troops loyal to Colonel Mobutu. Mobutu intended to put him on trial for treason and for inciting rebellion. Lumumba was severely beaten and humiliated by his captors and then flown to the secessionist province of Katanga on January 17, 1961, where he was assassinated most likely that night. His death was kept quiet for weeks, although rumors spread quickly. In the years since his death, many have speculated that Belgian authorities and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency were involved in Lumumba’s murder.

Significance

Lumumba’s story is one of a remarkably fast rise to power and international prominence. His ability to speak multiple African languages and his strong stance on the evils of colonialism and the need for independence, quickly made him a national leader. He was the first elected prime minister of an independent Congo. Born to illiterate farmers and largely self-educated, he became a powerful figure in Congo’s struggle for independence and the anticolonial movement in Africa. A gifted orator with a dynamic personality, Lumumba stirred passions and made friends and enemies alike.

Prior to Congolese independence, the African independence movement had generally proceeded in an orderly manner under the guidance of foreign powers. Lumumba, however, was unwilling to allow outside forces to take over leadership of the country. This created tension, as foreign powers took sides with opposition leaders and the country descended into chaos. After his ouster from power and subsequent brutal murder he became a hero for independence movements around the world.

Bibliography

Devlin, Larry. Chief of Station, Congo: Memoir of 1960-1967. New York: Public Affairs, 2007. Devlin, an agent for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), was posted to the Congo in 1960, when Katanga was on the verge of secession. His memoir recounts his experiences in the country and discusses Congolese independence.

Haskin, Jeanne M. The Tragic State of the Congo: From Decolonization to Dictatorship. New York: Algora, 2005. A history of the Congo focusing on the problems the country has encountered since it gained independence from Belgium.

Heinz, G., and H. Donnay. Lumumba: The Last Fifty Days. New York: Grove Press, 1970. Covers Lumumba’s last fifty days of life. Details his brief tenure as prime minister, his betrayal by Mobutu, his escape from house arrest, his treatment in prison, and his murder.

Hoskyns, Catherine. The Congo Since Independence, January, 1960-December, 1961. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965. Covers the year of Congolese independence. The author is critical of Lumumba’s handling of the government in its early formation, asserting he wanted to move things along too quickly and that his impatience and inexperience led to the chaos that ensued in his government and, later, country.

Kanza, Thomas R. The Rise and Fall of Patrice Lumumba. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1979. The author, who served in Lumumba’s government and was a personal friend, writes an intimate account of Lumumba and his brief time in office. Kanza points out the many things that Lumumba could have done differently to avoid the tragedies that followed.

McKown, Robin. Lumumba: A Biography. New York: Doubleday, 1969. A sympathetic biography of Lumumba that covers his early life through the time of his murder. Details his struggles to form a coalition government and how the United Nations and United States abandoned him.

MacQueen, Norrie. United Nations Peacekeeping in Africa Since 1960. London: Longman, 2002. A rare and engaging look at the history of peacekeeping operations by the United Nations in Africa, beginning with the Congo crisis in 1960. Highly recommended, especially as an updated source.

Witte, Ludo de. The Assassination of Lumumba. Translated by Ann Wright and Renée Fenby. New York: Verso, 2001. This well-researched book focuses on the events surrounding Lumumba’s death and the elaborate cover-ups that followed. De Witte details the post-Lumumba period in which some 200,000 Congolese were killed in the process of securing Mobutu as dictator.