THE BRUTAL EXECUTION OF "PATRICE LUMUMBA" THE FIRST PRIME MINISTER OF CONGO WHO WAS EXECUTED IN A FIRING SQUAD

Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister

of the Congo who was executêd in a firing squad and his body was dissolved in sulfuric acid, by Belgium/USA allies because he tried to protect his country’s minerals. 

Shortly before exêcution, His last words were: 

“Neither brutality, cruelty or torture will ever bring me to ask for mercy, for I prefer to dié with my head held high, unshakable faith and the greatest confidence in the destiny of my country rather than live in slävery and contempt for sacred principles.”

Patrice Émery Lumumba 2 July 1925 – 17 January 1961), born Isaïe Tasumbu Tawosa, was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then known as the Republic of the Congo) from June until September 1960, following the May 1960 election.

 He was the leader of the Congolese National Movement (MNC) from 1958 until his execution in January 1961. Ideologically an African nationalist and pan-Africanist, he played a significant role in the transformation of the Congo from a colony of Belgium into an independent republic.

Shortly after Congolese independence in June 1960, a mutiny broke out in the army, marking the beginning of the Congo Crisis. Lumumba appealed to the United States and the United Nations for help to suppress the Belgian-supported Katangan secessionists led by Moïse Tshombe

 Both refused, as the Belgian government had convinced them that Lumumba was communist, anti-white, and anti-Western. These suspicions deepened when Lumumba turned to the Soviet Union for assistance, which the CIA described as a "classic communist takeover". This led to growing differences with President Joseph Kasa-Vubu and chief-of-staff Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, as well as with the United States and Belgium, who opposed the Soviet Union in the Cold War.

After Mobutu's military coup, Lumumba attempted to escape to Stanleyville to join his supporters who had established a new anti-Mobutu rival state called the Free Republic of the Congo. Lumumba was captured and imprisoned en route by state authorities under Mobutu. He was handed over to Katangan authorities, and executed in the presence of Katangan and Belgian officials and military officers. His body was thrown into a shallow grave, but later dug up and destroyed.

 Following his execution, he was widely seen as a martyr for the wider pan-African movement. Over the years, inquiries have shed light on the events surrounding Lumumba's death and, in particular, on the roles played by Belgium and the United States. In 2002, Belgium formally apologised for its role in the execution. In 2022, a gold-capped tooth, all that remained of his body, was repatriated to the Democratic Republic of the Congo by Belgium.

Final days and assassination

Lumumba was sent first on 3 December 1960 to Thysville military barracks Camp Hardy, 150 km (about 100 miles) from Léopoldville. He was accompanied by Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, two political associates who had planned to assist him in setting up a new government. They were fed poorly by the prison guards, as per Mobutu's orders. In Lumumba's last documented letter, he wrote to Rajeshwar Dayal: "In a word, we are living amid absolutely impossible conditions; moreover, they are against the law."

On the morning of 13 January 1961, discipline at Camp Hardy faltered. Soldiers refused to work unless they were paid; they received a total of 400,000 francs ($8,000) from the Katanga Cabinet. Some supported Lumumba's release, while others thought he was dangerous. 

Kasa-Vubu, Mobutu, Foreign Minister Justin Marie Bomboko, and Head of Security Services Victor Nendaka Bika personally arrived at the camp and negotiated with the troops. Conflict was avoided, but it became apparent that holding a controversial prisoner in the camp was too great a risk. Harold Charles d'Aspremont Lynden, the last Belgian Minister of the Colonies, ordered that Lumumba, Mpolo, and Okito be taken to the State of Katanga.

Lumumba was forcibly restrained on the flight to Elisabethville on 17 January 1961. On arrival, his associates and he were conducted under arrest to the Brouwez House, where they were brutally beaten and tortured by Katangan officers, while President Tshombe and his cabinet decided what to do with him.

Later that night, Lumumba was driven to an isolated spot where, according to reports, three firing squads had been assembled and commanded by Belgian contract officer Julien Gat. The orders to murder Lumumba were given by Katangese leaders, Belgian police inspection Frans Verscheure, and Gat. 

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