Congolese freedom fighter: Patrice Lumumba

The first Prime Minister of Congo

Patrice Emery Lumumba was born in 1925 in the village of Katata Korkumbi in the Stanleyville District (Kisangani or Kasai) of the Eastern Congo Province, and belongs to the Batelila tribe, part of the Mongo tribe.

He is one of the children of the Congolese elite who received education during the Belgian colonial period, where he received his initial education in missionary schools, then he joined a school for training postal workers in Leopoldville. At the age of nineteen, he worked as a postal employee in the city of Stanleyville, during which he witnessed with his own eyes racial segregation against blacks.  At the same time, he studied law and economics and passed several courses, and during his work he established close relations with various African tribes.

After 11 years, he was accused of theft and was imprisoned. After his release, he worked in several jobs to support his family.

Political Work 

Before independence

He participated in the Accra Conference that paved the way for the Organization of African Unity in December 1958, and after the occupation authorities allowed national political activity, he founded the Congolese National Movement Party, which aimed for independence and national unity. It was the strongest political movement in the Congo. He also edited the Al-Istiqlal newspaper, and contacted several regional and international parties to support the right to  His country was in independence, and he urged the masses with his fiery speeches and enthusiastic articles in local and foreign newspapers in which he explained the Belgian crimes against his people and his country, relying on evidence and evidence drawn from his observations, reports and statistics issued by Belgian circles about the huge amounts of money that the colonizers had smuggled into Belgium. Lumumba enjoyed wide popularity and led demonstrations and confrontations. With Belgian colonialism in 1959, which led to his arrest for six months, he was released to ensure the success of the Round Table Conference negotiations that were taking place in Brussels to discuss the future of the Congo. He was transferred from prison to Brussels by plane, to hold a general popular referendum in the Congo under international supervision to find out the people’s desire or opinion. At independence, it was agreed on the independence of the Congo, ending eighty years of Belgian colonialism, and holding the first democratic elections in the country.

The Election:

Parliamentary elections were held in May 1960 in which more than a hundred parties competed. The National Movement, led by Lumumba, achieved overwhelming success and obtained about 90% of the votes.  Belgium, which was running the country, tried to hide the results and assign power to its ally, Joseph Alliot, especially since the position of Prime Minister is the one controlling the country’s affairs. The position of president is considered an honorary position, and the president at the time favored the occupation at the expense of his people, but popular pressure, in order to preserve their face before European public opinion, forced Belgium to assign Lumumba to form the government on June 21, 1960.

Independence:

Lumumba as Prime Minister

Lumumba formed the first elected Congolese government on June 23, 1960. He made sure that his government included all national forces and issued several decisions on the eve of the country's independence to remove the Belgians from managing the country's affairs.

Independence party incident:

A political crisis occurred between the Congo and Belgium on Independence Day. On June 30, 1960, King Baudouin of Belgium and his prime minister, as well as from African countries and some European figures, came to the Congo for the ceremony of declaring independence.

The Prime Minister of Belgium came forward to give a speech, but Lumumba prevented him on the grounds that his name was not included in the list of speakers. The President of the Republic, Casa Fobo, was upset by this behavior, so the King of Belgium stood up and delivered a speech in which he said, “Belgium sacrificed its youth and its vast wealth in order to educate the Congolese people and raise the level of its economy,” and he warned the patriots.  The Congolese should not take hasty or ill-considered measures that would lead to the destruction of the civilization left to them by the Belgians.”

This angered the Congolese, and they considered his speech insulting and lacking decency. So Lumumba got up and headed to the podium, interrupting the Belgian king with a speech he called the “Tears, Blood and Fire” speech, saying: “You fighters for independence, and today you are victorious, remember the mockery and slavery that the colonizer imposed on us? Do you remember our insults and slapping us?”  For a long time, just because we are Negroes in his view? They exploited our land and plundered our wealth, and that was under legal pretexts. A law drawn up by the white man was completely biased against the black man.

We have been subjected to bullets and imprisonment simply because we seek to preserve our dignity as human beings.”

Here there was complete silence, except for a whisper between the Belgian king and his prime minister, who were determined to kill Lumumba. Only three days after this incident, a Belgian army entered the Congo through the mouth of the Zaire River and reached the capital, Kinshasa, with its intention to implement a premeditated plan against Lumumba.

Post-independence:

Congo only enjoyed independence for a few days. It entered into a series of crises that have not stopped to this day.  Lumumba's government found itself facing major crises that began with a military mutiny in the army, the secession of the rich Katanga region in the Congo with the support of Belgium, and labor unrest.

Secession of Katanga Province:

In July 1960, Moise Tshombe, governor of the Katanga region, rich in precious metals, revolted against the Congolese government and declared war on it. He also declared the region’s secession from the Congo into an independent state.

Lumumba appealed to the Soviet Union, but the Soviets rejected his request. He then asked them only to lend him a few aircraft carriers to transport the remaining army to Katanga to liberate it, and this request was also rejected.  Lumumba was forced to resort to the United Nations, which ostensibly responded to his request and sent 200,000 soldiers to the Congo, but it intervened against him.  A number of his main allies abandoned Lumumba, and his relationship with President Kasavubu worsened.

Lumumba's Dismissal:

Although the position of President of the Republic is ceremonial and the actual power is in the hands of the Prime Minister, after only three weeks, President Kasavubu issued an order to isolate Lumumba, strip him of all his powers, and dismiss the government, although the Senate voted by a large majority against the decision, and an interim government was formed headed by Joseph Eliu, who was loyal to Belgium.

Independence:

Lumumba as Prime Minister 

Lumumba formed the first elected Congolese government on June 23, 1960. He made sure that his government included all national forces and issued several decisions on the eve of the country's independence to remove the Belgians from managing the country's affairs.