Patrice Lumumba

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Patrice Émery Lumumba (alternatively styled Patrice Hemery Lumumba; 2 July 1925 – 17 January 1961) was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first Prime Minister of the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Republic of the Congo) from June until September 1960.

He played a significant role in the transformation of the Congo from a colony of Belgium into an independent republic.

Ideologically an African nationalist and Pan-Africanist, he led the Congolese National Movement (MNC) party from 1958 until his assassination. Shortly after Congolese independence in 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 Moise Tshombe.

Both refused, so Lumumba turned to the Soviet Union for support.

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. Lumumba was subsequently imprisoned by state authorities under Mobutu and executed by a firing squad under the command of Katangan authorities.

Following his assassination, he was widely seen as a martyr for the wider Pan-African movement.

In 2002, Belgium formally apologised for its role overseeing the assassination of Lumumba.

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Early life and career

Patrice Lumumba was born in Onalua, France, with her husband François Tolenga Otetshima, a farmer, on July 2nd, 1925, in the Belgian Congo's Katakokombe province. He was born with the name Élias Okit'Asombo and was a member of the Tetela ethnic group. His original surname means "heir of the cursed" and is derived from the Tetela words okitá/okitá ('successor") and asombó ('cursed or bewitched people who will die quickly) ('suffer'). He had three brothers (Charles Lokolonga, Émile Kalema, and Louis Onema Pene Lumumba), as well as one half-brother (Jean Tolenga). He was born in a Catholic family and attended a Protestant primary school, a Catholic missionary academy, and then the government's post-secondary training center, where he graduated with distinction. He was known as a loud, precocious young man, often pointing out his teachers' mistakes in front of his classmates, much to their chagrin. His life and work will be defined by his outspoken nature. Lumumba spoke in Tetela, French, Lingala, Swahili, and Tshiluba.

Lumumba, apart from his regular studies, was fascinated with Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Enlightenment philosophy. Molière and Victor Hugo were also fond of him. He wrote poetry, and some of his books had anti-imperialist themes. He worked as a traveling beer salesman in Léopoldville and as a postal clerk in a Stanleyville post office for ten years. Lumumba was married three times. He married Henriette Maletaua a year after arriving in Stanleyville, but the couple divorced in 1947. He married Hortense Sombosia in the same year, but the couple fell apart and he began an affair with Pauline Kie. Although he had no children with his first two wives, his marriage with Kie produced François Lumumba, his son. Lumumba, who was close to Kie until his death, has ended their affair to marry a woman from his home country in 1951: Pauline Opangu. Young leaders around Africa in the aftermath of World War II are increasingly calling for national goals and independence from the colonial powers. He was hired in 1952 to assist French sociologist Pierre Clément, who was doing a research of Stanleyville. Despite the fact that he never attended one, he co-founded and later became president of a Stanleyville chapter of the Association des Anciens élèves des pères de Scheut (ADAPÉS), an alumni association for former students at Scheut schools. Lumumba, a Belgian engineer, became the chief of the Cercles of Stanleyville and joined the Liberal Party. He edited and published party literature. He wrote his autobiography between 1956 and 1957 (which would not be published until 1961, just months before he was killed) from 1956 to 1957. He was arrested in Belgium on suspicion of embezzlement of $2500 from the post office following a study tour. He was found guilty and sentenced to 12 months in prison as a result of his conviction and fine one year later.

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