Patrice Lumumba, inaugural Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo, Léopoldville and leader of the Congolese National Movement (MNC), was assassinated on January 17, 1961 in Katanga, near Elizabethville, amidst the Congo Crisis that began in July 1960. Following the September 1960 coup led by Mobutu Sese Seko, Lumumba and his political retinue were detained by Mobutu's forces in December 1960. After a month of imprisonment near Léopoldville, he was transferred to Belgium-aligned Katanga in mid-January. The order to kill Lumumba came from the separatist Katangan authorities of Moïse Tshombe, in collaboration with Belgian officers. In the presence of Tshombe and other Katangan officials, Lumumba was executed, alongside Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, by a Katangan firing squad led by Belgian contract officers. Lumumba's body was ultimately dismembered and dissolved in acid.
Prior to his assassination, Western powers sought to remove Lumumba from power. In October 1960, Belgian minister Harold Charles d'Aspremont Lynden wrote in a cable to Katanga that Belgian policy entailed the "definitive elimination of Patrice Lumumba." The United States sought to undermine or kill Lumumba. In August 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized an ultimately scrapped Central Intelligence Agency plan to poison him. The killing came three days before the Inauguration of John F. Kennedy, who had expressed support for Lumumba's release from custody. The United Kingdom had also covertly sought the elimination of Lumumba, largely due to British mining interests.
Immediately after Lumumba's assassination, demonstrations and memorials were held throughout the world. In Belgrade and London, protestors demanded the expulsion of the Belgian embassy. In New York City, student protestors overran security at a meeting of the UN Security Council. Malcolm X, who participated in the New York protests, called Lumumba "the greatest black man who ever walked the African continent" in 1964. Jawaharlal Nehru said that his death had made him "infinitely more powerful", and Jean-Paul Sartre commented that, in his death, Lumumba "ceased to be a person and became Africa in its entirety".
In 2001, the Belgian government recognized its complicity in Lumumba's assassination, stating that they bore a "moral responsibility" and offering a formal apology the following year. At the request of Lumumba's daughter Juliana, the Belgian government returned the sole remaining part of his body, a single gold-capped tooth, to the family in 2022. The Democratic Republic of the Congo declared a three-day mourning period upon the repatriation of the tooth, placing it in a public mausoleum in Kinshasa.
Background
The Democratic Republic of Congo became independent on June 30, 1960, with Patrice Lumumba as its first prime minister in the country's bicéphalisme system. Lumumba, who was very critical of Belgium's colonial legacy, became a target of the Belgians. The country was plunged into chaos within a week of independence with a mutiny of the Force Publique national army on July 5 that led to violence between Congolese and European civilians. By July 12, the Belgian military shifted from evacuating Europeans and protecting Belgian fixtures to a policy of military occupation. The Belgian government also sought a way to remove Lumumba, testing whether Congolese Foreign Minister Justin Bomboko would lead a coup d'etat on July 13. In mid-July, Chief of Defence Charles Cumont reported to the Belgian government that the "only course seems to be to get rid of" Lumumba. Lumumba and Congo President Joseph Kasa-Vubu suspended diplomacy with Belgium on July 14.
Katanga became a major locus for opposition to the Lumumba Government when its leader, Moïse Tshombe, declared the province's secession from the Congo on July 11. Business affairs in the region were heavily influenced by European commercial interests, especially Union Minière du Haut-Katanga— the world's third-largest copper producer at the time—which announced that it would only pay tax to the secessionist regime and encouraged Belgium to recognize it. Following the Union Minière, Société Générale de Belgique chairman Paul Gillet called King Baudouin and took the conversation as an endorsement for full recognition of the Katangan regime.
Only prudent, therefore, to plan on basis that Lumumba government threatens our vital interests in Congo and Africa generally. A principal objective of our political and diplomatic action must therefore be to destroy Lumumba government as now constituted, but at the same time we must find or develop another horse to back which would be acceptable in rest of Africa and defensible against Soviet political attack.
— William Burden, US Ambassador to Belgium, 19 July 1960, telegram
On August 9, South Kasai, which bordered Katanga, also declared secession with Belgian support. Two weeks later, Lumumba sent the Congolese National Army (ANC), assisted by Soviet military advisors, into South Kasai to defeat the secessionist regime there. The ANC captured the capital Bakwanga but they committed massacres against Baluba civilians, leading to international condemnation and the withdrawal of ANC forces. Lumumba had previously been rebuffed in seeking military assistance from the United States (as well as the United Nations) on a visit to New York and Washington D.C. in July. Upon his receipt of Soviet assistance in South Kasai, American policy-makers—including President Dwight Eisenhower, Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kennedy, and Secretary of State Christian Herter—uniformly perceived him as pro-Soviet.
Ouster and house arrest
On September 5, Kasa-Vubu removed Lumumba using a novel interpretation of the Congolese constitution that allowed the co-equal president the right to remove the prime minister. The move came after more than a month of lobbying by Belgian officials in Brazzaville, with the specific tactic suggested by Belgian foreign minister Pierre Wigny. Kasa-Vubu had a tempestuous relationship with Lumumba—differing in style and political philosophy—but resisted a complete capitulation to Western wishes. He deliberated on the decision, repeatedly seeking advice from UN undersecretary Andrew W. Cordier. Just before announcing that Lumumba was to be replaced with Joseph Iléo as prime minister, Kasa-Vubu requested that the UN close the airports nationwide and monitor radio broadcasts in Léopoldville.
Overnight on September 6, Lumumba rejected Kasa-Vubu's announcement, appearing multiple times on the radio to instead claim that he was deposing Kasa-Vubu. By midday, Kasa-Vubu requested that the UN restrict radio broadcasts entirely from Léopoldville to prevent Lumumba from continuing on the air. The speed and questionable constitutionality of Lumumba's removal made it appear to be a coup; on September 8, the parliament voted 41 to 2, supporting Lumumba's legitimacy. On the same day, Wigny commented that the execution of his ouster only increased Lumumba's stature. In a briefing to Richard Nixon, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said that it had "at least seriously jeopardized the plan for ousting Lumumba by constitutional means." In the midst of the tensions, the Americans were less sure of Lumumba's removal than the Belgians or the UN representatives were, with Averell Harriman meeting Lumumba and treating him as prime minister on September 9.
During a nationwide radio address and subsequent press conference on September 14, Congolese National Army (ANC) chief of staff Joseph-Desire Mobutu announced that the military was rejecting both Kasa-Vubu and Lumumba's claims to legitimacy. Mobutu instead said that technocrats—later established as the College of Commissioners-General—would run the country. As part of Mobutu's plan, the college would exist only until the two conflicting governments reconciled as one, with a planned dissolution of the body set for December 31, 1960.
In the midst of the upheaval, Belgian advisors encouraged Kasa-Vubu and Mobutu to arrest Lumumba for not acceding to his removal. When Kasa-Vubu's allies tried to seize Lumumba on September 12, ANC commander General Victor Lundula intervened and was subsequently dismissed himself. After Mobutu's coup, Lumumba was attacked on September 15 by a group of Baluba detractors, with Ghanaian UN peacekeepers intervening to ensure his safety. Through the end of September, the UN prevailed upon the three parties to refrain from direct conflicts and arrests, though Lumumba's allies Antoine Gizenga and Maurice Mpolo were both themselves arrested and eventually released. As the dynamics shifted between the three parties, the UN under Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld shifted away from its previous policy of support for Lumumba's removal and delegitimization to a strong opposition to American and Belgian wishes to arrest him. Hammarskjöld also considered it possible that Lumumba could still validly form a government.
On October 9, Lumumba left his residence in Léopoldville to campaign at local beerhalls for his government's legitimacy. Mobutu sent 200 ANC troops to Lumumba's residence to arrest him the following day. The residence was guarded by UN peacekeepers, who declined entry to the men. Over the month, the army continued to surround his home and harassed his associates. Though the UN had previously rejected attempts to arrest Lumumba, it accepted the de facto house arrest, explicitly refusing to protect him from arrest if he left the residence. As the temporary government settled with Mobutu in control of the army and Kasa-Vubu still vested with some constitutional authority, the two parties resented the continued popularity of Lumumba.
Escape attempt
On November 27, Lumumba escaped his residence undetected in a three-vehicle convoy, accompanied by family and political allies. He sought to join his allies Gizenga and Lundula in Stanleyville, who were then marshaling forces in the northeast of the country against both Mobutu in the west and separatists in Katanga and Kivu. The Congolese Sûreté Nationale led the search, with funding from the CIA and a reconnaissance plane from the Belgians. Lumumba's path to Stanleyville was made difficult by rainfall. The Léopoldville regime also set up roadblocks and checkpoints at river-crossings, trying to monitor his expected path from above.
The historians Bruce Kuklick and Emmanuel Gerard surmise that the Sûreté was able to spot Lumumba from the air because he made detours to rally the local citizenry. After traveling approximately 600 miles east, Lumumba's convoy started toward Luluabourg, likely to fly the rest of the way to Stanleyville, but local officials intercepted him in Mweka to rebuff his entry to the city. The convoy then went north to Lodi. They planned there to ferry across the Sankuru River, but were captured at that river-crossing on December 1 by ANC soldiers. UN peacekeepers from Ghana oversaw the arrest, allowing it to go forward.
Capture
Lumumba was returned from Port Francqui to Léopoldville, arriving on December 2. The Léopoldville regime immediately sought to transfer him to Katanga, with Belgian advisor Louis Marliere radioing Moïse Tshombe in Elizabethville. When Tshombe declined, the regime transferred him to Camp Hardy in Thysville, 150 km (about 100 miles) from Léopoldville.
Lumumba's poor treatment in the recapture and Camp Hardy received negative attention from the global press. In a widely disseminated video, Mobutu was shown smiling while ANC guards beat the bound Lumumba; they also force-fed him a paper version of a speech that he had given. Lumumba and his associates were fed poorly by the prison guards, as per Mobutu's orders. In Lumumba's last documented letter, he wrote to Rajeshwar Dayal, head of the UN in the Congo: "In a word, we are living amid absolutely impossible conditions; moreover, they are against the law."
Assassination
Late on January 12, 1961, soldiers at Camp Hardy mutinied. Some officers were taken prisoner and mutineers raped multiple wives of officers. Most soldiers demanded Lumumba's release and the formation of his government. Others thought he was dangerous and that he should be transferred elsewhere. There was also widespread dissatisfaction with pay levels. The camp's commandant Louis Bobozo was away from Thysville during the uprising. The next morning, Kasa Vubu, Mobutu, Victor Nendaka, Justin Bomboko, and Joseph Ileo arrived at Camp Hardy to address the crisis. The group met with Lumumba, though it's unknown what they spoke about. The mutiny ended with a promise from Bomboko to increase soldiers' pay.
The mutiny in Thysville and another uprising at Camp Nkokolo in Léopoldville demonstrated to the government and its foreign partners that pro-Lumumba sentiment persisted within the army. At the time, CIA station chief Larry Devlin predicted that the government was near collapse and Lumumba was likely to return to power, writing to Washington that "Refusal [to] take drastic steps at this time will lead to defeat of [US] policy in Congo." After the Thysville mutiny, Belgian Foreign Minister Wigny and Harold Charles d'Aspremont Lynden discussed whether Lumumba should be killed in Thysville or transferred, eventually agreeing on removing him to Bakwanga in South Kasai or Katanga. Both locations were understood as likely to result in his death. The leader of South Kasai Albert Kalonji had vowed to turn Lumumba's skull into a vase, whereas Katanga considered him the main threat to their independence, with the interior minister Godefroid Munongo warning Lumumba never to set foot in the region. Eventually, the Belgians and the Léopoldville regime decided on Katanga, partly due to its strong connections with Belgium and it being less overtly hostile toward Lumumba than South Kasai. Devlin learned of the plans on January 14, but did not report them to his superiors until January 17, when they were already in progress.