1966: Evariste Kimba and three other “plotters” against Mobutu
A cycle of
weak governments and nationwide chaos had befallen the resource-rich
former Belgian Congo in the early 1960’s after the CIA eliminated the
leftist Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. Evariste Kimba
was, when the cycle ended in the fall of 1965, the most recent man to
succeed to Lumumba’s title — though hardly his stature — in the
tottering government of Joseph Kasavubu (or Kasa-Vubu).
Acting once again with western support, the general later to rename himself Mobutu Sese-Seko overthrew civilian rule on November 25, 1965.
To judge by either tenure (he ruled for more than 31 years) or
personal enrichment (rumored to be $5 billion sapped from the
poverty-ridden country during that time), Mobutu would rate as one of
the 20th century’s most successful evil dictators.
But nobody knew at first that he wouldn’t be another forgettable
here-today, shot-tomorrow general. And to see that didn’t happen,
Mobutu showed the iron fist early, and made clear that he would brook
no resistance, especially not from the old regime’s politicos. A true
post-partisan, he declared in 1966 a five-year ban on party activity.
That formed the backdrop, or the pretext, or both, for squelching
the “Pentecost Plot”, a supposed attempt by Kimba, along with former
ministers Jérôme Anany, Emmanuel Bamba and André Mahamba, to mount a
coup of their own.
Pentecost was Sunday, May 29 that year. The four were arrested on
May 30 — “[o]n the morning of their arrest the Information Service of
the Congo announced, in the name of the government, that they would
‘now appear before a military tribunal which will condemn them to death
and they will be hanged.’” (source)
When you know the result already, there’s no sense dragging things out:
the Pentecost Plotters were tried, convicted and sentenced on June 1
(they denied the charges and received a six-minute deliberation), and hanged on June 2.
Kinshasa’s major football arena, Kamanyola Stadium, was renamed Stade des Martyrs de la Pentecôte in honor of this day’s victims shortly after Mobutu was ousted by guerrilla commander Laurent Kabila in 1997.