Histoire – fdc – en

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Saturday, 21 October, 2000

On 17th January 1961 Patrice Lumumba, first and only elected Prime Minister of Congo, was murdered. The circumstances of his death remained a mystery, the identity of his killers unknown.

Now, forty years later, fresh scrutiny of documents held in government vaults and the testimony of those who were there at the time reveal a story of international intrigue and betrayal.

This posting contains an article written by Stephen Weissman for the Sunday Washington Post of July 21, 2002 revealing new data from classified documents on the U.S. role in the murder of Patrice Lumumba in 1961. It also contains a link and brief excerpts from the extensive Belgian parliamentary report which led to an official Belgian apology, in February this year, for Belgian complicity in Lumumba's death. The Belgian parliamentary report was prompted by a book first published in 1999, "The Assassination of Lumumba," by journalist Ludo de Witte. The book concentrated on Belgian complicity, and gave the impression of exonerating the U.S. of direct involvement. In the introduction to the English translation of the book, however, de Witte stressed the joint responsibility of the U.S. as well.

Weissman's article, referring to new evidence, calls for U.S. honesty about the past as well as U.S. action to make reparation for the damage caused by its earlier actions in the Congo.

Another posting sent out today has updates on the latest developments in the current Congo peace process.

In a related development, World Bank President James Wolfensohn, visiting Kinshasa in mid-July, announced that the World Bank was considering cancelling more than 80 per cent of the debt owed by the country to the World Bank. The cancellation should take effect in early 2003, he told reporters.

Patrice Emery Lumumba
b. July 2, 1925, Onalua, Belgian Congo [now Congo (Kinshasa)]
d. January 1961, Katanga province

African nationalist leader, the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (June-September 1960). Forced out of office during a political crisis, he was assassinated a short time later.

Written to His Wife Just Before His Death

Men and women of the Congo,

Victorious fighters for independence, today victorious, I greet you in the name of the Congolese Government. All of you, my friends, who have fought tirelessly at our sides, I ask you to make this June 30, 1960, an illustrious date that you will keep indelibly engraved in your hearts, a date of significance of which you will teach to your children, so that they will make known to their sons and to their grandchildren the glorious history of our fight for liberty.

by John Henrik Clarke (1961)

(John Henrik Clarke was United Nations Correspondent on African Affairs, World Mutual Exchange, and International News Features.)

^Early History
– The Congo Free State
– Belgian Congo
– Troubles after Independence
– Raise and collapse of Mobutu 's "Zaire".

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This booklet was printed in Belgium, probably in 1904, by suppoters of King Leopold'sCongo Free State. Depite of its title, it utters only few critics against Twain, a little more about E D Morel and the Congo Reform Association, and mainly consists in a long collection of photographs taken in the CFS.