Town Meeting Story
There was a time meeting in the Congo in August 2009 conducted by the then America secretary of state Hillary Clinton. According to the New York Times, during the meeting a student stood up and ask:
“If I were to be president tomorrow and try to be independent from the west and follow my own ideas, will I be assassinated ?”
The student did not pull this question out of thin air….He was in fact referring to incident that took place in his home country at least 30 years before he was born ;which underlined America’s pernicious meddling in the political affairs of other countries.
Congo was not the only Africa country to suffer from this; in this series, we highlight some of such American abstruse activities in countries like Congo,Liberia,Libya,Ghana,Chad and Rwanda largely motivated by her egoism and mostly orchestrated by her enigmatic CIA.
The start of trouble
Partick Emery Lumuba was a freelance freedom fighter who almost single-handedly fought for the independence of the Congo Dr ending 80 years of devastating and oppressing rule of the Belgian originally initiated by Leopold II(who ran Congo as a private property). It was no surprise then when against even the will of the powerful colonialist he emerged as the First prime minister of the Congo. Lumumba made his intention clear right from day one, on his independence speech, he systematically castigated almost every second of Belgian colonization almost denouncing Belgium. The speech was philippic; the whole scene of the celebration was rented with jubilant applause when he finished the speech. But alas Lumumba has not only despised the Belgian but everything that is western. That singular act of his confirmed to the most indifferent western observer that he would be anti-western in his policies thus, it does not take much time before he was branded a communist dog. But the big brother of the western ideology ….”THE USA” is definitely watching. When One reporter reported….Lumumba signed his death warrant with that speech he was absolutely correct as events afterward reveals.
Nine days after independence, the junior officer in the army revolted against their superior officer; The reason: Belgium had actually handed the Congolese a “mickey mouse” so to say independence. The army even though answerable to the Prime Minister was control by the Belgians with indigenous officer pegged to the highest rank of Adjutant (similar to Sergent in British Ranking system); thus all senior officers were Belgians.The black officers resented this and put up the revolt. Things were badly managed and the officers vented there anger especially on civilian Belgian citizens killing,raping, looting and vandalizing their properties. At about the same time and riding on the situation in Léopoldville (Now Kinshasha) precisely on July 10, the dissident region of Katanga declare their independence under Moise Tshombe. Kantaga is actually the goose that lays the proverbial golden egg in Congo; their diamond deposit do not only serves the Republic but seems inexhaustible. With their cession, The Belgian saw an ample opportunity to ground Lumumba government; they hastily sent troops under the guise of protecting their citizens who were been molested and massacred but with the actual assignment of protecting the new state of Katanga. Hence two weeks after leaving their former colony, the Belgian troops returned back triumphantly into the Congo and guided the Independence celebration of the Katangese….Belgium surprisingly rejoicing over the disintegration of their handiwork.
Lumumba Sought Help
At this point matters were gradually slipping out of Patrick Lumumba and he desperately needed help. Congo is an extremely vast country with its rain forest area alone(About 70% of the country landmass) more than the whole of Nigeria. Moving troops from the capital some 3000km to Katanga to fight the secessionist is no joke. They must be air-lifted; the young republic, barely 2weeks old, cannot afford this. Hence he needed help and help he sought. How?
To avoid total severance of allegiance with the west, he approach the fortress western ideology: THE AMERICA for help knowing things are still playing to their favor, America refused help but in there usual “maradona” way. They directed him to the United Nation stating categorically that they are not chartered to meddle with the political affair of an independent nation but the UN is. Infuriated, Lumumba returned home, and approach the UN. They responded favorably but cowardly, as the head of the UN contingent to the Congo put it….”we are pacifist and not combatant Lumumba made the mistake of thinking we will fight the secessionist only countries like US or USSR can do this”. Anyway many America war plane were resprayed and flew the Blue helmet into the Congo but with clearly another mission than what an average Congolese expected. They will only provide security for the prime minister but nut fight the segregationist. This was not the help Lumumba sought. Hence his trip out of Congo for help is just starting. His African allies mainly Ghana(In fact most of the contingent in the UN army sent to the Congo were Ghanaians) and Guinea were far too weak to be of practical help. Thus Lumumba was forced to do the forbidden: he approached the USSR for help. With their ambition to spread the communist ideology to the nooks and crannies of the globe, the strategic location and importance of the then Congo in Africa (apart from South Africa Congo used to have the highest workforce in Africa and highly endowed with minerals); the USSR obliged and flew into the Congo. Yes Lumumba finally got the help he sought but like the reporter quoted above again stated Lumumba signed his death warrant the second time with this act of defiance of the west; this time the “big brother” do not just sit and watch they sprang into action
America/UN Interplay
Just few years back America has watched Fidel Castro successfully implanted communism right at their backyard and they will not sit back and watch USSR win a cheap one in Africa. The solution to this is to definitely get ride of Lumumba. They proposed various means including poisoning his toothbrush with a lethal disease that kill gradually or incapacitate like polio, but providence smiled on the America when they discovered a loophole with Lumumba cabinet……Joseph Emery Mobutu (Yes the same Mobutu Sese Seko The only leader richer than his country and out of his “benevolence” borrows his country money as a leader ….He later possessed that country for 32 years embezzling more than $4 billion).
When Lumumba sacked the Belgian Chief Army officer, he had made Mobutu (against his will), who had previously served in the army and resorted to journalism after his compulsory retirement when he attained the then highest rank possible for black officer, the new head of army. He was promoted to the rank of colonel and reabsorbed back to the army. Mobutu though was not resentful of Lumumba but he was definitely envious and wanted power for himself. America capitalized on this and encourage him to put up a coup promising him of all necessary support including funds. The stage is actually ripe for one…the republic has literally slipped into anarchy and has became the center stage of world politics with the two super power bitterly engaging each other and the United Nation, the supposed third leg in the unbalance politics of the then world (UN was actually established in 1945 after world war 2 to balance power between US and USSR: the then two world powers), performing an observer role.
So when Mobutu staged what he called a peutge, he stated he wanted to stabilize the situation and that it is not a coup. Politician were silenced and Lumumba was put under house arrest and guided by the same UN army that actually professed to ensure his security. But Mobutu was doing the Belgian cum America’s bidding. In fact the President of the republic…(kasa-vubu) was not house arrested while all Lumumba political associates were being rounded up and jailed. Also he as a matter of urgency, Mobutu expelled everything that is USSR from the shores of the Congo setting all communist pamphlets on fire. Lumumba see this as ploy to silenced him politically and decided to take action. But what action is possible under confinement. Escape will definitely be the first step but to where?
The End of Lumumba
In his home region of Stanleyville (now Kisangani) there has been a movement in his support. If he could physically connect to that he can orchestrate a come back into Congo politics. So he staged an escape from the “protection” of the UN and set for Stanleyville .
It was hugely successful, but his greatest weapon became his major undoing. Lumumba was a great orator (One of the greatest the Continent has had especially as a leader) with unbeatable persuasiveness. He practically believed in this act of his and stopped at almost every village,town along his way to persuade them against the rule of Mobutu. This greatly slowdown the journey; however he was still able to surmount the last obstacle to his escape…in Dec 1960 he crossed the massive Congo river and freedom seems inevitable but alas the boat bring his family member also brought his pursers and for the safety of his family he had to surrender (His only son was barely 4 yrs old). Lumumba was able to break away from his captors and managed to drove to a UN post but this time the door stayed closed giving the excuse that the “protection” they offered is within the presidential palace and He should have informed them at any point in time if he were to go outside the perimeter of the palace
With logistical support from the United States and Belgium, Mobutu’s troops managed to capture Lumumba in Lodi on 1 December,flown to Leopoldville hand-bound like a criminal. Mobutu was at the airstrip with western reporter to witness the humiliation of the great Lumumba. He was sent to the prison in Leopoldville and the world awaits what will befall him. There were pressure especially from the communist bloc and the UN to release him, but Mobutu if he even has the will do not has the power he is under the direction of the big brother America and Belgium this is their last opportunity to silence Lumumba whom they know even in death will still threaten them. What best way will they achieve this without necessary incriminating themselves. Once again providence provided an option
Thsombe was persuade to take the delivery of Lumumba with the code words “Seek the consent of the Jew to take the Satan” (Thsombe been the Jew and Lumumba the Satan) a code that will forever haunt the nation. All these were done under the auspices of the Americans. With Lumumba now in the hand of Thsombe, his political rival and mortal enemy, his fate was sealed. In fact one Belgian officer aptly painted the situation; With him now in the custody of a black ruler the debate is not whether to kill him or not but where,when and how to kill him.
He was evidently tortured before he was shot dead in a remote forest. To remove all traces of his existence, his body was chopped,hewed, burnt to ashes and his unburnt carcass dissolved in conc sulphuric acid. Like his daughter (Who later became a minister under Joseph Kabila, the present sit-tight president of the country) later put it…. It is an holocaust, a crime against humanity. To cover up their deeds the government released an official report about his death… He was caught up by villagers while he was trying to escape with his associate and lynched. This is another country lie that persisted for more than 10 years. This was not difficult for them to put up because the whole region of Katanga detest Lumumba.
While the Belgian has acknowledged their role in the murder of the First and only elected prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo; The America still stubbornly refused to accept any role even though evidence from their archive have been unearthed that shows Eisenhower (The then US president) direct directive to The CIA to eliminate Lumumba. The head of that CIA commission later in fact said the UN spent over $1M to finance the assassination of Lumumba while America topped that with another $.1M.
