+34Belgium has returned Patrice Lumumba's tooth and apologized for its role in his 1961 assassination, but analysts demand full accountability from all involved foreign powers.
Belgium has returned the tooth of Patrice Lumumba, Congo's first prime minister, to his family, accompanied by a formal apology for its role in the circumstances surrounding his 1961 assassination. The return came after 61 years, but Congo lese analyst Kambale Musavuli argues that an apology alone is insufficient. He stated that Lumumba was assassinated, buried, excavated, cut into pieces, and then pieces thrown into acid to hide evidence, and that Belgium is returning his tooth without any criminal investigation, which he calls a crime in itself.
Lumumba was killed in 1961 following a series of events involving Belgian authorities and other foreign powers. His assassination was carried out by a Katangan firing squad under the supervision of Katangan authorities and Belgian officers. He was executed alongside his associates, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito. A wider conspiracy involved Belgian policy, covert CIA efforts to destabilise his leadership, and British opposition to his continued political influence.
While Belgium eventually apologized for its role, the United States and Britain have yet to say anything regarding their respective involvement and actions. Musavuli questions why an apology should be the only consequence when foreign powers are implicated in the destruction of an African leader and the future of his country. He argues that when a person is murdered, an apology from the person responsible does not replace an investigation or remove the need for accountability, so it should be no different when the victim is a leader killed in circumstances involving foreign powers.
Lumumba Assassination and Foreign Involvement
Lumumba's crime, according to Musavuli, was that he sought independence for his people and the right to determine their own future without foreign interference. His assassination was not just the loss of one man; it was also an attack on the right of the Congolese people to choose their own leader and determine their own future. Belgium's apology may acknowledge its role in the circumstances surrounding his death, but it does not answer every question about what happened or bring those responsible to justice. An apology cannot return Lumumba's life, give his family back the years they spent without him, or undo the consequences his assassination had for the Congo.
The attack on Lumumba and the struggle for African sovereignty cannot be examined without looking back at the continent's history of enslavement and colonial exploitation. From the transatlantic slave trade to the European scramble for Africa, African lives and resources were repeatedly subjected to the interests of foreign powers. While Liberia and Ethiopia largely escaped formal European colonisation during the Scramble for Africa, the rest of the continent experienced its own share of colonial rule.
Colonial Exploitation in the Congo
The Congolese had a particularly brutal experience, especially under King Leopold II of Belgium, whose personal rule over the Congo Free State became one of the most notorious examples of colonial exploitation. Leopold established the Force Publique, a military force to enforce his authority and compel the Congolese villagers to meet the demands of his administration.
Under his rule, Congolese communities were subjected to strict rubber and ivory collection quotas, with families held hostage, villages burned, and workers subjected to forced labour, starvation, and violence when they failed to meet their targets. Men were forced into the forests to collect rubber, often leaving their families behind, while their wives and children were detained as hostages to ensure compliance.
Leopold's soldiers were required to account for the ammunition they used by presenting the severed hands of those they had killed. This practice, intended to demonstrate that bullets had not been wasted, contributed to widespread mutilation, including the severing of hands from people who were still alive. The Congolese were not merely exploited for their labour and resources but their lives and dignity were treated as nothing in the pursuit of Leopold's wealth and authority.
From Leopold to Independence and Cold War
After news of Leopold's atrocities was exposed, he was eventually forced to surrender the Congo territory to Belgium in 1908. However, this did not mean freedom for the Congolese. The exploitation continued under Belgian colonial rule, while almost all of Africa was still being colonised. Resources and wealth were extracted from across Africa and shipped to Europe to build empires.
Notably, the Shinkolobwe mine in the Congo supplied uranium for the Manhattan Project, which produced the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. By 1960, the movement for independence was growing across Africa, and the Congo was also preparing to break free from Belgian rule.
Patrice Lumumba Belgium Congo Assassination Colonialism CIA Belgian Apology
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