In Congo, the Only Known Remains of Patrice Lumumba Are Finally Laid to Rest

Above: Funeral ceremony held for the return of the remains of Patrice Lumumba. (Photo: Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

I’ve written previously of my interest in and admiration for the life and legacy of Patrice Émery Lumumba (1925-1961), a leader of the Congolese independence movement who served as the first Prime Minister of the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Republic of the Congo). Throughout much of his adult life Lumumba resisted colonialism and corporatism, a defiant stance that, without doubt, led to his murder during a coup backed by Belgium and the U.S.

“Lumumba lived and died fighting for the liberation of African people from the shackles of colonial powers,” notes Gauri Lankes News. “His legacy lives in the struggle of African nations against neo-imperialism.”

Last week the only known remains of Lumumba were buried in his home country, 61 years after his assassination. Following, with added images and links, is the Latin American-based teleSUR news network’s coverage of the burial ceremony.

_______________________

Congo Buries Remains
of Independence Martyr
Patrice Lumumba
teleSUR
June 30, 2022

In 2000, a former Belgian police officer recounted that he had cut up Lumumba’s body and dissolved it in acid because he had received orders to make the corpse disappear.

In an official ceremony held on Thursday, the family of the martyr of the independence of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Patrice Lumumba, buried his only known remains, a tooth, in the mausoleum built in his honor in Kinshasa [right].

Hundreds of people came together to remember Lumumba, who was assassinated by secessionist rebels backed by Belgium and the U.S. Waving national flags, they carried a photo in which he appears with his characteristic tortoiseshell-rimmed glasses.

Lumumba was killed by a firing squad on January 16, 1961 in the province of Katanga, in the southeast of the country. This happened after he was overthrown as prime minister in 1960, a few months after the Congo’s declaration of independence.

“Finally, the Congolese people can have the honor of offering a burial to their illustrious prime minister. We are ending a mourning that we began 61 years ago,” DRC President Felix Tshisekedi said during the 62nd anniversary of his country’s independence.

On June 20, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo recognized the “moral responsibility” of his country’s authorities for the assassination of Patrice Lumumba and apologized to his family. After assassinating the pro-independence leader, the Belgian mercenaries dissolved his corpse in acid so that he could never be found.

“In 2000, Gerard Soete, a former Belgian police officer, recounted that he had cut up Lumumba’s body and dissolved it in acid because he had received orders to make the corpse disappear,” the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia recalled.

“He kept two of Lumumba’s teeth. . . . Soete died that year, but much later, in 2016, the justice seized a tooth attributed to Lumumba in a registry at the house of the Belgian policeman’s daughter, who also had not resisted the temptation to show that ‘trophy’ in public.”

Related Off-site Links:
Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961) – Sean Jacobs (Jacobin, January 17, 2017).
In Search of Lumumba – Christian Parenti (In These Times, January 30, 2008).
Patrice Lumumba: The Most Important Assassination of the 20th Century – Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja (The Guardian, January 17, 2011).
Death of Lumumba – A History of Foreign Involvement – S.A. Randhawa (I/R/M, December 13, 2019).
Remembering Patrice Lumumba: A Martyr of the Revolution – Shashank S R (Gauri Lankes News, July 2, 2020).
Both Belgium and the United States Should Be Called to Account for the Death of Patrice Lumumba – Tim Butcher (The Spectator, March 7, 2015).
Congo’s Patrice Lumumba: The Winds of Reaction in Africa – Kenneth Good (CounterPunch, August 23, 2019).
The Tragedy of Lumumba: An Exchange – Ludo De Witte Colin Legum and Brian Urquhart (The New York Review, December 20, 2001).
Martyr by Choice – Catherine Hoskyns (The New York Review, April 5, 1973).
An Exchange on the Death of Lumumba – A.C. Gilpin and Catherine Hoskyns (The New York Review, April 22, 1971).
Who Killed Lumumba? – Catherine Hoskyns (The New York Review, December 17, 1970).
Belgium Faces Up to Post-war “Apartheid” in Congolese Colony – Jennifer Rankin (The Guardian, December 9, 2018).
Brussels Sets Straight Historical Wrong Over Patrice Lumumba Killing – Patrick Smyth (The Irish Times, July 5, 2018).
Belgian Princess Condemns Her Family’s Brutal Colonial History in Congo and Calls for Reparations – Democracy Now! (July 9, 2020).
“Deepest Regrets,” But No Apology: King Philippe Acknowledges Colonial Cruelties – Maïthé Chini (The Brussels Times, June 8, 2022).
61 Years Later, Belgium Finally Returns Patrice Lumumba’s Tooth to Family – Sinai Fleary (The Voice, June 21, 2022).
Congo Buries Remains of Independence Martyr Patrice Lumumba – teleSUR (June 30, 2022).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Bringing Lumumba Home
• Raoul Peck on Patrice Lumumba and the Making of a Martyr
• Remembering Patrice Lumumba
• John Pilger on Resisting Empire