Patrice Émery Lumumba, born Isaïe Tasumbu Tawosa;on 2 July 1925, in Onalua, Belgian Congo [now Democratic Republic of the Congo], was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first Prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (then known as the Republic of the Congo) from June until September 1960, following the May 1960 election. He was the leader of the Congolese National Movement (MNC) from 1958 until his assassination in 1961. Ideologically an African nationalist and pan-Africanist, he played a significant role in the transformation of the Congo from a colony of Belgium into an independent republic.
Shortly
after Congolese independence in June 1960, a mutiny broke out in the army,
marking the beginning of the Congo Crisis. After a coup, Lumumba attempted
to escape to Stanleyville to join his supporters who had established
a new anti-Mobutu state called the Free Republic of the Congo. Lumumba was
captured enroute by state authorities under Joseph-Désiré Mobutu (Sese Seko),
sent to the State of Katanga and, with the help of Belgian
mercenaries, tortured and executed by the separatist Katangan authorities
of Moïse Tshombe. In 2002, Belgium formally apologized for its role in the execution,
admitting "moral responsibility", and in 2022, they returned
Lumumba’s tooth to his family. He is seen as a martyr for the pan-African
movement.
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