[1]<\/a> emphasised two things. Lumumba and his nation would not tolerate Baudoin\u2019s revision of the humiliating and brutal colonial past, and if he had not been previously, Lumumba was a marked man from that day forth.<\/p>\nFearing the loss of their plantations and business interests Belgian colonists fought to maintain their privileges. They did so by taking advantage of divisions in the government between President Joseph Kasa-Vubu and Lumumba, who favoured different systems. They also stoked the flames by instigating the secessionist movement in the mineral rich Katanga province.<\/p>\n
Katanga\u2019s secessionist government was led by Mo\u00efse Tshombe, but it was sustained by mainly Belgian mercenaries. The strategy soon bore fruit, as the Congolese army soon mutinied.<\/p>\n
Plots<\/strong><\/p>\nPlotting Lumumba\u2019s downfall gathered pace. The governments of Belgium, Britain and the USA wanted a permanent solution to the Lumumba problem. Fearful of losing influence and privilege, especially in Katanga province, the former colonial power began destabilising the newly independent Congo.<\/p>\n
The Chief of Staff, Joseph D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Mobutu, \u2013 a man Lumumba had unwisely promoted \u2013 proved a willing vessel. The new government was soon in a chaotic state \u2013 one that could be exploited. On September 5th 1960 Lumumba was dismissed by President Kasa-Vubu, but the Prime Minister refused to accept it and dismissed the President \u2013 the Prime Minister had greater power than the President.<\/p>\n
Just over a week later Mobutu made his move, launching his first coup. Lumumba was put under house arrest. Initially, Lumumba was more Pan-Africanist than socialist and had wanted normal relations with the USA, but his anti-colonial speech in response to Baudoin I\u2019s paternalistic appreciation of Belgian colonialism and rule came at a high cost. It alarmed the west and also Kasa-Vubu and Mobutu.<\/p>\n
Lumumba asked for help from the USA, especially to resolve the separatist problem, but it was refused. That left him little option but to ask the United Nations and also the USSR to help. At the height of the Cold War Lumumba had been driven into the arms of the USSR and that heightened western fears about him.<\/p>\n
The governments of the USA, Britain and Belgium wanted a permanent solution to the \u2018Lumumba problem\u2019. And now they had their pretext.<\/p>\n
Cynical Ruse<\/strong><\/p>\nAfter four months he was allowed to escape, but that was a ruse. The UN did nothing to save him. Almost certainly on the orders of the Belgian Minister for African Affairs, Mobutu and Kasa-Vubu had Lumumba delivered into the hands of Katanga\u2019s secessionists. Lumumba was made to literally eat his own words. Tshombe then did what Mobutu could not \u2013 he had Lumumba murdered by Belgian mercenaries led by Julien Gat on January 17th 1961.<\/p>\n
Another Belgian mercenary, Charles Huygh\u00e9 boasted of his role in the murder of an unarmed prisoner, and claimed that Lumumba begged for his life. Instead of facing justice, Huygh\u00e9 was awarded Belgium\u2019s top award for bravery, the Order of Leopold. Huygh\u00e9 was also made a Knight of the Realm.<\/p>\n
[1]<\/a> The following extract of Lumumba\u2019s impromptu speech is quoted by Chukwunyere Kamalu in The Little African History Book \u2013 Black Africa from the Origins of Humanity to the Assassination of Lumumba and the Turn of the 20th Century<\/strong>. The third edition, sadly out of print was published by Orisa Press<\/em> in 2007: \u201cFor this independence of the Congo, even as it is celebrated today with Belgium, a friendly country with whom we deal as equal to equal, no Congolese worthy of the name will ever be able to forget that it was by fighting that it has been won, a day-to-day fight, an ardent and idealistic fight, a fight in which we were spared neither privation nor suffering, and for which we gave our strength and our blood. We are proud of this struggle, of tears, of fire, and of blood, to the depths of our being, for it was a noble and just struggle, and indispensable to put an end to the humiliating slavery which was imposed upon us by force\u201d.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (April 2nd 2016) Fomenting Discord June 30th 1960 was a day of hope and [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[438,439,224,432,440,441,434,436,233,437,442],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1346"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1346"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1869,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1346\/revisions\/1869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}