KINSHASA — On Thursday, the family of Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s martyred independence hero, buried his only known remains (a tooth) in Kinshasa, 61 years after he was killed by Belgian-backed rebels.
Many people gathered in a large square to celebrate the occasion. They waved flags and looked at a large photograph of Lumumba with his signature horn-rimmed glasses, side-swept hair and white flowers.
Lumumba was shot to death by a firing squad in Katanga, southeastern Province on January 16, 1961. He had been ousted from the post of prime minister the previous years. This happened within months of Congo’s independence.
Over the crowd was a banner that read “Many Thanks, National Hero”, which was displayed above the heads of Denis Sassou Nguesso Nguesso, the president of the neighboring Congo Republic and several African ambassadors.
President Felix Tshisekedi stated that the Congolese people will finally be able to offer a burial to their distinguished prime minister. “We are ending the… mourning that we began 61 years ago.”
The funeral took place on the 62nd anniversary the independence of the central African nation. Lumumba delivered a passionate speech slamming Belgium’s 75-year-old colonization of Congo on that day.
Lumumba, Congo’s first democratically elected prime Minister, alarmed the West by making overtures to Moscow during the height of Cold War.
His government lasted only three months before it was overthrown. Some historians and supporters accuse the CIA.
In 2002, a Belgian Parliament investigation into Lumumba’s death concluded that Belgium was morally responsible.
The body was never found. Gerard Soete (a Belgian policeman) claimed that he had taken his only remaining tooth and dissolved most of the corpse with acid. The rest was burned.
Belgium’s King Philippe, who visited Congo this month for the first-time, gave Lumumba the tooth on June 20.
One of his grand-daughters wrote Lumumba a letter titled “Your Return Home, the Honors You Are Receiving Here are a Page of the History You Continue to Write”, which she read at the funeral.
