Patrice Lumumba

Executed by firing squad on 17 January 1961 in Katanga with Belgian complicity after being deposed by Mobutu; the first prime minister of the Congo became the martyr of African independence.

Overview

Lumumba, the trade unionist who led the Congo to independence in June 1960 within months of release from prison, broke with Belgium over the army mutiny and the Katanga secession of Moise Tshombe, and turned to the Soviet Union for airlift support. President Kasavubu dismissed him, Mobutu coup neutralized the government, and Lumumba was captured fleeing to his supporters. Beaten and flown to Elisabethville, he was shot with two associates by Katangese soldiers under Belgian command and direction, his body dissolved in acid. Belgium formally apologized for its responsibility in 2002, and a Belgian parliamentary inquiry established the participation of Belgian officials and the CIA plotting that had called for his removal. His memory galvanized pan-Africanism and the radical decade of African nationalism.