Join Our Groups
VIDEOS OF PATRICE LUMUMBA
Patrice Émery
Lumumba alternatively styled Patrice
Hemery Lumumba; (2 July 1925 – 17 January 1961) was a Congolese politician
and independence leader who served as the first Prime Minister of the
independent Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Republic of the Congo) from
June until September 1960. He played a significant role in the transformation
of the Congo from a colony of Belgium into an independent republic.
Ideologically an African nationalist and Pan-Africanist, he led the Congolese
National Movement (MNC) party from 1958 until his assassination.
Shortly after
Congolese independence in 1960, a mutiny broke out in the army, marking the
beginning of the Congo Crisis. Lumumba appealed to the United States and the United
Nations for help to suppress the Belgian-supported Katangan secessionists led
by Moise Tshombe. Both refused, so Lumumba turned to the Soviet Union for
support. This led to growing differences with President Joseph Kasa-Vubu and
chief-of-staff Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, as well as with the United States and Belgium,
who opposed the Soviet Union in the Cold War.
Lumumba was
subsequently imprisoned by state authorities under Mobutu and executed by a
firing squad under the command of Katangan authorities. Following his assassination,
he was widely seen as a martyr for the wider Pan-African movement. In 2002,
Belgium formally apologised for its role in the assassination.
Videos of Patrice Lumumba
Video 1
Video 2
EmoticonEmoticon