Patrice Lumumba was the first elected Prime Minister of the
Congo. He ascended to power in the Congo on June 30, 1960, the
date of Congo' s
independence from Belgium. Within ten weeks of being elected,
Lumumba's
government was deposed in a coup. He was subsequently imprisoned
and assassinated on January 17, 1961 by Western
powers (United
States, Belgium, France,
England and the United Nations) in cahoots with local leaders
such as Moise Tshombe and Joseph Desire Mobutu.
Lumumba is a member of the Tetela ethnic group. He was born
on July 2, 1925, in Katako-Kombe in the Sunkuru
district of the Kasai Province. Growing up, Lumumba attended
a Protestant Missionary school as well as a Catholic missionary
school and became a part of the educated elite called évolués.
Lumumba contributed to the Congolese press through poems and
other writings. His occupations included a postal clerk in Kinshasa
and an accountant in Kisangani. Lumumba's organizational involvement
were varied. He served as head of a trade union of government
employees, he was active in the Belgian Liberal Party and in
1958, Lumumba founded the Congolese National Movement (MNC in
French). Also in 1958, he was invited to the first All-African
People's Conference in Accra, Ghana, organized by Kwame Nkrumah.
He met nationalists and pan-africanists from various African
countries and became a member of the permanent organization
set up by the conference.
Lumumba's party won national elections in May of 1960 which
led to his ascendancy to Prime Minister on June 30, 1960. Read
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