Patrice Lumumba: A Tale of Betrayal

By Kelvin Sondifu

On October 6th 1960, Belgium ordered the assassination of the democratically elected Prime
Minister of Congo, Patrice Emery Lumumba. A death order signed by Minister for African
Affairs, Count d' Aspremont Lynden, arrived via cable in Katanga's capital, Elizabethville to be
effected that day.

In essence, the horrid cable contained these words, 'our policy is now directed at the definite
elimination of Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Congo'

Before this cable arrived, a meeting where this decision was first reached took place in the Oval
Office, Washington D.C. In August, 1960 President Eisenhower Dwight had a meeting with his
national security advisers on the Congo situation. According to the minute-taker of that
meeting, Robert Johnson, the President turned to CIA director, Allen Dulles in the meeting and
directly ordered the elimination of the elected Prime Minister of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba.

The assassination assignment that President Eisenhower carelessly toasted at the CIA chief was
delivered in full hearing of all those present at the meeting. A shock that lasted for about 15
seconds of stunned silence, a somewhat unease and disbelieve lingered in the air as if for
eternity, before the full weight of the order downed on those present. Allen Dulles, the CIA
Director promptly relayed to his field operatives these words, 'Lumumba's assassination is an
urgent and prime objective'. In late September of that year, the CIA sent a scientist, Dr. Sidney
Gottlieb to the Congo, with the task to assassinate the democratically elected Prime Minister,
Patrice Lumumba.

At this time, the stage was set for the most infamous and gruesome murder in the history of
Africa. With Belgium and the United States governments' decision to assassinate the most
popular African leader in modern time, democracy was banished in the Congo forever. This
most inhuman conspiracy, cooked up in Brussels and Washington has led to the death of 3.8
million innocent Congolese. Half of which were children.

With green light from the founders of democracy and the champion of human rights for the
extrajudicial execution of a democratically elected leader, the following brutal scene was
diabolically staged managed by the Belgian military officer and hired assassin, Captain Julien
Gat.

The night was chilly, 17th of January; just 23 days after Christians in United States and Belgium
celebrated the birth of Jesus. But this night, Christ would witness a most brutal and gruesome
crime from heaven with stunned shock and sheer disbelief.

An extrajudicial execution preparation meticulously planned in great details premeditated the

historic murder in the jungles of the Congo. The scene was set, shallow graves dug. A special
execution squad armed with Belgian FAL riffles positioned, 20 other force men, Belgian officers
and Katangese Ministers stood by and watched in silence.

The night was dark, but the crime scene was lighted by head-lamps of police vehicles. Between
9.40 pm and 9.43 pm, within 5 hours after their arrival in Katanga, a Belgian police officer
marched the Prime Minister of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba and two other top government
officials - Maurice Mpolo, Minister of youths and sports; and Joseph Okito, Vice President of the
Congolese Senate to a big tree in the serene Africa savannah, with scent of fresh leaves in the air
and soothing melodies from playful Africa insects.

The Prime Minister was physically weary having been beaten continuously for several days non
stop. With incredible courage and sheer will the visionary managed to keep his head up. He and
the two other victims were barefooted, with shredded clothes that hung over their bloodied
bodies. Their faces swollen, with cuts they received from barrage of knuckles and riffle butt
poundings.

The democratically elected leaders of the Congo were lined up against a large tree. The Christian
religion murderers from Belgium gave them time to pray after their handcuffs were taken off.
But Lumumba rejected the offer.

Realising what was about to happen, Joseph Okito, the Vice President of Congo Senate, pleaded
that his wife and children be taken care of. After the plea, the Belgian government
representative, a captain, ordered the execution. A violent burst of enormous bullets rained and
riddled the Prime minister's body and his colleagues. According to police commissioner
Verscheure, a half kilo of cartridges was picked up after the execution. This shows the amount of
hate, animosity and ill will, Belgium had against the leaders of this helpless and innocent
African nation.

What followed after this brutal murder reveals how devilish the Belgian government was. Even
after death, these inhuman brutes continued the humiliation of Africa's most popular leader of
all time. Thus they showed no respect for humanity.

This is not just another conspiracy theory. According to Belgium Parliamentary inquiry on the
murder of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, the government of Belgium is responsible for the
assassination. In addition, they found Belgium guilty of callously brewing and spreading lies and
false information aimed at covering its barbaric act in the Congo.

The genie was clearly out of the bottle. A 1975 America Congressional inquiry concluded that
CIA Director Allen Dulles ordered the murder of Patrice Lumumba. And 'a reasonable inference'
could be drawn that this was done with President Eisenhower's consent.

The next phase was a comprehensive and calculated cover up attempt. A senior Belgian police
officer was instructed to conceal the murder. Now 86 years old, police officer Gerard Soete, who
lives at present in Bruges, was that mastermind 44 years ago. He devised an evil genius plan to
hide the murder of Patrice Lumumba from the world.

According to Soete, he received the order to destroy the corpse of Lumumba and the other two
murdered Congo leaders. The instruction specifically said that he should make them disappear.

On the night of 22, January 1961 Soete and his brother exhumed the bodies from their shallow
graves, and used hacksaw to chopped them to pieces. Then the bodies were dissolved in
sulphuric acid which were supplied by Belgian-run mines. After long hours on this hideous job,
the bodies had disappeared unless for some teeth and bullets; which police commissioner Soete
took as souvenir, and displayed in a Belgium television interview.

"We were there for two days; we did things an animal wouldn't do. That is why we were drunk"
Belgium police commissioner Soete confessed. He said that when they ran out of acid, they had
to burn the human remains with fire. Though the task was daunting, they accomplished their
objective - which was to eliminate all trace of bodies.

The killers of Lumumba then entered the last stages of their plan; they carried out a systematic
propaganda aimed to cover up their crime. They announced after three weeks of the murder that
Lumumba was killed by some irate villagers during an escape attempt.

It took 40 years for the government of Belgium to apologize for the murder of the only elected
Prime Minister of Congo, Patrice Lumumba. But a shorter time for the Belgian police officer.
Gerard soete said, 'My wife knew nothing about it. I didn't speak to anyone about it for 18 years'

Malcolm X was deeply touched by the murder of Lumumba, which he named, the greatest
African that ever lived. The popular African martyr confirmed Malcolm's claim in January, 1961;
a week before his murder, he wrote his wife these words that are now gold plated and
immortalized in the very palace of history. "No brutality, mistreatment, or torture has ever
forced me to ask for grace, for I prefer to die with my head high, my faith steadfast, and my
confidence profound in the destiny of my country, rather than to live in submission and scorn of
sacred principles. History will one day have its say, but it will not be the history that Brussels,
Paris, Washington or the United Nations will teach, but that which they will teach in the
countries emancipated from colonialism and its puppets.

Africa will write its own history, and it will be, to the north and to the south of the Sahara, a
history of glory and dignity."

One may wonder why the fathers of Christianity and Democracy brutally murdered an innocent
democratic elected leader. A top CIA official provided the answer in this statement - 'In the
1960s, CIA agents regularly bought and sold Congolese politicians'; but when Prime Minister
Patrice Lumumba refused to be a part of that trade, he was sentenced to death by firing squad.

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