Godvia: The Honorable Patrice Lumumba.

[Music] [Music] [Music] a new face has emerged this week amongst the regular Portrait Gallery of political Fame the face of someone who is politically neutral is the face of a dead man lumba has risen from the status of a powerful living prime minister to that of the assassinated hero of Africa the body of an important personality here I have what's left of a very important historical figure he had very good teeth they covered in gold at the [Music] back how and why was Patrice lumba murdered 40 years ago one man who must know is the Belgian Colonial official and Diplomat jacqu Brin he was dangerous for us in the sense that he wasn't open to the kind of solutions we sometimes wanted to apply another man who played a central role in the fall of the congales politician was Lou malier a colonel in the Belgian Secret Service lumba chose the wrong side of course he was more or less a communist and he chose the Russian side rather than the West Virginia USA this is where CIA agent Larry delin lives he was the man the American government usted with the murder of lumba lumba was a danger for both the Congo and the rest of the world in the sense in the sense that he in the sense that he was allowing the Soviets to come in and we were certainly believed that there was a very good chance that they would take over control of the Congo 40 years after Independence the country with its huge Congo River is still being torn apart by Civil War mutu's long dictatorship plundered its riches and the mineral wealth so viciously fought over has dried up Congo's minister of culture is the daughter of the country's first prime minister lumumba has become the symbol of nationalism in this country and has become the symbol of the struggle for Independence and since he also died a tragic death for his ideas sacrificing himself to pursue those ideas to the very end I think that is what he left us and also for years and years we couldn't really talk about LBA it was practically forbidden here people need to know about him and what happened it's their history which isn't very old only 40 years there's this great desire to know the fathers of our independence but they're not well enough known Lumas house in kinasa or leopoldville as it was known then in 1960 when the Congo became independent it was for a few months at the center stage of world politics Patrice lumba the country's first prime minister the masses who are waiting for us tomorrow want more than just the votes they have obtained today they want bread and progress we need to be able to build this nation there were headlines throughout the entire summer 200 days later the show was over Roland lumumba's youngest son was not even 3 years old when he saw his father for the last time we must know exactly who did it how and why why we have the right to [Music] know it's our duty to pass this knowledge onto the future generations to our children and the children of our children L mumba's typewriter a souvenir from the only friend he had in Belgium Jean vaned a rebellious Christian and anti-colonialist he tried in vain to act as an intermediary between lumba and the Belgian [Music] government Patrice was such a free man and people found it so original to see a black man who didn't lick the feet of the colonialists that they instinctively perceived him as a threat and it was that freedom of his which turned him into a kind of meteorite flashing through the sky and then he disappeared the first Europeans to arrive in the Congo called it the Heart of Darkness in 1955 when King bwan visited the country the colonial order still seemed secure but millions of congales had paid with their lives during the 80 years of Belgian [Music] rule a chance appearance of Patrice lumumba in the background of an old news reel within 5 years this unknown post office worker had become the leader of an Unstoppable Independence [Music] Movement the objective we are pursuing is the liberation of the Congo from the colonial regime and the total emancipation of the country we are certain that we know exactly where we are going the independence of the Congo doesn't mean driving the belgians out or breaking with Belgium quite the opposite we want to form a sovereign government which will provide a place for everyone in a country where congales and belgians will be able to work hand in hand in the service of the congales nation lumba the pan-african with his MNC party won a surprise victory in the first free elections the belgians reluctantly handed over the government to him his closest rival kasavubu became president of the young independent states we are honored to present to the parliament of the Congo the first congales government as follows prime minister and Minister of Defense your humble servant lumba the first Clash came at the Independence celebrations miss you gentlemen the independence of the Congo is the crowning moment of the mission conceived by The Genius King Leopold II undertaken by him with courageous tenacity and pursued with great perseverance by Belgium King bod made a speech in which he exalted the role of Belgium talking about everything Belgium had brought to the Congo he said we had arrived at a moment when Belgium had decided to grant the Congo its independence and that this was well and good I would say it was a classic speech for such circumstances kazav vubu made a speech thanking King ban he talked about the Congo and the future it was a good speech too lumumba hadn't been scheduled to speak the whole International press was there sudden he got up walked to the Tribune and made a [Music] speech L's speech came as a shock nobody was expecting it and it shocked lots of belgians he systematically condemn Belgian colonization he repeated all the harshest anti-colonial accusations we'd cut off people's hands we'd enslave them and all that sort of thing you who have fought for independence and are today Victorious I salute you in the name of the congales government I salute all my friends who fought relentlessly at our sides we have been subjected to insults and sarcasms to the blows we had to endure from morning to night just because we were Africans we learned that the law was never the same according to whether it was applied to whites or blacks who will ever forget the shootings or the barbarous jail cells awaiting those who refuse to submit to this regime of Injustice oppression and [Music] exploitation that was really the decisive moment when he made that famous speech on the 30th of June 196 a lot of people then said he signed his death warrant with that speech because the Belgian government didn't want him not just because of the 30th of June speech but because he was Patrice lumba and he didn't fit in with the hopes of the belgians and Americans and many people in business only 5 days after the founding of the new state a Revolt broke out in the Army the black tro rebelled against their Belgian officers who had no intention of abandoning their command crisis in the Congo took over their headlines in the world's [Applause] [Music] press the Italian Consul in leopoldville was murdered in this car Terror and destruction are now the features of a freedom which many believe to be premature whites are fleeing mobs who have been whipped up to [Music] anger the Belgium government is sending paratroops into the [Music] [Applause] Congo in the copper Rich province of katanga lumumba's opponent chombi called on the belgians for help too in order to disarm the troops less than 10 days after the withdrawal Colonial soldiers triumphantly returned to the former Colony Rene small went to katanga as an officer in the military Secret Service if hadn't been for the courage of that small number of Belgian officers and ncos in containing the blacks and preventing them from overrunning the town then it would have been horrible the Elizabethville Mutiny was over in 24 hours thanks to the belgians the Rebellion started on July 9th and lasted till the 10th it was on the 11th at 5 p.m. that we declared independence this was the katangan secession chombi known locally as Mr Cash Register declared himself president of the separatist Province but he was a president installed by the [Music] belgians Elizabethville was above all a center for important Financial interests that was where the union Minier the mining company was obviously Belgian Financial circles also wanted to keep their hands on that one of the major figures in the Breakaway state was the Minister of Finance Jean batist as soon as we took over the mining company Lun continued to export copper and the revenue from this went into the katanga national bank chom's chief Aid was a Belgian lawyer Jack bartalo the mining company now paid its taxes and license fees to the kangan government not to leopoldville so the contans had plenty of money and this enabled them to equip the katangan JS and buy weapons and armored vehicles there were arms Merchants continually visiting chom's home to try and sell him arms chom's white mercenaries defending the Free World in the heart of Africa soon became came known as laaf literally the Dreadful men there was anger and disappointment at the Breakaway in the congales capital leopoldville the flag over the Belgian Embassy was hauled down and the ambassador of the former colonial power sent [Music] home the plot was all ready and the plans prepared they intend to impose a government against the wishes of the people Belgium wants to bulane this country to break up the Congo lumba asked that American troops come in to replace the belgians and throw the belgians out uh they talked to Ambassador Timberlake who realized that if American troops came in almost certainly then Russian troops would would come in so Timberlake then recommended that instead of asking the United States that they ask the United Nations to send uh troops to to uh resolve the situation at the request of the congales government the UN has decided to replace Belgian troops with United Nations Forces in this way the US Representative C Lodge has opposed Soviet attempts to make propaganda capital of the Congo crisis this was a cont trick on a big scale American planes were hastily resprayed and flew the blue helmet into the Congo lumba and his government had called for un troops in order to end the katanga secession but when they arrived they took no action against chombi and the separatists the Indian General Rick here went to the Congo as military advisor to un Secret General D hammerel unfortunately Mr lumba and Mr kasu wubu or for that matter any other congales leader which belong to one side or the other their their impression was totally wrong of how they were to use the UN they expected the United Nations to behave as a big Power like the United States does when it goes out to help a country that they use Force to help a country they provide arms equipment intelligence well the United Nations is not designed for that purpose as the population celebrated the arrival of un troops in the Congo the Soviet prime minister Nikita kristov was holding out prospects of help from the Red Army for the lumba government lumba tried to use the Soviet Embassy as a means of exerting pressure on the Americans without any official invitation he traveled to the USA and asked for support against the Belgian intervention but the jungle Premier as he was pejoratively called wasn't even received by the [Music] president I wish to convey to the entire American people a message of friendship from the congales people who have great faith in you we want you to understand us and help us and we want you to know that when your technicians and teachers come to our country you will find in the conges people friends and brothers African leaders were new to us a man such as lumba did not have the sophistication or the Polish if you will of the normal German or French or Belgian English what have you Diplomat uh he tended to say things very bluntly and which upset uh I think the Western Nations the international success of the katanga secession led to the Breakaway of another Province the diamond producing region of South casai withdrew from the central government lumba decided to stop the disintegration of the congales state without the help of the West the major problem for any offensive was how to transport his troops to a front 1,000 km away since we were not giving him the airgraft he managed to get some aircraft from the Russians this military operation was relatively successful but lamba had signed his own death sentence a second time now it was the Americans who wanted rid of him the United States deplores the unilateral action of the Soviet Union in supplying aircraft and other equipment for military purposes to the Congo thereby aggregate aggravating an already serious situation which finds Africans killing other Africans I had a little man at the airport and if a white person got off a Soviet aircraft he was considered Russian now he could have been Czech he could have been Bulgarian because they had some bulgarians and some checks there but more likely he was and the man would go one two three four cross one two three four cross and at the end of the day we would count these figures so it was an approximation when I say a thousand but they came in and we were afraid that they would slowly take over the PO the levers of power was it your contact were you in contact with the Americans yes my contact was Larry delin we got on very well and we did some things together but I think the Americans wanted to liquidate lumba oh yes colonel malier was uh in the defense section with the he was a highly respected officer uh he somehow understood congol is probably better than 90 8% of his colleagues and certainly better than I did one day it was agreed with our people that we would put listening devices in the mum's office the Americans provided the equipment and the belgians installed it we intercepted all of lum's telephone conversations the big difficulty was that he often spoke in Teta and we had to have a translator that was the biggest difficulty this useful we knew in general what he was saying and what he was doing through a series of press conferences lumumba tried in vain to win over World public opinion he exposed the foreign Intervention which was attempting to undermine the new independent Congo but the Press branded him as a threat to World interests and set about the assassination of his character reports from the German correspondent Peter schaur were typical of the style used in the western press is it his Mephisto beard or those eyes rolling like billiard ball behind his spectacle lenses there's something terrifying about this man he has the head of an African [Music] Lenin lumumba's daughter Juliana was present at any of the press conferences I was with my father all the time often I was the only person allowed to be with him when he was working on his speeches so I'd sit down quietly and just be with Dad in the Belgian press he was shown as Satan with horns and everything the archetypal communist and all this just because he said things which corresponded to the aspirations of the majority of the people but which were absolutely not part of the mindset or the objectives of the colonial power at the time he wanted the black people the congales people first and foremost to be worthy of their own culture he had faith in them we want to be independent he said but on terms of equality and respect I think that's why people always said he was in transigent are you a communist Mr Lumber it always makes me laugh when I'm asked that question I'm not a communist at all you know I've often been presented as a communist as anti-white anti- Belgian as someone destructive absolutely not I'm simply a nationalist leader fighting for an ideal I'm not a communist at all and never will be American agent Larry Devin received $100,000 from the CIA along with instructions to make the elimination of lumba the priority goal of his covert action yes I received a cable that uh someone whom I would a senior officer that I would know by sight would arrive and give me Specific Instructions uh and that that was very surprising because why were they sending someone there to give me instructions when they could send them by cable I had no idea what the instructions would be in Belgian Secret Service RS there was talk of a mysterious operation Barracuda and of the imminent arrival of two children I must say quite sincerely that I have no recollection of the code name Barracuda at all and the two children what was that the two children no yes yes I remember now they sent two people an aid and major L they sent both of them it must have been those two to talk to me about the lumba affair and they were in favor of eliminating him I remember being totally surprised when he instructed me that they wanted to get rid of the I I I'd never heard of our the agency being involved in such a thing before they wanted to send me a crocodile kill to get rid of L that's what they came to propose substance to to eliminate lumba was toothpaste that was poisoned which would result in a illness very similar to polio or something like that as I remember I never opposed it I always let them get on with things but I let the congales do it I think there were lots of people who preferred him out of the way for good it's been denied that President Eisenhower issued such instructions I have no idea whether he did or did not at the time I assumed that he had and I I I have a feeling that something must have been said that was either he ordered it or he was misunderstood but certainly I under I believed it at the time that it wase presidential order the red flag came down when the congales Army in liopo Ville overthrew the ultra nationalist prime minister Patrice Luma and expelled moscow's diplomatic representative from the country Soviet documents fly sheets and propaganda brochures burned communist intrigues against the United Nations in the Congo have for time being being [Music] stopped a 30-year-old Colonel Desir Mutu has become the new strongman of this young Republic with the support of the majority of the congales army Mutu had in fact been a trusted Ally of lumumba who had appointed him head of the army only a few weeks earlier he now declared he had deposed the prime minister the officer who led the pooch was in fact the West's secret weapon against lumba one of his most influential advisers was the Belgian counter Espionage Officer Colonel malier mabutu was Pro Western that's for sure but apart from that he was also manipulated by the Americans he was interested in dealing with the United States and having American support and I was the the person with whom he worked mut po was the Prelude to a dictatorship lasting more than 30 years from which the country has never recovered butu didn't do it on his own he was helped they came to take this country's wealth they came to get contracts with him so they could fill their pockets and to get bigger and bigger royalties they supported him for more than 30 years the Americans the belgians the French and the big International companies they didn't come to develop the country they came to make a profit and they made huge [Music] profits muto's move against lumumba was not only supported by Western secret services but also by the United Nations it was a million dollars roughly uh which was UN money which was used to pay the troops using troops paid by foreign powers mobuto put lumba under house arrest UN forces also surrounded the residents of the deposed prime minister to protect him but also to eliminate him [Music] politically lumumba broke the siege and tried to take his family on the 2,000 km drive to Stanleyville where a PR lumumba counter government had been formed but his very popularity was to become his [Music] undoing we understood it was to be like a normal official trip so we mobilized the population in the usual way he made a speech in every village even in those Villages which didn't support him he would make speeches he was caught in a trap of his own making he wanted to win people over and he was quite capable of doing so but this dragged out the journey and they were able to catch up with him and put him in prison late in the evening of the 1st of December 1960 lumumba crossed the sankuru river by boat and appeared to have reached safety but the ferry boat bringing his family also brought his pursuers at the last moment lumumba managed to escape by driving to a un position the UN troops from Ghana had always been on his side but this time the door stayed shut any intervention on behalf of the fugitive had been explicitly forbidden by [Music] headquarters we had only agreed to provide him protection in the house if he wanted to go out then he had to tell us he's going out where he is going how he going then we would have to decide how we are going to [Music] protect 2 days later at leopoldville [Music] airport mauto had told the international press to come to the airport photographers and Camera Crews from the West were to witness the abuse and humiliation of the great [Music] lumba we took him to tville where he was guarded by bzo and then one day we said he was trying to escape and that's when nandaka took things in hand to get him sent somewhere else victon and Daka had once been a close friend of Lumas his representative at the head of the party now he became mbutu's security Chief responsible for capturing his former party comrades on the 13th of January there was what you would call a mutiny at the military Camp the Army was divided there were PR lumba and anti- lumba factions General Baboo said to Mutu I can't guarantee his security anymore you'll have to take him off my hands put him wherever you like but he must leave this Camp because I can no longer vouch for the troops stationed in thille we alerted everyone we could and said be careful he's quite capable of coming back to leopoldville with the tanks from tville because he was capable of stirring up the troops and getting them behind him everyone was given their assignment mine was to go to tville get the prisoners and from there take them to moanda it was only when we were in the plane that lumba realized what was really going on two of lumumba's close political allies were also on board ministers mapo and okito who were also to share his fate I wasn't interested I washed my hands of it and that was that the destination of this carefully planned trip was katanga where lumumba's deadly enemy was waiting for him I was told to ask J if he would take delivery of the parcel Malia used the Belgian secret Services radio connections for his secret message but who did he speak to Commander fict he was the one who answered first message which I received at the end of the morning was a message which had clearly come from Colonel marier saying request agreement from the Jew to receive Satan yes those were code words we didn't speak openly the Jew in my coded language was J and Satan for lumba and let me point out that these code words were chosen by Colonel malier and not by myself for us lumba was Satan and he did look satanical you just have to look at those eyes and Chom was the Jew why Mr Cash Register even the government in Brussels sent a telegram requesting that chombi take charge of the prisoners so the aircraft landed at katanga's airport we were there when lumba and the two others got off the plane and it wasn't a pleasant [Music] sight they put the three of them in a Jeep and that was when I realized it was Luma who I had already seen before independence they shaped his beard off he was tied up and all that there were three of them they struck me Lum anyway as very dignified or shall we say fatalistic it's difficult to describe they were being propped up but they seemed very tired the Airfield was occupied by Swedish un troops they were there and saw the whole business the Swedish unit was in the control tower one of them Sergeant kren made a very brief report describing the arrival of the prisoners yes we did have a report on his arrival and immediately report instructions were given that we you must watch him you must insist that uh he know bodily harm is done the prisoners were taken to an empty private house belonging to a Belgian settler not far from the airport it was here at the Villa Bru that they were guarded by military police under Belgian command there were many witnesses to the events which followed I saw several members of the katanga government including the interior Minister Mr [ __ ] who looked lumumba over from head to foot and back again and then spat on the ground when saw that I said to myself Luma has got his death sentence after the visit from the interior Minister [ __ ] we were ordered to shoot at the UN troops if they came and if we couldn't prevent them getting in we were to kill lumba did you feel any pity for him why should I I have no pity for him he insulted our King didn't it upset you a bit upset a man's death doesn't leave you indifferent but upset no no I said to ch his fate is sealed lumumba's fate is sealed it's as sealed as if he was already dead I'm sure of that and in that case they may as well execute him at bwanga as at Elizabethville but there he was in the hands of the blacks they were in the hands of the black government so the discussion was not about whether to save Lumber the only discussion was about where to kill him wait yes to put it in plain words that was the issue they wanted to kill them all they said if we don't kill him we'll have more trouble it was [ __ ] and kib the hardliners in the katanga government whose point of view won the day and their line was lumumba's arrival in katanga means he must be put to death the government met and decided lumumba would be killed they had a lot to drink during that cabinet meeting and they had a lot more to drink afterwards they took them to the presidency to chom's Residence it was already evening about 8:00 8:30 and from the presidency they went to the place where they were executed and this is where the execution took place they stood The Condemned man up against that tree why didn't the Belgian officers refuse to take part oh that's a good question the Belgian officers were on Detachment to katanga They carried out the orders they received from the authorities they had been sued to we dug a hole and we put them in front of it we shot them and they fell into the hole this is the tree they were stood up against and here are the famous bullet holes here you can see them a bit better the bullets of course went right through their bodies before lodging themselves in this tree don't sit [Music] down for me the business with lumba started the morning after the execution The Man In Charge the Belgian called me into his office and said okay are you going to take care of this and I said all right but what do I have to [Music] do the kangan denied he was dead they denied everything it was absolutely crazy we cut the bodies up into pieces they were buried twice we cut them up into pieces we burn them but we also had huge quantities of acid like you're having car batteries so most of each body was dissolved and then the rest we burn them but we had to do all this without the Black Sea in the middle of the forest that was a problem too there were two of us just the two we had to do all that on our own get the three bodies out of the ground cut them into pieces and Destroy them and nobody was to know about it and nobody did nobody knew what happened there were all kinds of stories about lum's death he was supposed to have escaped stolen a car being killed by some villagers who recognized him but nobody believed any of that for a second even the Belgian Minister for Africa one of those pulling the strings behind the scenes contributed to the cover up with false telegrams she I went there the next day as soon as I arrived at the airport I was told he was dead I wonder how you reacted to this news what was your reaction oh I said good riddance what else would you expect me to say for you it was the kind of solution of all problems yes was happy happy not not perhaps the word you you're busy here's one problem gone now what's the next problem 3 weeks later the story was lumumba and his accomplices massacred by villagers just one of countless lies the whole truth only came to light 10 years later none of the murderers or the men behind them has ever been indicted lumumba wrote a last letter from prison I often remember a sentence from that letter which said to my children whom I'm leaving to my children who I'll never see again I'd like to say Congo has a magnificent future tell them the future of Conga will be magnificent and that he expects them as he expects of every congales to do their sacred Duty there are even people who believe you will return now he'll have to come back with two front teeth missing you're Europeans I think this image and I'm not Jewish I'm black recalls the Holocaust their bodies were burned their body fat was used as fertilizer their gold teeth were taken as War booty and that's called a crime against humanity it's as simple as [Music] that [Music]

Channel: godvia

Views: 113,109

Keywords: Patrice Lumumba (Politician), Africa, Black, Excellence, Holy Man, African, Freedom, Sovereignty

Id: 1B_gSBiSWRg

Length: 45min 2sec (2702 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 24 2015