“We shall institute in the country a peace resting not on guns and bayonets but on concord and goodwill”
Speech by Prime Minister Patrice Eméry Lumumba on the occasion of the celebration of Congo’s independence, Léopoldville (Kinshasa), 30 June 1960
Document commemorating the political assassination of Patrice Lumumba (17 January 1961)
(picture Wikipedia)
Men and women of the Congo,
Victorious independence fighters,
I salute you in the name of the Congolese Government.
I ask all of you, my friends, who tirelessly fought in our ranks, to mark this June 30, 1960, as an illustrious date that will be ever engraved in your hearts, a date whose meaning you will proudly explain to your children, so that they in turn might relate to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren the glorious history of our struggle for freedom.
Although this independence of the Congo is being proclaimed today by agreement with Belgium, an amicable country, with which we are on equal terms, no Congolese will ever forget that independence was won in struggle, a persevering and inspired struggle carried on from day to day, a struggle, in which we were undaunted by privation or suffering and stinted neither strength nor blood.
It was filled with tears, fire and blood. We are deeply proud of our struggle, because it was just and noble and indispensable in putting an end to the humiliating bondage forced upon us.
That was our lot for the eighty years of colonial rule and our wounds are too fresh and much too painful to be forgotten.
We have experienced forced labour in exchange for pay that did not allow us to satisfy our hunger, to clothe ourselves, to have decent lodgings or to bring up our children as dearly loved ones.
Morning, noon and night we were subjected to jeers, insults and blows because we were “Negroes”. Who will ever forget that the black was addressed as “tu”, not because he was a friend, but because the polite “vous” was reserved for the white man?
We have seen our lands seized in the name of ostensibly just laws, which gave recognition only to the right of might.
We have not forgotten that the law was never the same for the white and the black, that it was lenient to the ones, and cruel and inhuman to the others.
We have experienced the atrocious sufferings, being persecuted for political convictions and religious beliefs, and exiled from our native land: our lot was worse than death itself.
We have not forgotten that in the cities the mansions were for the whites and the tumbledown huts for the blacks; that a black was not admitted to the cinemas, restaurants and shops set aside for “Europeans”; that a black travelled in the holds, under the feet of the whites in their luxury cabins.
Who will ever forget the shootings which killed so many of our brothers, or the cells into which were mercilessly thrown those who no longer wished to submit to the regime of injustice, oppression and exploitation used by the colonialists as a tool of their domination? [lively and prolonged applause]
All that, my brothers, brought us untold suffering. But we, who were elected by the votes of your representatives, representatives of the people, to guide our native land, we, who have suffered in body and soul from the colonial oppression, we tell you that henceforth all that is finished with.
The Republic of the Congo has been proclaimed and our beloved country’s future is now in the hands of its own people.
Brothers, let us commence together a new struggle, a sublime struggle that will lead our country to peace, prosperity and greatness. Together we shall establish social justice and ensure for every man a fair remuneration for his labour.
We shall show the world what the black man can do when working in liberty, and we shall make the Congo the pride of Africa.
We shall see to it that the lands of our native country truly benefit its children.
We shall revise all the old laws and make them into new ones that will be just and noble.
We shall stop the persecution of free thought. We shall see to it that all citizens enjoy to the fullest extent the basic freedoms provided for by the Declaration of Human Rights. [Applause]
We shall eradicate all discrimination, whatever its origin, and we shall ensure for everyone a station in life befitting his human dignity and worthy of his labour and his loyalty to the country.
We shall institute in the country a peace resting not on guns and bayonets but on concord and goodwill. [Applause]
And in all this, my dear compatriots, we can rely not only on our own enormous forces and immense wealth, but also on the assistance of the numerous foreign states, whose co-operation we shall accept when it is not aimed at imposing upon us an alien policy, but is given in a spirit of friendship. [Applause]
Even Belgium, which has finally learned the lesson of history and need no longer try to oppose our independence, is prepared to give us its aid and friendship; for that end an agreement has just been signed between our two equal and independent countries. I am sure that this co-operation will benefit both countries. For our part, we shall, while remaining vigilant, try to observe the engagements we have freely made.
Thus, both in the internal and the external spheres, the new Congo being created by my government will be rich, free and prosperous. But to attain our goal without delay, I ask all of you, legislators and citizens of the Congo, to give us all the help you can.
I ask you all to sink your tribal quarrels: they weaken us and may cause us to be despised abroad.
I ask you all not to shrink from any sacrifice for the sake of ensuring the success of our grand undertaking.
Finally, I ask you unconditionally to respect the life and property of fellow-citizens and foreigners who have settled in our country; if the conduct of these foreigners leaves much to be desired, our Justice will promptly expel them from the territory of the republic; if, on the contrary, their conduct is good, they must be left in peace, for they, too, are working for our country’s prosperity.
The Congo’s independence is a decisive step towards the liberation of the whole African continent. [Applause]
Your Majesty, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, fellow citizens, my brothers and sisters of our race, my brothers in arms – this is what I wanted to say to you on behalf of the government on this glorious day of our complete and sovereign independence [lively and prolonged applause].
Our government, a government of national and popular unity, will serve its country.
I call on all Congolese citizens, men, women and children, to set themselves resolutely to the task of creating a national economy and ensuring our economic independence.
Eternal glory to the fighters for national liberation!
Long live independence and African unity!
Long live the independent and sovereign Congo! [Prolonged applause] •
Source: Patrice Lumumba, The Truth about a Monstrous Crime of the Colonialists, Moscow, Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1961, pp. 44–47. Written by Patrice Lumumba
The original speech delivered in French: youtube/AfricaMuseum/Speech at the Congolese independence ceremony, Leopoldville, 30 June 1960.
Anyone who wants to realise human dignity is marked for death
pk. What Patrice Lumumba did not know on 30 June 1960, but perhaps suspected: even in the run-up to the independence celebrations, the Belgian government had intensified its traditional contacts with the neo-colonialist traditional forces within the Congo and expanded them unofficially through its secret diplomacy. These were primarily economically motivated, especially through existing channels to the dominant Congolese classes in the provinces of South Kasai and Katanga. To this day, these regions are considered rich in minerals, especially copper (Katanga) and diamonds (South Kasai). Brussels’ main Congolese guarantor for safeguarding its interests also in the new Congo was Moïsé Tshombe. He came from a leading family of the Katanga copper dynasty. Due to his direct connections to the mining companies that had long been leaders in the Congo, especially the Belgian Union minière du Haut Katanga, he became the representative of the neo-colonialist forces, which pursued very different goals also in the new Congo than Lumumba. Tshombe had been educated at a Methodist school in the United States, admired the United States and had founded an anti-communist movement in Katanga. At the time of the declaration of independence, he became its president, then president of the province. Just nine days after Lumumba took office, Tshombe declared Katanga’s independence and fought against the central government, soon resorting to military action. This led to bloody fighting, which continued as the Congo Crisis until Mobutu’s second and final military coup in November 1965.
Due to his decisive appearance at the ceremony on 30 June 1960, the Belgian government, its American advisers and both secret services had come to the conclusion that Lumumba had to be “neutralised”, which they pursued covertly and determinedly from that day onwards: the assassination of Lumumba (Allan Dulles, head of the CIA, to the Belgian government: “The removal of Lumumba is our main objective,” fax dated 26 August 1960, De Witte, p. 403). In internal directives, the term “removal” (éloignement) was soon replaced by “neutralisation”, then “liquidation”, then “physical liquidation”, i.e. assassination. As early as 14 September, the Belgian and US secret services, acting in concert, had used their machinations (including bribery) to oust Lumumba from office and replace him with the compliant Kasa-Vubu. Due to massive protests in the capital and other cities, they feared Lumumba’s triumphant return. One day later, army units staged a coup against Lumumba on the orders of a then little-known Sese Seku Mobutu. Mobutu was already acting on behalf of the CIA at that time. He had managed to gain Lumumba’s trust by deception, so that the latter, unaware of his true mission, had made him commander-in-chief of the Congolese national army. Shortly afterwards, they placed Lumumba under “protective custody” (10 October). Finally, after a foiled escape attempt, on 17 January 1961 they handed him over to those who had declared war on him, the military regime of Katanga under Tshombe and his shadow cabinet of Belgian officers, secret service agents and advisers. It was the latter who had Lumumba shot and two ministers who had remained loyal to him, Maurice M’Polo and Joseph Okito, near Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi) on the night of 17 to 18 January 1961, after tolerating unspeakable abuse of the three defenceless prisoners throughout the day. An execution squad of Katanga gendarmes carried this out under Belgian command and in the presence of Tshombe, other members of the Katanga government, officers, Katanga police and Belgian secret service officers, as well as army personnel.
The next day, official radio stations report the deaths of Lumumba and his two loyal followers. Later, it was said that they had been recognised during another escape attempt in a village, then apprehended by villagers and shot. Neither the location nor the perpetrators nor the motive were mentioned. The day after the shooting, a small task force has to dig up the provisionally buried bodies at the site of the execution and completely dissolve them in a tub of sulphuric acid they had brought with them. No trace of the three murdered men was to remain – but one of those involved had pocketed one of Lumumba’s teeth. It is later identified as genuine by its gold filling and handed over to his widow.
Lumumba’s ordeal (and that of countless soldiers and mercenaries who died in the so-called Congo turmoil) documents exemplarily the boundless unscrupulousness of European colonial rule and its then protective power, the USA.
In his immense and solid research work Ludo de Witte has traced Lumumba’s path.
To this day, the Belgian government denies any involvement in this political assassination, but its denials are unconvincing, as every page of this well-documented book proves. Originally published in Flemish in 1999, it was soon available in French, German and English – but is now out of print.
Source: De Witte, Ludo. “L’assassinat de Lumumba”, Paris (éd. Karthala) 2000, ISBN 2-84586-006-4;
The French, German and English versions, translations of the original Flemish text, are out of print and have not been reprinted, but are available second-hand. German version: De Witte, Ludo. “Regierungsauftrag Mord. Der Tod Lumumbas und die Kongo-Krise”, Leipzig, Forum Verlag 2001; ISBN 9783931801090; English version: De Witte, Ludo. “The Assassination of Lumumba”, available as E-book by Verso, London; ISBN 9781839767913
Lumumba’s historic speech alarmed Western intelligence agencies
Patrice Eméry Lumumba (1925–1961), the first and probably only democratically elected head of government in post-colonial Congo, was the hope of an entire generation, not only for the Congolese, but for many freedom-loving people and critics of colonialism around the world. At the end of June 1960, he was elected Prime Minister of the newly founded Democratic Republic of Congo by the Parliament and the Senate, which had just been constituted through free elections. Just one week after his election, the founding ceremony took place at the National Palace (after 80 years of colonial status as the “Free State of Congo”, then “Belgian Congo”) – in the presence of the reigning Belgian King Baudouin and high-ranking representatives of the Belgian government and its colonial army, as well as politicians, diplomats, military personnel and journalists from around the world.
At the beginning, the king spoke and glorified the Belgian colonial era as the historical phase in which the formerly backward country had come to know and appreciate the delights of the Western lifestyle and thus caught up with European culture. His speech made no mention of the drastic punitive measures that were customary at the time against anyone who acted against this European-arrogant state doctrine. Afterwards, President Kasa-Vubu took the floor. He echoed the words of the Belgian king in Africa and eagerly praised Belgium’s work as a protective power. Then the unthinkable happened. The President of Parliament gave the floor to Prime Minister Lumumba, even though this was not provided for in the protocol officially agreed with Belgium. As eyewitnesses later reported, the king turned pale and the faces of the dignitaries of the former colonial power present froze. Soon, however, hesitant, then increasingly powerful applause rang out from the ranks of the African guests for the courageous speaker, as can be heard on the authentic recording of the speech. At the end, Lumumba received thunderous and sustained applause. His speech not only corrected the ideologically charged distortions of the two previous speakers, but also laid a compelling foundation for his government programme. His main message: the goal of the new Congo under his government is to do everything in its power to promote human dignity, to which all people are entitled, for all Congolese people, not just some.
Peter Küpfer