G

CIA OFFICER ON PLOT TO KILL LUMUMBA January 17 marks 65 years since the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s first democratically elected prime minister and one of Africa’s most powerful independence leaders. Lumumba’s death remains one of the darkest and most consequential episodes in Congolese and African history. Lumumba came to power in 1960 as the DRC emerged from brutal Belgian colonial rule. A fierce advocate of national sovereignty, pan-African unity and self-determination, he challenged Western control over Congo’s vast resources and refused to be politically subservient. As a result he was overthrown and imprisoned in a coup by army chief Joseph Mobutu backed by Belgium and the US only a few months after taking power. Lumumba was later tortured and executed by a Katangan firing squad under the supervision of Belgian officers. To erase his legacy, his body was dismembered and dissolved in acid, leaving no grave that could become a site of resistance. In 2022, Belgium returned a single tooth, the only remaining part of his body, to his family for burial in Kinshasa. The clip referenced here comes from the documentary Inside the CIA: On Company Business. In it, former CIA officer John Stockwell alleges that CIA station chief Larry Devlin had been involved in plans to poison Lumumba, before a military coup was ultimately chosen as the preferred method of removal. The interview offers a rare, chilling insight into the covert operations and foreign interference that sealed Lumumba’s fate and reshaped the future of the Congo. Lumumba’s story is indeed telling of the malicious nature of foreign powers and how they suppressed post-independence Pan-African movements across the continent. But much like Nkrumah and Sankara, Lumumba’s ideas lived on and continue to inspire revolutionaries around the world. @VoxUmmah @venanalysis @qiaocollective @ProgIntl @KawsachunNews @OrinocoTribune @blkagendareport @SoberaniaPod