Assassination Of Lumumba

Patrice Lumumba, first Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo, was at the center of his countrys popular defiance towards the exploitation of its Belgian colonizer. When independence was finally won in 1960, his unscheduled speech at the official ceremony, which described Belgian rule as a humiliating slavery imposed by brute force, received a standing ovation and made him a hero to millions. Within months he was arrested, tortured and executed. Employing an array of official sources as well as personal testimony, Ludo De Witte unravels the appalling mass of lies that have surrounded the murder. A network of complicity is revealed, ranging from the Belgian government across the United Nations to the CIA. Chilling official memos which detail liquidation are analyzed alongside tales of the destruction of evidence, placing in stark contrast Lumumbas personal strength and his quest for African independence.