Patrice Lumumba

THE ASSASSINATION OF LUMUMBA 1 THE ASSASSINATION OF LUMUMBA Name of the Student Name of the University Author Note THE ASSASSINATION OF LUMUMBA 2 INTRODUCTION In 1961, Patrice Lumumba was assassinated which led to several protests round the globe. He was the first prime minister of Congo and his government was pushed out of the office less than three months after the government was formed. It is said that Belgium and the United States of America was behind this as they supported the anti-constitutional activities taking place against the government. Lumumba was anationalist which was conflicting with Belgium ’swish to continue influencing Central Africa. He aligned with the Soviet Union after his appeals to the United Nations for assistance was ignored. This alienated him from President Eisenhower which might have led to his assassination (Monaville, 2019). DISCUSSION Stephen R Weissman alleged in his article, ‘What really happened in Congo ’that the CIA and the Belgian government was responsible for the collapse of the government led by Patrice Lumumba and his assassination. Both the Soviet Union and USA had eyes on the mineral-rich Congo after it got independence from Belgian rule in 1960. The country is rich in copper and diamond among many other minerals. The government led by Lumumba was the first independent government of the country. According to Weisman, the prime minister wanted to reign in the secessionist movement in Katanga and needed the help of the UN which he never got. USSR seized this opportunity and provided assistance to Lumumba. Within days after the new government took office, amutiny started by the Congolese troops against their all-white Belgian officers. The troops were also terrorizing the Europeans of the region. The Belgian government sent the army to reoccupy the country and help the mineral-rich Katanga province to secede. These points raised by Stephen Weissman points out to the fact that Belgium and the US both denied help to Congo at the time of its need. Belgium got an excuse to THE ASSASSINATION OF LUMUMBA 3 reoccupy the country after the mutiny initiated by the Congolese troops. Patrice Lumumba had no other option but to take help from the Soviet Union. The US did not send any troop to Congo but threw its weight behind aUN peacekeeping mission thinking that it will prevent the interference of the Soviet Union in the region. The Church Committee said in 1975 that the covert operations by the CIA was one of the successful operations carried out by the agency. It is aproof that CIA was involved in Congo in some form. Therefore, Stephen Weissman ’sclaim about the involvement of Belgium and the US in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba can be true. Both the countries wanted the pro-West military leader Joseph Mobutu to take the charge of the country (Weissman, 2014). Herman JCohen counters the claims made by Stephen R Weissman in his article. In his article, ‘Who lost Congo? ’he said that Belgium wanted to free Congo by 1980 because it did not want to lose the mineral-rich country. However, it did so because the government in Belgium was an anti-colonial regime. According to him, Patrice Lumumba was not ready to lead the country. His nationalist position was the reason that the Congolese army got the audacity to attack its Belgian officers. Cohen said that the US helped stabilize the country by backing Joseph Mobutu and helping the country financially. According to Herman JCohen, Patrice Lumuba was himself responsible for the chaos that was taking place in Congo. The Soviet Union was spending money to enhance the influence of Lumumba because of which President Eisenhower was compelled to send in NATO troops. Cohen alleged that Lumumba sent in mercenaries to help the secessionists. He complimented the UN peacekeeping troops supported by Eisenhower of maintaining peace in the country for its first five years. The World Bank and the UN continued with the public works and services which helped meet the needs of the people. Cohen can be seen supporting the US administration for its involvement in the affairs of Congo (Cohen, 2015). THE ASSASSINATION OF LUMUMBA 4 Ifind the article by Stephen R Weissman more convincing than the article written by Herman JCohen. The reason behind it was that Cohen could not produce any proof of the non- involvement of the US in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. He said that the Eisenhower administration was involved and that itdid everything good. There is no turning away from the fact that the US government backed amilitary dictator as aleader of acountry. Weissman could produce the proof related to the Church Committee that stated the success of CIA operations in Congo. The evidences produced by Weissman are more convincing and prove the involvement of Belgium and the US in the assassination of Lumumba. CONCLUSION Hence, it can be seen that the US and Belgium is involved in the assassination of the first prime minister of independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba. Stephen R Weissman produced proofs in his article that the CIA eliminated Lumumba because he was aligning with the Soviet Union and the US did not want that to happen. THE ASSASSINATION OF LUMUMBA 5 Reference Cohen, H. J. (2015). Who Lost Congo: The Consequences of Covert Action. Foreign Aff. ,94 ,169 https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/fora94&div=27&id=&page= Monaville, P. (2019). The political life of the dead Lumumba: Cold War histories and the Congolese student left. Africa ,89 (S1), S15-S39 https://doi.org/10.1017/S000197201800089X Weissman, S. R. (2014). What really happened in Congo: the CIA, the murder of Lumumba, and the rise of Mobutu. Foreign Aff. , 93 , 14https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage? handle=hein.journals/fora93&div=82&id=&page=