More than 61 years after his assassination, Patrice Lumumba’s coffin was returned to his homeland on Wednesday, two days after Belgium handed over to the Democratic Republic of the Congo a tooth that was the remains of the country’s independence hero.
Airport sources said the plane carrying the coffin of the former Belgian Congo’s first prime minister from Brussels landed early Wednesday in Kinshasa at a technical stop. After the change of aircraft, the coffin and accompanying persons are supposed to be transported to the Sankuru (central) region, where Lumumba was born in the village of Unalva in 1925.
This will be the start of a nine-day journey through the country, which includes stops at places of great symbolic importance in the life of Patrice Lumumba, and will end on June 30 in the capital Kinshasa, where a funeral will take place in the temple. after three days of national mourning. “His soul, imprisoned in Belgium, has returned here,” said Tasumbo Umatoko, a traditional chief of the city of Unalwa and Lumumba’s nephew. He seemed to be torn between his expression of joy at being able to “mourn” his uncle and his “sadness” after learning that he had “actually been murdered”.
The village, which became part of the Takrim district under the name of Lumumbaville (Lumumba City) in 2013, is diligently preparing to receive the “remnants” of the son of the district. Under the scorching sun, Tuesday’s people removed a thick layer of sand covering the road connecting Unalva with the neighboring town of Tshombe. Weeds and tree branches were removed under police supervision, and palm branches, a symbol of mourning or celebration, were placed on the side of the road next to Congolese flags.
The village square where the coffin will be placed has a modest platform in the colors of the Democratic Republic of the Congo flag (yellow, blue and red), tents and large posters of Lumumba.
Men and women will greet each other in traditional dress, arriving to the drums and dances of the traditional Latin tetila to which Lumumba belonged.
https://twitter.com/AJArabic/status/1539202718337744896
“The son is back”
A few meters away, a resident says, “Here’s the family’s plot where Lumumba was born,” pointing to a large, unfinished and dilapidated cement house with its roof blown off.
Not far away, the aged Katherine Mbocho expressed delight at the idea of returning the “remains” of Patrice Lumumba to the land of his ancestors. “I’m old and my leg hurts, but I’m happy that my son is back,” she said, noting that she was in contact with Lumumba in his life and “talked to him before he left for Kisangani.” his political stronghold. in the northeast of the country.
Patrice Emery Lumumba became a major icon on the day of Congo’s independence on June 30, 1960, when he delivered a scathing speech against the racism of the colonialists. The following September, he was overthrown and executed on January 17, 1961, along with two of his comrades, Maurice Mbulu and Joseph Oketo, separatists from the Katanga (southern) region and supported by Belgian mercenaries.
His body, dissolved in acid, was not found.
Decades later, the presence of human remains surviving in Belgium was discovered when a Belgian police officer involved in his cover-up bragged about it to the media. In 2016, a Belgian court removed a tooth from him.
The molar was placed in a box, which in turn was placed in a coffin, which was handed over to the Congolese authorities on Monday in Brussels in the presence of Lumumba’s family in an emotional ceremony. His daughter Juliana said: “Father, we mourn your passing without eulogy (…) It is our duty as sons to provide you with a shrine worthy of you.” Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre de Croo reaffirmed the Brussels government’s “apology” for the “moral responsibility” for the disappearance of Patrice Lumumba. Two weeks ago, King Philippe of Belgium, during his first visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, reaffirmed his “deep regret at the wounds inflicted during the colonial period.”
More than 61 years after his assassination, Patrice Lumumba’s coffin was returned to his homeland on Wednesday, two days after Belgium handed over to the Democratic Republic of the Congo a tooth that was the remains of the country’s independence hero.
Airport sources said the plane carrying the coffin of the former Belgian Congo’s first prime minister from Brussels landed early Wednesday in Kinshasa at a technical stop. After the change of aircraft, the coffin and accompanying persons are supposed to be transported to the Sankuru (central) region, where Lumumba was born in the village of Unalva in 1925.
This will be the start of a nine-day journey through the country, which includes stops at places of great symbolic importance in the life of Patrice Lumumba, and will end on June 30 in the capital Kinshasa, where a funeral will take place in the temple. after three days of national mourning. “His soul, imprisoned in Belgium, has returned here,” said Tasumbo Umatoko, a traditional chief of the city of Unalwa and Lumumba’s nephew. He seemed to be torn between his expression of joy at being able to “mourn” his uncle and his “sadness” after learning that he had “actually been murdered”.
The village, which became part of the Takrim district under the name of Lumumbaville (Lumumba City) in 2013, is diligently preparing to receive the “remnants” of the son of the district. Under the scorching sun, Tuesday’s people removed a thick layer of sand covering the road connecting Unalva with the neighboring town of Tshombe. Weeds and tree branches were removed under police supervision, and palm branches, a symbol of mourning or celebration, were placed on the side of the road next to Congolese flags.
The village square where the coffin will be placed has a modest platform in the colors of the Democratic Republic of the Congo flag (yellow, blue and red), tents and large posters of Lumumba.
Men and women will greet each other in traditional dress, arriving to the drums and dances of the traditional Latin tetila to which Lumumba belonged.
https://twitter.com/AJArabic/status/1539202718337744896
“The son is back”
A few meters away, a resident says, “Here’s the family’s plot where Lumumba was born,” pointing to a large, unfinished and dilapidated cement house with its roof blown off.
Not far away, the aged Katherine Mbocho expressed delight at the idea of returning the “remains” of Patrice Lumumba to the land of his ancestors. “I’m old and my leg hurts, but I’m happy that my son is back,” she said, noting that she was in contact with Lumumba in his life and “talked to him before he left for Kisangani.” his political stronghold. in the northeast of the country.
Patrice Emery Lumumba became a major icon on the day of Congo’s independence on June 30, 1960, when he delivered a scathing speech against the racism of the colonialists. The following September, he was overthrown and executed on January 17, 1961, along with two of his comrades, Maurice Mbulu and Joseph Oketo, separatists from the Katanga (southern) region and supported by Belgian mercenaries.
His body, dissolved in acid, was not found.
Decades later, the presence of human remains surviving in Belgium was discovered when a Belgian police officer involved in his cover-up bragged about it to the media. In 2016, a Belgian court removed a tooth from him.
The molar was placed in a box, which in turn was placed in a coffin, which was handed over to the Congolese authorities on Monday in Brussels in the presence of Lumumba’s family in an emotional ceremony. His daughter Juliana said: “Father, we mourn your passing without eulogy (…) It is our duty as sons to provide you with a shrine worthy of you.” Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre de Croo reaffirmed the Brussels government’s “apology” for the “moral responsibility” for the disappearance of Patrice Lumumba. Two weeks ago, King Philippe of Belgium, during his first visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, reaffirmed his “deep regret at the wounds inflicted during the colonial period.”