The late Patrice Lumumba. Photo credit: Commons
Patrice Lumumba, DR Congo
Patrice Emery Lumumba was a popular Congolese politician who served as the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo from June to September 1960. Lumumba was instrumental in the struggle for independence, leading the popular Mouvement National Congolais (MNC) party, whose objective was to achieve independence within the shortest time possible.
Soon after Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960, Lumumba – an African nationalist and Pan-Africanist fell out with the then-president Joseph Kasa-Vubu for his unrelenting quest for the extermination of the Belgian-backed secessionist group called Katanga. He was eventually imprisoned under President Mobutu Sese Seko and later publicly executed by a firing squad under the instructions of Katangan authorities. He was only 35 years old when he died in 1961.
