This Monday, June 20, 2022, more than 61 years after his death, the remains of Patrice Lumumba, the Congolese Prime Minister, were returned to his family and his country. It is a tooth kept all these years by one of the Belgian police officers who had been responsible for removing all traces of the national hero.
With our special correspondent in Brussels, Paulina Zidi
The ceremony took place in the presence of the family of Patrice Lumumba, but also of the Belgian and Congolese authorities. It was marked by the speech of the Belgian Prime Minister. Alexander de Croo, in front of Patrice Lumumba’s family, ” reiterated government apologies “. Apologies already presented in 2002 by Louis Michel, at the time head of Belgian diplomacy. Alexander de Croo this time evoked the regrets and the moral responsibility of the Belgian leaders in this assassination. The head of government who repeated several times, in an anaphora, that this restitution was far too late.
Then, the Congolese Prime Minister, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde took the floor to greet: “Lumumba our national hero”, adding that the date of June 20, 2022, “enters the annals of history. It is a whole continent, Africa, which celebrates the return of one of its worthy sons “.
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Before the speeches, eyes were mainly on the children of Patrice Lumumba, Juliana, Roland and François. It is to them that the Belgian justice gave the remains of their father in an intimate, private ceremony. The body was then placed in a dark wooden coffin which was taken to the DRC embassy, the first stage of his return to Congolese soil.