In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the population and the authorities are waiting for the relic of the former Prime Minister and hero of the country’s independence, Patrice-Emery Lumumba. Sixty-one years after his death, Belgian authorities have returned a tooth that a Belgian officer took from the body of the former Prime Minister after his assassination.
With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Pascal Mulegwa
On Avenue de la Justice downtown, Noah knows well the tragic story of Lumumba’s death: torture followed by dismemberment of the body dissolved in acid. Welcoming his relic after decades of vagueness ecstasies this forty-year-old: “ We are traditionalists and therefore rely heavily on the remains of ancestors. So the fact that the remains of Lumumba have returned to the country means liberation from the economic point of view and from the political point of view. So I would say that’s an opening for us. »
“A very important symbolic value”
A hero without a tomb is unacceptable for Michel: For us, it has a very important symbolic value to know that there is still something of Lumumba which is somewhere for the next generations to pay homage to this national hero. Our leaders must use Lumumba as a model, an icon. We must use it to inspire ourselves in terms of nationalism, in terms of patriotism for this Congo. »
The relic will tour a few cities, including Lubumbashi and Kisangani, for several days of commemorations. And Franck, in his sixties, regrets that justice has not been done to this day after the assassination of this national hero. “ There should be legal consequences following Lumumba’s assassination. That is our diplomacy which did not play well on this point. »
Unsurprisingly, the controversy swells around the millions of dollars mobilized by the government for commemorative activities.
Christophe Muzungu: “Patrice Lumumba was not alone in his fight”