1960-2010: “The Year of Africa” 50 Years On (VI)

This Day in 1960:

Patrice Lumumba and the MNC formed the first Congolese government in the run-up to the country's independence from Belgium, with Lumumba as Prime Minister and Joseph Kasavubu as President.

[More here]


This Day in 2010:


The sons of Congo's first democratically-elected leader, Patrice Lumumba, are to seek the prosecution for war crimes of 12 Belgian officials suspected of aiding their father's assassination in 1961.

"I want to know how he died. There are many books I can read and everything has been said, but there is no justice," said Guy Lumumba, the leader's youngest son.
"It is a father I am looking for, a father whom I still love, and I want to know why he was killed". "We are targeting the assassins. In Belgium, there are 12 of them. They are alive and we want them to answer for their ignoble acts before justice," he said.

[More here]

This Day in 1960:

Patrice Lumumba and the MNC formed the first Congolese government in the run-up to the country's independence from Belgium, with Lumumba as Prime Minister and Joseph Kasavubu as President.

[More here]


This Day in 2010:


The sons of Congo's first democratically-elected leader, Patrice Lumumba, are to seek the prosecution for war crimes of 12 Belgian officials suspected of aiding their father's assassination in 1961.

"I want to know how he died. There are many books I can read and everything has been said, but there is no justice," said Guy Lumumba, the leader's youngest son.
"It is a father I am looking for, a father whom I still love, and I want to know why he was killed". "We are targeting the assassins. In Belgium, there are 12 of them. They are alive and we want them to answer for their ignoble acts before justice," he said.

[More here]