On this day in 1959, Congolese residents of Stanleyville rebelled against Belgian colonizers, demanding independence after a speech by Patrice Lumumba. Police suppressed the riot, killing ~70, imposing martial law, and arresting Lumumba.
The day prior, Lumumba called for a nationwide campaign of civil disobedience in a speech to the MNC congress, also ordering Congolese people to not collaborate with the Belgian colonial government and announcing that the party would not take part in the upcoming December elections.
The rebellion began on October 30th when the police arrived at the suburb of Mangoba to arrest Lumumba. The uprising was suppressed with military force, including two companies of infantry.
In total, approximately 70 people were killed in the fighting, and up to 200 were wounded. Lumumba himself was arrested by police as the government imposed martial law and banned gatherings of more than five people.
Congo would achieve independence from Belgium on June 30th, 1960, with Lumumba serving as its first Prime Minister. He was assassinated by Belgian forces and their collaborators on January 17th, 1961.
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Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
Aid:
Theory:
What conversations were US officials having about Congo in 1960?
[CIA Director] Dulles, Allen W. "Telegram From the Central Intelligence Agency to the Station in the Congo", August 1960:
"we conclude that his removal must be an urgent and prime objective and that under existing conditions this should be a high priority of our covert action..."
Paper Prepared in the Central Intelligence Agency [for vice president Nixon], "Operations in the Congo", 1960:
"CIA continued to maintain contact with the assets it had been developing and to be on the lookout for new ones for whatever contingencies might arise..."
Dulles, Allen W. "Telegram From the Central Intelligence Agency to the Station in the Congo", September 1960:
"We wish give every possible support in eliminating Lumumba from any possibility resuming governmental position..."
Office of the Historian editorial note:
"the Chief of Station emphasized that although selection of a mode of assassination was left to his judgment, it had been essential that it be carried out in a way that could not be traced back either to an American or the U.S. Government"
Although not directly involved in his moment of death, the above is an example which shows much of what the CIA and US State Department do, which is set up every possible condition they can think of for coups, killings, and other "accidents" and "excesses" to happen, working on multiple possible avenues at a time, whether they themselves are directly carrying out the final act or not, or whether simply their assets and other allies are (usually with some generous funding via legal and illegal means, while the State Department uses legal avenues to remove funding from the target--i.e., via sanctions, loan denials, etc. to prepare the ground for worsening conditions).
Here is an article which is an imaginary interview of Kwame Nkrumah about the events in Congo, which uses quotes from his work "Challenge of the Congo". Nkrumah himself had also been subjected to a CIA-backed plot in his own country of Ghana.
ProleWiki page on Lumumba