Patrice Lumumba’s tooth finally arrives in DRC

An official burial ceremony will take place in Kinshasa on June 30, to mark the Democratic Republic of Congo's 61st year of independence

Guy-Patrice Lumumba (3rd L) the son of the slain Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba pays respects to the coffin of his father upon its arrival in Tshumbe, Democratic republic of Congo. (Photo by Junior KANNAH / AFP) (Pic: JUNIOR KANNAH/AFP via Getty Images)

THE LAST remains of freedom fighter Patrice Lumumba are finally back in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The gold-capped tooth, is the only remains of the Congolese independence icon, who was executed and had his body dissolved in acid in January 1961.

His tooth has been in Belgium ever-since, after it was kept as a trophy by Gérard Soete a former Belgian police commissioner.

Last week, the coffin finally touched down on DRC soil and was carried by military personnel at Tshumbe in the Sankuru Province.

The relic was taken to rest in Mr Lumumba’s native village.

It was then transported to Katanga in the southeast, where he was executed in 1961.

Congolese authorities are now planning an official burial ceremony in Kinshasa, on June 30, to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the DRC’s independence.

Hero’s welcome

As the coffin was transported across the Central African country, thousands of people lined the streets to pay tribute to their first prime minister.

In Belgium, hundreds of Africans marched in remembrance of the Congolese hero.

In 1960, Mr Lumumba led Congo, now the DRC, to independence from Belgium.

He became the country’s first democratically elected prime minister and the face of the struggle against colonialism in Africa.

Last week, it was announced that Belgian authorities returned the tooth to Mr Lumumba’s family at a private ceremony at the Egmont Palace in Brussels.

Belgium’s prime minister Alexander De Croo told Congolese officials and Mr Lumumba’s family that returning the tooth had taken too long.

“It is not normal that Belgium held onto the remains of one of the founding fathers of the Congolese nation for six decades,” said De Croo.

Family’s fight for justice

Mr Lumumba’s children have tirelessly campaigned for the return of their father’s remains.

In 2020, Juliana Lumumba, daughter of the pan-African leader, demanded her father’s tooth be returned to her family and homeland for a proper burial. 

In the letter, she wrote: “In our culture like in yours, respect for the human person extends beyond physical death, through the care that is devoted to the bodies of the deceased and the importance attached to funeral ritual, the final farewell.

“But why, after his terrible murder, have Lumumba’s remains been condemned to remain a soul forever wandering, without a grave to shelter his eternal rest?”

In 2000, a Belgian police commissioner, Gérard Soete, claimed to have brutally removed the tooth from Mr Lumumba’s body before dissolving it in sulfuric acid. 

During a documentary shown on German TV channel ARD in 2000, Soete showed the tooth – which he had kept as a trophy for almost 40 years. 

The Belgian justice system announced in September 2020, the tooth would return to Mr Lumumba’s family after it was seized from Soete’s daughter. 

The original hand over was scheduled to take place on 21 June 2021, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the DRC’s independence but were delayed due to the pandemic, the Africa Report said.

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2 Comments

  1. | Elec Hwedza

    the person who removed the tooth and threw the body into acid was supposed to charged with human slaughter,if he was African of course.

    Reply

  2. | Chaka Artwell

    The Caucasian Christian Western European Nations organised the assassination of President Patrice Lumumba; with the active assistance of President Lumumba’s deputy in 1961.
    President Patrice Lumumba’s gold teeth remained after his body was dissolved in acid.

    Despite this and many others horrors inflicted on African nations and people by the Caucasian Western European Nations, today, it is still the Africans who are still regarded as being the savages and uncivilised.

    The political chaos in the mineral rich Congo today is as a direct result of the western powers assassination of the righteous first African President of the Congo, President Patrice Lumumba.

    Reply

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