More than 61 years after his assassination, the coffin of Patrice Lumumba was returned to his homeland yesterday, two days after Belgium handed over to the Democratic Republic of the Congo a tooth that was the remains of the country’s independence hero.
This will be the start of a nine-day journey through the country, which includes stops at places of great symbolic importance in the life of Patrice Lumumba, and will end on June 30 in the capital Kinshasa, where a funeral will take place in the temple. after three days of national mourning.
His village, which became part of Lumumbaville Takrim District (Lumumba City) in 2013, is diligently preparing to receive the “remains” of the district’s son.
The village square where the coffin will be placed has a modest platform in the colors of the Democratic Republic of the Congo flag (yellow, blue and red), tents and large posters of Lumumba.
Patrice Emery Lumumba became a major icon on the day of Congo’s independence on June 30, 1960, when he delivered a scathing speech against the racism of the colonialists.
The following September, he was overthrown and executed on January 17, 1961, along with two of his comrades, Maurice Mbulu and Joseph Okito, separatists from the Katanga (southern) region and supported by Belgian mercenaries.
