RMA Presents “The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination”
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Greenwich Sentinel·
- March 6, 2024·
Stuart Reid discussed the rise and fall of Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected leader of the Congo post-independence from Belgium in 1960, highlighting Belgium's oppressive colonial legacy and Lumumba's emergence as a self-taught political figure. Lumumba's inexperienced government faced immediate challenges after independence, including a mutiny in the army and the secession of the mineral-rich Katanga province, leading to his appeals for UN, US, and Soviet support, and eventual assassination orchestrated by his political opponents with tacit support from the CIA. Reid concluded that the US choice to support Mobutu over Lumumba has had lasting negative impacts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with ongoing instability and conflict rooted in these historical events.