Patrice Lumumba - An Alternative Ending

Reel Whirled Peas



Patrice Lumumba, former President of the Republic of Socialist Congo, Dies in Exile
July 17, 2006

Johannesburg, South Africa (Reuters) - Patrice Emery Lumumba, who ruled the Republic of Socialist Congo (RSC) from 1961-1989, died yesterday in Johannesburg, where he has lived since being deposed following a civil war in 1989. He was 81.

Lumumba, a former beer salesman in what is now Kinshasa, founded the Congolese National Movement, the first political party that sought members from all Congolese tribes, in 1958. Although looked upon as a troublemaker by the Belgian government, Lumumba had broad popularity, and his party won big in the Congo’s first elections in May 1960. Lumumba formed a coalition government with political rival and first president Joseph Kasavubu, a rocky relationship that ended in December 1960 when Lumumba ousted Kasavubu with the help of the Soviet Union, and changed the name of the country to the Republic of Socialist Congo (RSC).

Next, Lumumba turned his sights on Katanga, the resource-rich southern province that seceded from the Congolese government shortly after independence. Katanga was supported in their move for independence by Belgium and the United States who were uncomfortable with Lumumba’s relationship with the Soviets. Lumumba declared war on Katanga, and his bitter enemy, Katanga president Moise Tshombe, in February 1961.

The four-year war that followed is a textbook example of the proxy wars undertaken by the United States and Soviet Union in the 1960s. Lumumba’s populist socialism was pitted against the economic elitism of Tshombe. The RSC army, led by General Joseph Mobutu, and supported by Soviet advisers and materiel, overthrew and subsequently executed Tshombe, whose chief supporter, the United States, had begun reallocating its resources to the Vietnam War.

Once he reunited RSC and Katanga, Lumumba moved quickly to nationalize industry, especially Katanga’s lucrative mining operations. Lumumba worked hard to incorporate the country’s many tribes into a unified government, and a strong world economy in the late 1960s contributed to a period of relative prosperity for RSC as commodities prices rose. Lumumba began assuming a more neutral Cold War position, and started courting western European capital as he set out plans for further modernizing the infrastructure, economy, and education system of the RSC.

During the early 1970s he chaired several pan-Africa initiatives on trade and education. But as the world slid into recession in 1973 Western investment disappeared throughout Africa, especially in RSC. With the economy in a shambles, the modernization initiatives shelved, and unemployment at an all-time high, the army, still under the direction of Joseph Mobutu, attempted a coup in January 1974. Lumumba was unable to arouse the support of the Soviets, who were unhappy with his recent shift toward the West. Help came from the other side of the Cold War, as the U.S., seeking to reestablish its global influence as the Vietnam disaster wound down, believed Lumumba was preferable to a Ugandan-style military dictatorship. The coup was put down, and Mobutu was executed.

Fearing that other coup attempts may be imminent, Lumumba consolidated his control over the military and then began conducting a series of purges. He instructed parliament to re-write the constitution, placing more power in the presidency. In order to rebuild the SRC’s fractured economy, Lumumba sought funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and agreed to privatize most of the country’s mining businesses. However, the “structural adjustments” required by the IMF increased the nation’s poverty, and civil war broke out in 1980. For the next 9 years rebel factions supported by Rwanda and Uganda waged war with Lumumba, who fled to Egypt in 1989, and eventually settled in South Africa at the invitation of President Nelson Mandela in 1994.

Lumumba spent his remaining years writing and advising on African politics. His wife Pauline died in March. Patrice Lumumba is survived by 5 children.

Background source
http://www.africawithin.com/lumumba/historical_bio.htm