Latest news with #EtienneDavignon
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Lumumba everlasting': Belgium marks Congo's slain leader's 100th birthday with exhibition
If he had lived, Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, would have marked his 100th birthday this month (on 2 July). This unreached milestone is being marked by an exhibition in Brussels at a time when Belgium, the former colonial power, is facing renewed questions about his death. Lumumba was 35 when he was overthrown during a political crisis, then tortured and assassinated by a firing squad in January 1961, along with two associates, Joseph Okito and Maurice Mpolo. Nearly 65 years after the murders, which were carried out by Congolese rivals with the support of Belgian officers, Lumumba's family are still searching for answers. In an unexpected development in June, Belgium's federal prosecutor referred a 92-year-old former diplomat, Étienne Davignon, to the Brussels criminal court over alleged war crimes related to the killings. Davignon, who was dispatched to Congo as a 28-year-old diplomatic intern on the eve of independence in 1960, is the only survivor among 10 former officials accused by the Lumumba family in 2011 of involvement in his assassination. The charges relate to Lumumba's unlawful detention, his denial of a fair trial and 'humiliating and degrading treatment', although a charge of intent to kill has been dismissed. Davignon has denied all claims of involvement. Christophe Marchand, a lawyer for the Lumumba family, said: 'The idea is to have a judicial trial and to have the truth about what happened, not only the role of Étienne Davignon – because he was one part in the whole criminal plan.' Lumumba was a charismatic champion of Congolese independence who made some disastrous decisions during his short-lived premiership. One historian has described his assassination as Congo's 'original sin' that shattered hopes of unity and prosperity in the newly independent country. In 2001 a parliamentary inquiry concluded that Belgian ministers bore a moral responsibility for the events that led to the Congolese leader's gruesome death. Marchand said the parliamentary inquiry had made clear that 'Belgian civil servants took an active part in the transfer of Lumumba from Léopoldville (Kinshasa) to Katanga', where he was murdered. Although the lawyer thought the investigation should have begun earlier, he considered it very significant that Belgium's highest prosecutor had now concluded there was enough evidence for a trial. 'There are very few cases where a former colonial state agrees to address colonial crimes and to consider that they have to be tried … even if it's a very long time after,' Marchand said. A hearing has been scheduled for January 2026, when a judge will decide if a trial should go ahead. Davignon has rejected the case as 'absurd'. The aristocrat is a scion of the Belgian establishment, a former vice-president of the European Commission, who has been involved in numerous Belgian blue chip companies. Sign up to The Long Wave Nesrine Malik and Jason Okundaye deliver your weekly dose of Black life and culture from around the world after newsletter promotion Speaking to SudInfo this July, Davignon said he had been questioned by the earlier parliamentary inquiry 'where it was found that I had no direct or indirect responsibility for what happened to Lumumba'. He accused the prosecution of being overzealous and 'having gone into things a bit blindly'. Belgium's foreign ministry said it was not able to comment out of respect for the separation of powers, while noting that it was not implicated in the prosecutor's dossier. Nancy Mariam Kawaya, a coordinator at the Congolese Cultural Centre, which is hosting the Lumumba centenary exhibition, said: 'The murder needs to be judged so Belgium can be at peace with the story, so the Congolese can be at peace with the story and we can write a new chapter. 'I want to trust that justice will do its work now,' she added. The exhibition, she said, sought to widen the focus beyond Lumumba's death. The subject of his violent end 'takes so much space' that 'we don't realise that people don't know who he was, his ideas … What was actually his fight?' The small exhibition of paintings by Congolese artists at the cultural centre seeks to fill that gap. One artist imagines an idealised centenarian Lumumba, with cropped grey-white hair, gazing enigmatically into the distance. There are more unsettling works. Another painting depicts modern-day Kinshasa as an unpopulated metropolis of skyscrapers and soup of rubbish, reflecting the scourge of modern-day plastic pollution in the Congolese capital. In another work Lumumba, crowned with a halo, sits on a plastic chair in a rubbish dump as two shoeless young boys stretch out their hands. One of the boys, his hands dripping in blood, is holding a smartphone – a bleak reference to the minerals used to power the world's devices that have fuelled years of conflict in the DRC. Opened in 2023 by the city of Brussels, the Congolese Cultural Centre is part of efforts to turn the page on Belgium's fraught relationship with its former colonies. The exhibition, which runs until 30 July, is entitled Lumumba Sans Temps, a play on words. Sans temps (without time, or everlasting) sounds like 100 years (cent ans) in French and is intended to underline the timelessness, say organisers, of Lumumba's message of unity, rather than division along religious or ethnic lines. 'Lumumba remains our contemporary,' contends Dady Mbumba, the exhibition's curator. 'Lumumba fought for liberty, for equality, for unity,' he said, stressing the importance of the latter after decades of conflict in the DRC. Mbumba, who was born in Congo and lives in Belgium, wants better knowledge of Lumumba's life and the colonial past in both countries. 'It is a history that we share … although difficult and painful.'
France 24
19-06-2025
- France 24
HRW: 'The M23 armed group has deported over 1,500 people from eastern DRC to Rwanda'
13:12 Issued on: 13:12 min A new report by Human Rights Watch says that the M23 rebel group in eastern Congo has forcibly deported over 1,500 people to Rwanda. This act, which is allegedly backed by Rwanda, could constitute a war crime and has raised international alarm. Also, Over six decades after the assassination of Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba, Belgium is taking steps to put 92-year-old former diplomat Etienne Davignon on trial for his alleged involvement in the killing. And last month, the Central Bank of West African States blocked transactions from several fintech companies offering money transfer services, citing non-compliance with regulations. This has had a widespread impact: more than half of Senegal's population of 18 million use mobile payment apps, and Senegalese fintech companies claim to be incurring major losses as a result.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Belgium seeking to try ex-official over killing of Congolese prime minister Lumumba
Over 60 years after the killing of the first Congolese prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, prosecutors in Belgium announced Tuesday they were looking to try the last of 10 Belgians accused of complicity in the murder of the iconic leader, in the European country's latest effort to reckon with its colonial past. Belgian prosecutors said Tuesday that they were seeking to put a 92-year-old former diplomat on trial over the 1961 killing of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba. Etienne Davignon is the only one still alive among 10 Belgians who were accused of complicity in the murder of the independence icon in a 2011 lawsuit filed by Lumumba's children. If he goes on trial, Davignon would be the first Belgian official to face justice in the more than six decades since Lumumba was murdered. A fiery critic of Belgium's colonial rule, Lumumba became his country's first prime minister after it gained independence in 1960. But he fell out with the former colonial power and with the United States and was ousted in a coup a few months after taking office. He was executed on January 17, 1961, aged just 35, in the southern region of Katanga, with the support of Belgian mercenaries. His body was dissolved in acid and never recovered. Davignon, who went on to be a vice president of the European Commission in the 1980s, was a trainee diplomat at the time of the assassination. (FRANCE 24 with AFP) Read more on FRANCE 24 EnglishRead also:DR Congo inters independence hero Lumumba's remains after national homageRemains of Congolese independence leader Lumumba returned home
Arab News
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Belgium seeks to try former diplomatic official over 1961 killing of Congo leader
BRUSSELS: Belgian prosecutors said Tuesday that they were seeking to put a 92-year-old former diplomat on trial over the 1961 killing of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba. Etienne Davignon is the only one still alive among 10 Belgians who were accused of complicity in the murder of the independence icon in a 2011 lawsuit filed by Lumumba's children. If he goes on trial, Davignon would be the first Belgian official to face justice in the more than six decades since Lumumba was murdered. A fiery critic of Belgium's colonial rule, Lumumba became his country's first prime minister after it gained independence in 1960. But he fell out with the former colonial power and with the US and was ousted in a coup a few months after taking office. He was executed on Jan. 17, 1961, aged just 35, in the southern region of Katanga, with the support of Belgian mercenaries. His body was dissolved in acid and never recovered. Davignon, who went on to be a vice president of the European Commission in the 1980s, was a trainee diplomat at the time of the assassination. He is accused of involvement in the 'unlawful detention and transfer' of Lumumba at the time he was taken prisoner and his 'humiliating and degrading treatment,' the prosecutor's office said. But prosecutors added that a charge of intent to kill should be dropped. It is now up to a magistrate to decide if the trial should proceed, following a hearing on the case set for January 2026. 'We're moving in the right direction. What we're seeking is, first and foremost, the truth,' Juliana Lumumba, the daughter of the former Congolese premier, told Belgian broadcaster RTBF. The prosecutor's decision is the latest step in Belgium's decades-long reckoning with the role it played in Lumumba's killing. In 2022, Belgium returned a tooth — the last remains of Lumumba — to his family in a bid to turn a page on the grim chapter of its colonial past. The tooth was seized by Belgian authorities in 2016 from the daughter of a policeman, Gerard Soete. A Belgian parliamentary commission of enquiry concluded in 2001 that Belgium had 'moral responsibility' for the assassination, and the government presented the country's 'apologies' a year later.
BBC News
17-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Belgian prosecutor seeks to try ex-diplomat over Congolese hero's killing
Belgian prosecutors say they are seeking to put on trial a 92-year-old former diplomat over his alleged role in the 1961 killing of Congolese independence hero Patrice Davignon is accused of involvement in the "unlawful detention and transfer" of Lumumba at the time he was taken prisoner and his "humiliating and degrading treatment", the prosecutor's office said. He has not yet commented. Lumumba's children filed a case in Belgium in 2011 to demand justice after their father was killed aged 35. He was shot dead by a firing squad with the tacit backing of Belgium - the former colonial power in the vast mineral-rich African state now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo. His body was dissolved in acid, but a gold-crowned tooth remained. It was handed over to Lumumba's family by the Belgian authorities in the Congolese hero's golden tooth ended up in BelgiumA Belgian parliamentary commission of enquiry concluded in 2001 that Belgium bore "moral responsibility" for the assassination, and the government issued an apology a year later to Lumumba's family and the Congolese nation. Davignon is the sole survivor among 10 Belgians accused of complicity in Lumumba's murder, according to AFP news agency. He was a trainee diplomat at the time of the assassination, and served as the vice-chairman of the European Commission in the 1980s.A magistrate would decide if he should be put on trial, with a hearing set for January 2026. Lumumba's daughter, Juliana, welcomed the development, telling Belgian broadcaster RTBF: "We're moving in the right direction. What we're seeking is, first and foremost, the truth."Lumumba became prime minister at the time of Congo's independence in 1960, but the nation plunged into turmoil soon thereafter. He was later dismissed from the post, and executed by a firing squad, with both Belgium and the US accused of being complicit in his killing. His body was then buried in a shallow grave, dug up, transported 200km (125 miles), interred again, exhumed and then hacked to pieces and finally dissolved in police commissioner Gerard Soete, who oversaw and participated in the destruction of the remains, took the gold-crowned tooth. He later admitted this, and talked about a second tooth and two of the corpse's fingers, but these have not been journey from prime minister to victim of assassination took less than seven after independence, the country was hit by a secessionist crisis as the mineral-rich south-eastern Katanga province declared that it was splitting off from the rest of the the political chaos that followed, Belgian troops were sent in on the grounds that they would protect Belgian nationals, but they also helped support the Katangan administration, which was seen as more himself was dismissed as prime minster by the president and just over a week later army chief of staff Col Joseph Mobutu seized was then placed under house arrest, escaped and re-arrested in December 1960, before being held in the west of the presence there was seen as a possible source of instability and the Belgian government encouraged his transfer to the flight there on 16 January 1961 he was assaulted. He was also beaten on arrival as the Katangan leaders pondered what to do with it was decided that he would face a firing squad, and on 17 January he was shot, along with two allies. You may also be interested in: 'Our colonial regime was racist'MI6 and the death of Patrice LumumbaBelgium 'wakes up' to its bloody colonial past Go to for more news from the African us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
