In an attempt to reconcile with its dark colonial past in Africa, Belgian authorities have returned the golden capped tooth of Democratic Republic of Congo independence hero, Patrice Lumumba.
The tooth, the only remains left of Lumumba’s body following his assassination, was handed back to his family after a ceremony held in Egmont Palace in Brussels, Belgium.
The ceremony took place in the presence of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, his Congolese counterpart, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde and Lumumba’s family members.
Lumumba was assassinated in 1961, and his body was dismembered and dissolved, in a bid to wipe away all traces of this murder most foul.
According to state broadcaster RTBF, the tooth was taken by Belgian officials decades later from the daughter of the police commissioner, who said he took it after overseeing the destruction of Lumumba.
“There’s a feeling of satisfaction after several years,” one of his sons Roland Lumumba said before the ceremony.
Lumumba was shot to death in front of a firing squad, with some historians pointing an accusing finger at the CIA, who they say was behind the order.
His body was later exhumed by Belgian authorities and dissolved in acid with one of the officers taking his gold-capped tooth to serve as a relic of his destruction.
Lumumba became DRC’s first democratically elected prime minister in 1960, and it was not long before he irked the West and lost popularity by flirting with Moscow during the height of the cold war.
His most outspoken moment during his three-month stint in office was when the former Prime Minister publicly criticised Belgium’s colonisation of Congo and the resulting oppression of his people.
It was said to be the final nail in the former Primer Minister’s coffin.
“We remember the ridicule, insults, and beatings we had to endure morning, noon, and night because we were ‘negroes’. We recollect the atrocious suffering of those persecuted for political opinions or religious beliefs. Exiled in their own homeland, their fate was really worse than death itself,” he said, recalling that this independence was indeed the fruit of a “struggle,” an excerpt from Lumumba’s speech read in the Africa Report.
The tooth is to be placed in a casket and flown to the DRC on Tuesday, June 21, from when the country will observe three days of national mourning.
