Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of Congo was murdered because he was a communist? Not so fast.

1. Lumumba was not a Communist
Thierry Debels
@thierryd
25/5/17
Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of Congo was
murdered because he was a communist? Not so fast.
Robinson McIlvaine was Consul General at Leopoldville
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1960 to
1961. In July 1960 McIlvaine responded to a White
House inquiry on Lumumba. He wrote: "Lumumba is an
opportunist and not a Communist".
In the original telegram1
McIlvaine continues: ‘His
(Lumumba,td) final decision as to which camp he will
eventually belong, will not be made by him.’ The portrait
of Lumumba by McIlvaine is not very positive.
In the same telegram, we can read that (Moïse) Tshombe
1
Telegram from the embassy in the Congo to the department of state, 26/7/60, 7 PM.
1

2. on the other hand sincerely believed Lumumba to be
dominated by Communists2
. And we know that Tshombe
was very close to the Belgians.
2
He founded the CONAKAT party, with Godefroid Munongo; it promoted a federal
Congo independent from the Belgian Empire. CONAKAT won control of the Katanga
provincial legislature in the May 1960 general elections. One month later, the Congo
became an independent republic. Tshombe became President of Katanga.
In the resulting strife and chaos following independence, CONAKAT declared the
State of Katanga's secession from the rest of the Congo. The Christian, anti-
communist pro-Western Tshombe declared, "We are seceding from chaos." Favoring
continued ties with Belgium, he asked the Belgian government to send military
officers to recruit and train a Katangese army.
2