Patrice Emery Lumumba, first Prime Minister of an independent Congo, is born

A member of the Tetela ethnic group, Patrice Emery Lumumba was born in the Katakokombe region of the Kasai Province of Belgian Congo. Lumuba became involved in politics as a young man and in 1958 he founded the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC). As President of MNC, Lumumba helped win Congo’s independence from Belgium in 1960. He was elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo, the first legally elected Prime Minister for the country. After only 12 weeks in power, the new government was deposed in a coup which led to Lumumba’s arrest. He was executed by a firing squad on 17 January 1961. It later emerged that Lumumba’s death had been orchestrated by Belgian and US forces who opposed his vision of a united Congo.