Lumumba, Patrice Emergy (1925-1961)

Congolese politician, prime minister of the Republic of the Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) in 1960. Founder of the National Congolese Movement in 1958, he led his party to victory in the elections following independence in 1960. However, the country collapsed into civil war, and Lumumba was ousted in a coup led by Mobutu in September 1960, and murdered a few months later.

The findings of an official inquiry published in November 2001 gave a damning account of Belgium's part in Lumumba's murder. The report did not indict the government directly, but said that Belgian ministers then in office were morally responsible.