
29/06/2025
After 61 years (two years and 7 days ago), Belgium finally returned slain Prime Minister Patrice Emery Lumumba's tooth!
The first picture is one of Lumumba and the inset is the picture of his tooth (a grizzly souvenir) kept by one Police Commissioner Gerard Soete which he owned up to owning in an interview back in 1999. Later in 2016 his daughter Godelieve shared the info as she had kept back some items that the father had collected during his time as an agent of the state.
Lumumba's family especially his daughter Julian along with many Congolese have spent many years fighting to have this wrong righted and finally on the 20th June 2022, a special ceremony was carried out in Belgium and the tooth (the only remaining item) was returned.
A special service was occured and then the "body"was flown back to Kinshasa. Another special ceremony was held on DR Congo's independence day to coincide with his fiery speech 62 years earlier that effectively sealed his fate against the establishment when he called out the Belgian King for his hypocrisy during the independence handover ceremony at their parliament.
As one who is a keen follower of history, Belgium owes Congo reparations for the terrible deeds carried out by her to the people of the Congo and for even robbing them of such a gallant son of the soil!
Long live a "united" Democratic Republic of the Congo!!