Belgium will return Lumumba’s remains to Congo on Monday

The remains of Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which were kept by Belgium after his assassination in 1961, will be returned to his family on Monday 20 June, ten days before the 62nd anniversary of the country’s independence from Belgium.

An official ceremony will follow the return of the remains in the Egmont Palace in Brussels, where the Congolese authorities, as well as Lumumba’s family, will also be represented, according to the cabinet of Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Tuesday.

“This moment is considered a new positive turning point in the history of diplomatic relations between Belgium and the DRC,” said a statement by De Croo’s cabinet. “The remains of Patrice Emery Lumumba refer to the common past of our two countries, including the difficult periods."

Lumumba’s remains – several teeth and finger bones – were kept in the possession of former Belgian Chief of Police Gérard Soete, who in 1999 admitted to assisting in Lumumba’s assassination, and dissolving his body in sulfuric acid.

Soete, however, died in 2000 and was never prosecuted. The remains were always kept in his possession, and his daughter Godelieve Soete even showed one of Lumumba’s teeth during a 2016 interview with Humo. Following the interview, her house was searched by the police, and the remains were taken to be stored in Brussels’ Justice Palace.

In July 2020, Lumumba’s daughter Juliana already asked for the return of her father’s remains “to the ground of his ancestors” in a letter addressed to King Philippe of Belgium. Later that year, a Belgian court ruled in her favour, stating that the remains could be returned.

(TOM)

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