Open the interactive dossier on Road to Uhuru →
DR Congo
Belgium conceded independence within six months after the 1959 Léopoldville riots; with few trained Congolese administrators or officers, the new state fell almost immediately into the Congo Crisis.
- Independence
- June 30, 1960
- Before
- Belgian Congo
- Metropole
- Belgium
- Leader
- Patrice Lumumba
- Transition
- Negotiated
- Movement
- Mouvement National Congolais (MNC); ABAKO
“Morning, noon and night we were subjected to jeers, insults and blows because we were "Negroes".”
— Patrice Lumumba, 30 June 1960
From Free State to Belgian Colony
After international outrage at atrocities in King Leopold II's Congo Free State, Belgium annexed the territory on 15 November 1908. It ruled through a partnership of state, Catholic missions and large companies, often called the colonial trinity. Paternalist policy expanded primary schooling but offered little higher education until Lovanium University opened in 1954, and kept Congolese out of politics; the first elections, municipal polls in a few cities, were held only in 1957.
The Rise of Mass Nationalism
Antoine van Bilsen's plan for emancipation over thirty years prompted the ABAKO manifesto of 1956, which demanded self-government at once. In October 1958 the Mouvement National Congolais was founded, with Patrice Lumumba emerging as its leader and the leading voice of a nationwide, rather than ethnic, nationalism. Riots in Léopoldville from 4 January 1959 shook Belgian confidence, and on 13 January King Baudouin declared for the first time that the Congo would be led to independence.
Six Months to Independence
At the Brussels Round Table from 20 January to 20 February 1960, Belgium agreed to independence on 30 June 1960. The MNC won the most seats in May elections, Lumumba became Prime Minister and Kasa-Vubu President. On independence day Lumumba answered King Baudouin with a speech condemning colonial humiliation. The new state inherited an army in which no Congolese had risen above non-commissioned rank, and barely fifteen or so Congolese university graduates to staff its administration.
Chronology
- 15 November 1908 — Belgium formally takes over the Congo Free State
- 5 October 1958 — MNC founded; Lumumba among the signatories of its charter
- 4 January 1959 — Léopoldville riots
- 20 January–20 February 1960 — Brussels Round Table sets the independence date
- 30 June 1960 — Independence; Lumumba's speech before King Baudouin
- 11 July 1960 — Katanga secedes under Moïse Tshombe
- 17 January 1961 — Lumumba killed in Katanga
Aftermath
The Congo Crisis, with an army mutiny, Belgian intervention, the secessions of Katanga and South Kasai and a UN peacekeeping mission, became a Cold War battleground. Lumumba was dismissed, arrested and handed to Katangan authorities, who killed him with Belgian officers present; the CIA had separately planned for his possible assassination, and a Belgian parliamentary inquiry concluded in 2001 that Belgium bore 'moral responsibility', leading to a formal apology in 2002. Joseph-Désiré Mobutu seized power in 1965 and ruled Zaire until 1997.
Legacy
The murder of Lumumba and the Congo Crisis traumatised the nation and opened the way for Mobutu's long kleptocracy. The weaknesses and foreign interventions of 1960 have echoed through decades of conflict and exploitation.