Congo remembers Lumumba, his ex-deputy readies govt
Source: Reuters
By Joe Bavier KINSHASA, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Forty-six years after the execution of independence leader Patrice Lumumba marked Congo's slide into war and chaos, his former deputy is preparing a government whose task is to rebuild the violence-scarred nation. Democratic Republic of Congo commemorated the anniversary on Wednesday of the 1961 slaying of Lumumba, an icon of African nationalism. His leftist rhetoric alarmed the Cold War West and former colonial power Belgium and led directly to his murder. The day is a public holiday in Congo. Officials, family members and citizens laid a wreath at a monument to him. In a remarkable political come-back, Lumumba's former deputy, 81-year-old Antoine Gizenga, was named prime minister last month by President Joseph Kabila after Congo held its first democratic elections in more than four decades. Gizenga, who led an eastern rebellion after Lumumba's death and spent years in exile, now carries his political mantle as leader of the Unified Lumumbist Party (PALU). Appointed as premier through an electoral pact that helped Kabila win last year's landmark elections, Gizenga is expected to name his cabinet in the coming days. "This is the continuation of the struggle," said Gizenga's spokesman and PALU's second-in-command, Godefroid Mayobo. "Despite what they wanted to smother, the ideals for which Lumumba was sacrificed are still current. The Lumumbist credo most conforms to the expectations of the people," he added. PALU, which expects ministerial posts in the new government, says its priorities will include defending national sovereignty, reforming the state and fighting corruption. But unlike Lumumba's anti-western views, the party accepts the need for ties with the World Bank and IMF. After a brief but turbulent period as prime minister, Lumumba was arrested and later executed with the complicity of Belgian officials, according to a Belgian government report. His supporters and some historians also accuse the CIA of having ordered his killing. Some reports say his body was later dissolved in sulphuric acid to erase any physical trace of him. But his image as a charismatic nationalist leader still burns brightly among many Congolese. "It's our history. He was killed because he was a communist, and the country was colonised by capitalists," said driver John Matadi who was 13-years old when Lumumba's death was announced on the radio in 1961. "He is a hero," he added. EXPECTATIONS HIGH Popular expectations over the new government are high, following more than three decades of mismanagement and corruption under the late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. A 1998-2003 civil war devastated the vast, mineral-rich country, triggering what aid workers call one of the world's most deadly humanitarian crises, which has killed an estimated four million through conflict, hunger and disease. Congolese will look to Gizenga's government to restore peace, end graft, mend shattered infrastructure and revitalise health, education and public services. "He has to rebuild a country that is a state in name only. It's a gargantuan job," said Jason Stearns, a Nairobi-based analyst with the International Crisis Group think-tank. Stearns said Gizenga, in forming his cabinet, was having to play the difficult political game of satisfying the ambitions of members of Kabila's extended electoral coalition. "Politics in Congo is about personality and not policy. It's still about interest and about distributing posts," he said. "My feeling is that Gizenga will get a brief honeymoon period, and then his leadership will be bitterly contested. But as long as he has Kabila's support, I think he will make it through this difficult transition period," Stearns added.
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