...the catastrophe that has unfolded over the last forty years in the Congo. And as a result of De Witte's research, originally published in Dutch, the Belgian officials whose careful cover-up of their appalling actions he has unmasked, are now facing a parliamentary commission of enquiry and the likelihood of public exposure. The popular myths that the assassination was carried out by Congolese, or Belgian mercenaries, or the CIA, are exploded by this book.

The story starts with the drama of 30 June 1960, Congo's independence day, after King Baudouin delivered a patronising speech in which he praised `the undertaking conceived by the genius of King Leopold II' and promised to be on hand after independence to give the Congolese the advice and training `you will need'. The ceremony in the grandiose Palais de la Nation in Leopoldville, as Kinshasa then was, took a sudden turn from the soothing neo-colonial platitudes of the King and President Joseph Kasa Vubu when Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba electrified his own people and stunned the Belgian contingent with an unscheduled speech.

He addressed not the dignitaries in the hall, but his own national constituency, `Congolese men...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



More articles from Race and Class
The Prisoner's Dilemma.~(theater review), July 01, 2002
Guatemala: never again!(Brief Article), July 01, 2002

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