Moiz Chombe Killer of Patrice Lumumba Date of Birth: 10.11.1919 Country: Congo

Biography of Moise Tshombe

Moise Tshombe, the assassin of Patrice Lumumba, was a Congolese politician and the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1964 to 1965. He was born into a family of successful Congolese businessmen. Tshombe received his education at an American missionary school and later studied accounting. In the 1950s, he acquired a chain of stores in the southern province of Katanga and became actively involved in politics, founding the CONAKAT party, which advocated for an independent, federal Congo.

During the general elections of 1960, CONAKAT gained control over the provincial parliament of Katanga. Following the declaration of independence of the Belgian Congo on June 30, 1960, and the ensuing fierce political struggle that ultimately led to the start of a civil war, Tshombe and his party announced Katanga's independence from the rest of the Congo, further exacerbating the situation. Tshombe, who had pro-Western and anti-communist views, was elected as the president of Katanga in August 1960 and implemented a pro-Belgian policy in this resource-rich southern Congolese province. Belgian officers were invited to Katanga to train and establish the Katangese army.

Patrice Lumumba, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo, requested military support from the United Nations to suppress separatist tendencies in Katanga. The UN provided this support, but it took the international organization two years to regain control of the rebellious province under the central government's authority. During this time, Tshombe's separatist forces captured Prime Minister Lumumba, and he was executed in January 1961. According to some reports, Tshombe personally ordered the execution of Lumumba and was present during the event, while others claim that he tried to prevent the assassination despite his dislike for the Congolese Prime Minister.

In 1963, UN peacekeeping forces finally occupied Katanga, reestablishing the authority of Joseph Kasavubu's government. Tshombe was forced to flee first to Northern Rhodesia and then to Spain. However, a year later, in 1964, he returned to Congo to assume the position of Prime Minister in the new coalition government of the country. Tshombe held this position for about a year until he was dismissed by President Kasavubu in 1965. In the following year, 1966, the new leader of Congo, Joseph Mobutu, who came to power in November 1965 through a military coup, accused Tshombe of treason, forcing him to flee the country again and settle in Spain.

In 1967, Moise Tshombe was sentenced to death in absentia. On June 30, 1967, the plane he was traveling on was hijacked and diverted to Algeria, where Tshombe was initially imprisoned and later placed under house arrest until his death from a heart attack on June 29, 1969. He was buried in Brussels.