I Weep For Africa: The Cry of a Worried African Youth

Father Africa has put himself in chains, yet he blames the Whiteman

By Honourable Saka

Africa is a lovely continent and the ordinary African is indeed one such nice person to discover. Africa is a continent of one people, though currently without a common vision, we still have a common destiny. The true African is always proud of his African identity. As a matter of fact, the African citizen, tend to cherish his identity even better, when he/she travels to Europe or America and all one can see on the streets are two colours: Black and White people all over. It is at this moment that he/she sees the Blackman as his true brother/sister.

As a proud African, when l walk on the streets of London, Paris, or Beijing and l see the Blackman anywhere, I feel proud to have seen my brother or sister in a foreign land. At that time, I care less about which African country specifically he might come from. I do not really care about his religion nor his ethnic background. I do not care whether he belongs to a political party or not. I care less whether he’s a Muslim or a Christian. At that moment, all l see and feel proud of, is my African brother/sister who shares my common identity. I shake hands and hug my African brother/sister with pride. Whenever Africans come together, it is a moment of joy and excitement.

For instance, during international sports competitions, the entire African people tend to rally behind any African team/country that is able to make it to the final stage against teams from other continents.

I remember during the 2010 world cup held in South Africa, when Ghana was left to carry Africa on her shoulders; the entire African continent came together in harmony. Many Africans across the world rejoiced in unity as they rallied behind Ghana.

In the end, even when Ghana couldn’t make it, Africans all over the world though they felt disappointed, they were proud. Such is the true taste of what it means for a people to come together, and live in harmony, rather than always having to fight among ourselves as the enemy wishes.

From Where Came All These Divisions?
Divide and conquer has always been the strategy the colonial masters often used to destroy a people. Imagine how lovely and wonderful this world would be, if the north, south, east and west were to live together in harmony, instead of wars and conflicts that often leave the innocent and the vulnerable suffering?

The whole world knows that it will be wonderful for a people to live together in harmony, yet why can’t it be so? Across the world, Africans are facing challenges in areas of racism and its discriminations.

Yet today, thanks to the lack of foresight from many of our leaders. Africa, a people who ought to be the most formidable force in the world, has been broken into pieces. From the north, the south, east the west, to the central Africa, Africans are fighting among themselves, killing our own brothers and sisters all in a bid to please the colonial master.

The colonial masters have succeeded in dividing the people into so-called “economic regions and countries”. Yet, within our own regions and countries, we’re still not free: we’re fighting for individual interests. Our people have been divided along political lines, ethnic and tribal groupings. Many of us are still struggling under the yolk of religious differences. Little regard is given to the fact that we’re all Nigerians, one Ghanaians, one Somalis or Sudanese, and that we are not different people, irrespective of our religious and political beliefs. But we have believed the enemy more than ourselves.

With this, Lucky Dube, the reggae legend who was eliminated by the usual mafia, shared his sentiments. Quoting Bob Marley, he said:

“Bob Marley said: how long shall they kill our prophets, while we stand aside and look? But little did he know that eventually, the enemy will stand aside and look, while we kill and slaughter our own brothers”.

Indeed it is a sad reality, because colonialism had it that, the African people were being suppressed, beaten and killed by the colonial masters. But sadly in today’s Africa, neo-colonialism has made it possible for Africans to be killing themselves and suppressing their own freedoms while the enemy rather sits somewhere and looks.

Why must the African people allow certain minor issues such as religion and political parties, to throw us into killing ourselves? Does it really make sense for Ghanaians, Nigerians, Kenyans or the Ivory Coast to be fighting and killing their brothers and sisters because of politics or religion; forgetting that we are all one people with a common destiny?
It is very sad that our African identity has been erased from our minds and our thoughts, to the point where instead of us coming together to solve our problems, we’re rather busying ourselves with how we can suppress one another for selfish gains.

Recently, the fact that we’re all Africans and come from one continent is not an issue that bothers our leaders. What happened to the spirit of living in a universal brotherhood? Where did we go wrong?

Many African leaders today are secretly busying themselves with how they can suppress the growth of their neighbouring African countries.

While some are secretly funding and collaborating with various terror groups in their attempt to sew chaos in other countries, others are equally busying themselves with how they can make life unbearable for the other Africans living in their country.

Then after all these distractions, African leaders shamelessly continue to gather at Addis Ababa, under the umbrella of the AU, as they hypocritically wine and dine on one hand, exchanging fake smiles and handshakes, whiles their governments continue to frustrate and intimidate the citizens of other Africans living in their countries on a daily basis. Why all these hypocrisy of a so-called African Union?

It is a big shame to our current African leaders that after all these years of drumming into our ears, unity after unity, Africa still remains more divided than ever.

At a time when we cheerfully welcome many of our Asian and European brothers into our countries; we shamelessly intimidate our own brothers and restrict their freedoms on their own motherland.

African leaders must change these habits and take immediate efforts to normalize diplomatic relations with all African countries. I am urging the AU to bring into discussion the urgent need to make efforts to remove these entire border and visa restrictions which the colonial masters have imposed on the African people through the colonial accord of 1844.

We the African people want the freedom to explore Africa and to interact with our brothers and sisters across the continent without being submitted to any unnecessary delays that comes with this visa queues and the long waiting times.

In this 21^st century where every continent is well integrated to facilitate the swift movement of goods and services that promotes economic growth and job opportunities, we in Africa have entangled ourselves in some colonial boundaries that were drawn centuries ago with our enslavement and suppression as the ultimate objective.

Yet, every year, our political leaders shamelessly celebrate independence as if to say Africa is independent from these colonial bonds. We are supposedly claiming political independence, yet, we have allowed some 19^th century’s colonial bondage to continually bind our freedom of living in a continent of universal brotherhood.

Until this colonial bondage is broken, Africa shall continue to remain impoverished, wretched and chained for another century to come. At the same time, our Asian and Latin American colleagues would have freed themselves from this bondage and become one of the most formidable forces at a time when Europe and America might have collapsed. By freeing themselves from the shackles of colonial bondage, the emerging economies will be doing business among themselves, creating more opportunities for their people, when we in Africa would be looking everywhere, fighting among ourselves and blaming the white man for our lack of foresight.

I weep for Africa, my beloved continent. But I won’t give up, because there is still hope for our current leaders to do what is right.
Long live Africa, our only home.

Honourable Saka
The writer is a Pan-African analyst and the founder of the Project Pan-Africa (PPA), an organization that was established to unlock the minds of the African youth to take Africa’s destiny into their hands. The PPA seeks to provide the biggest platform that will give international exposure to all hidden but exceptional talents in Africa. Please visit us at: www.projectpanafrica.org and support the project. PPA is grateful to ITech Plus and all media partners that support our vision for Africa. Email me at: honourablesaka@yahoo.co.uk

Patrice Lumumba, The Sacrifice of a True African Leader

Photo: Patrice Lumumba (2 July 1925 – 17 January 1961), the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Congo Republic was murdered by a CIA- sponsored  plot, over 50 years ago.

By Honourable Saka


We must move forward, striking out tirelessly against imperialism. From all over the world we have to learn lessons which events afford. Lumumba’s murder should be a lesson for all of us”. — Che Guevara, 1964.

“Dead, living, free, or in prison on the orders of the colonialists, it is not I who counts. It is the Congo, it is our people for whom independence has been transformed into a cage where we are regarded from the outside…” — Patrice Lumumba, October 1960. 

Introduction

The truth surrounding the brutal murder of Patrice Lumumba is an embarrassing event which, when exposed to the African youth of today, will definitely send the US government scratching its head. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has had a troubled history since the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. Currently there is conflict in the eastern DRC. But who are the main actors in the conflict this time? African leaders, it is important to remember history so that you can appreciate what is going on today in Africa and the rest of the world.

Lumumba was a strong African revolutionary leader whose Pan-Africanist vision of a united Congo gained him many enemies from the outside world. Like Kwame Nkrumah, Lumumba sought for a country where the numerous resources of the Congo will benefit not only the Congo but the African people as a whole. In his famous first ever independence speech, a newly elected Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba who had not been scheduled to speak, stood up and made this speech (30^th June 1960):

“You who have fought for independence, and are today victorious, I salute you in the name of the Congolese government. We have been subjected to insults and sarcasms, to the blows we had to endure from morning to night just because we were Africans. We learnt that the law was never the same according to whether it was applied to whites or blacks. Who will ever forget the shootings or the barbarous jail cells awaiting those who refused to submit to this regime of injustice, oppression and intimidation?”

With this speech, it was said that he signed his death warrant. From the very first day, the West especially the American and the Belgian governments started to sabotage Lumumba’s government and sought the immediate removal of Lumumba all cost.

Ludo De Witte, the Belgian author of the best book on this crime, qualifies it as "the most important assassination of the 20th century". His assassination's historical importance lies in a multitude of factors, the most pertinent being the global context in which it took place, its impact on Congolese politics since then and Lumumba's overall legacy as a nationalist leader, writes Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, a professor of African and Afro-American studies at the University of North Carolina, author of “The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People's History”.

"Today, it is impossible to touch down at the (far from modernized) airport of Lubumbashi in the south of the DR Congo without a shiver of recollection of the haunting photographs, taken of Lumumba there shortly before his assassination, and after beatings, torture and a long, long flight in custody across the vast country which he so loved". — Victoria Brittain, The Guardian, 2011.

Exposing The Facts an Debunking The Then Media Distortions           

It is a fact that both the Belgian government and the United States actively sought to have him eliminated. The CIA ordered his assassination but could not complete the job. Instead, the United States and Belgium covertly funnelled cash and aid to rival politicians (just as they recently did in Libya) who seized power and arrested Lumumba. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had said something [to CIA chief Allen Dulles] to the effect that “Lumumba should be eliminated". This was revealed by a declassified interview with then-US National Security Council minute keeper, Robert Johnson which was released in August 2000 from Senate intelligence committee's inquiry on covert action. The committee later claimed that while the CIA had conspired to kill Lumumba, it was not directly involved in the actual murder. Therefore one must ask: on whose orders was the actual murder executed if not the United States? Which elements in the CIA ever faced justice for such a brutal murder?

In his book, “In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story” John Stockwell (1978), revealed that a CIA officer in Elizabethville was in direct touch with Lumumba’s killers the night he was assassinated. Later, another CIA agent admitted to have had the body in the trunk of his car to try and get rid of it (p. 105) This leaked cable went on to state that Lumumba was first picked up from the airport by "all white guards", taken to the bush where his fate was decided and his body completely dissolved in acid, leaving no traces whatsoever. What a horrible way to eliminate the traces of such a hero!

Having realised the complicity of the United Nations and the world powers, on this brutal murder, Kwame Nkrumah thus made a broadcast to the people of Ghanaian :

“Somewhere in Katanga in the Congo- where and when we do not know- three of our brother freedom fighters have been done to death.  They have been Patrice Lumumba, the Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo, Maurice Mpolo, the Minister in his government who was elected from Katanga Province and Joseph Okito the Vice-President of the Congolese Senate. About their end many things are uncertain, but one fact is crystal clear. They have been killed because the United Nations, whom Patrice Lumumba himself as Prime Minister had invited to the Congo to preserve law and order, not only failed to maintain that law and order, but also denied to the lawful Government of the Congo, all other means of self-protection.” Kwame Nkrumah, (Challenge of the Congo, page 129).

“History records many occasions when rulers of states have been assassinated. The murder of Patrice Lumumba and of his two colleagues, however, is unique in that it is the first time in history that the legal ruler of a country has been done to death with the open connivance of a world organisation (the United Nations) whom that ruler put his trust”, -Nkrumah concludes (page 129/130).

I believe what happened in Libya in 2011 goes to affirm the real agenda of the UN, so long as Africa is concerned. Just as it had always been, it is always the same for Africa. But who cares when an African leader is brutally murdered on the orders of Western agents? After all we are used to it.

Between 1961 and 1973 alone, six African independence leaders were assassinated by their ex-colonial rulers, including Patrice Lumumba of the Congo.

Complicity of the Belgian Government

A recent report by a Belgian Commission revealed that Belgium wanted Lumumba arrested and was not particularly concerned with Lumumba's physical well-being.  Though informed of the danger to Lumumba's life when later arrested, Belgium did not take any action to avert his death.

Under its own  laws, Belgium was legally culpable for failing to prevent the assassination of the leader of a country where it had colonial ties. It was also in breach of its obligation (under U.N. Resolution 290 of 1949) to refrain from acts or threats "aimed at impairing the freedom, independence or integrity of another state.

In 2001, a Belgian Commission exposed that there had been previous U.S. and Belgian plots to kill Lumumba. Among them was a CIA-sponsored attempt to poison him, which might have come on orders from the then U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. A CIA chemist Sidney Gottlieb was made to devise a poison disguised as toothpaste for the elimination of Lumumba to which the corporate media intended to blame on “opposition elements”. This plot however backfired. 

In another book, “Congo Cables”, the author details many communications by local CIA Station Chief, Larry Devlin at the time who continually urged the total elimination of Lumumba as the only outcome the US government wanted to see (p. 53, 101, 129-133, 149-152, 158-159, 184-185, 195).

Thanks to the power of suppression, political intimidation, as well as the fear and panic on the part of many African leaders who surrender at the expense of the African people. The bloody hand of colonialism, imperialism and neo-colonialism has always fought hard to burry the facts surrounding the brutal murder of many African heroes, African reggae legends, and tens of thousands of the people. The African people of today, continue to live under the illusion of so-called “independence, as foreign pressure continues to mount on their leaders to either comply or face similar fate.

That notwithstanding, we the African generation of today, cannot sit aside and watch our history to be distorted nor completely buried for the sake of satisfying the wishes of the oppressor. Our revolutionary leader Patrice Lumumba has underlined that the history of the African people must be written. This history should not be the type that Brussels, Paris, Washington, the United Nations nor the corporate media will teach. Rather, Africa’s history should be written by the African people and should be taught in all the countries emancipated from colonialism and its current puppets… a history of glory and dignity.

African scholars and all historians of African origin therefore owe our children, the youth and our children’s children, the responsibility to teach them the true history of their ancestors. The future generations have every right to know the sacrifices and the price which many of their ancestors had to pay (with their blood) before we were able to attain our political independence. It was Lumumba’s wish that “Africa writes her own history, a history of glory and dignity”.

Lumumba and his kind we fall short of today, but we will get there. –A message to the African youth.He is a true African hero who must be celebrated by the African people all over the world.

Long live Patrice Lumumba,

Long live the people of the Congo,

Long live Africa.

Video: The Assassination of Patrice Lumumba

NOTE:

1.      "Patrice Lumumba: the most important assassination of the 20th century" available at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jan/17/patrice-lumumba-50th-anniversary-assassination

2.      Kwame Nkrumah, (1967) “Challenge of The Congo: A Case Study of Foreign Pressures in an Independent State”, Panaf Books: London.

3.      Patrice Lumumba, (1972) Lumumba Speaks: The Speeches and Writings of Patrice Lumumba, 1958–1961. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

4.      Patrice Lumumba, (1962) “Congo, My Country” London: Pall Mall Press.

5.      John Stockwell (1978), “In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story”. W.W. Norton.

6.      CIA document #CO 1366116.

7.      Plan to poison Congo leader Patrice Lumumba (page 464). pdf copy available at:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/top06.pdf

8.      Biography of Patrice Lumumba, available at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrice_Lumumba#Writings_by_Lumumba

9.      Karen De Young (2007), “CIA Releases Files on Past Misdeeds”, The Washington Post. Available at:

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/26/AR2007062600861.html?hpid=topnews

10.  Victoria Brittain, (2011) “Africa: a continent drenched in the blood of revolutionary heroes”. The Guardian (London). Available at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jan/17/lumumba-50th-anniversary-african-leaders-assassinations

About Honourable Saka

The author is a regular writer and a political analyst on African affairs, and a well-known social commentator in Africa. He is currently seeking the establishment of the "Project Pan-Africa" to create a mental revolution across Africa. He is the editor of “The Doctor’s Report”, your most reliable source of critical analysis on African affairs. He’s strong Pan-Africanist, a youth activist and founder of the “Leaders of Tomorrow”, a transformational and inspirational group of possible future leaders. Please visit his blog at: www.honourablesaka.blogspot.co.uk and Email him at: honourablesaka@yahoo.co.uk