nuclear-news

Assassination of Patrice Lumumba – the role of uranium

Congo’s production of weapons-grade uranium vastly raised the stakes for the United States, which had used Congolese uranium to build the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945…….

War-crimes charges to be filed 50 years after Lumumba’s assassinationm Google hostede news, The Canadian Press:, By Slobodan Lekic (CP) – 18 Jan 2011, BRUSSELS — Activists plan to file a civil suit alleging war crimes by a dozen former Belgian officials they say participated in the assassination of Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba 50 years ago, a Brussels lawyer who heads the legal team said Monday.
Lumumba headed Congo’s largest political party and was elected prime minister when Belgium granted independence to the country on June 30, 1960, after almost a century of colonial rule. Many in the West viewed the charismatic prime minister as a dangerous radical because he wanted to nationalize the new country’s lucrative, Belgian-owned gold, copper and uranium mining industry……

A Belgian parliamentary probe determined in 2002 that the government was “morally responsible” for Lumumba’s death. Brussels officially apologized for its role in his death but refused to pay compensation to his family or to prosecute those involved.

A U.S. Senate committee found in 1975 that the U.S. administration had also hatched a separate plan to kill the Congolese leader because Washington viewed the leftist leader as a potential threat.

Congo’s production of weapons-grade uranium vastly raised the stakes for the United States, which had used Congolese uranium to build the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945…….

The Canadian Press: War-crimes charges to be filed 50 years after Lumumba’s assassination

January 18, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AFRICA, history, Uranium