Word: lumumba
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Constitutionally, the Congo was a worse shambles than ever. There were now three governments instead of two-Mobutu's, Lumumba's and moderate President Joseph Kasavubu's. But in the 3,000-man Léopoldville garrison of the Congolese army, Mobutu had at least temporarily enough firepower to make his orders stick. This was a detail that both Lumumba and Kasavubu had overlooked. Both had always been happy when they could line up enough loyal soldiers to form a personal honor guard...
Forlorn Forays. The week began with comic-opera flourishes. First, Lumumba rounded up two truckloads of soldiers and roared off to Radio Congo in the apparent belief that with a microphone in his hand he could conquer the world. But the United Nations had closed the station to inflammatory broadcasts, and Ghanaian soldiers guarded it with fixed bayonets. "If you try to use force," warned the lieutenant in charge, "I'll have to shoot." Then he turned to Lumumba's trusted aide, General Victor Lundula, and added: ''The first shot will be for you." General Lundula...
President Kasavubu's counter-interventions were no more effective. Rallying a small troop of loyal soldiers, he sent them off to capture his rival Lumumba. The troop took Lumumba by surprise, bundled him into his own official black Ford and drove him off to a prison cell at Camp Leopold II. But less than two hours later, General Lundula convinced the guards that he had orders to transfer Lumumba to another prison. Once beyond the gates, Lumumba located 40 friendly soldiers and rolled back downtown, with sirens screaming, shouting. "Today victory is mine. Death to the imperialists!" Once again...
Next morning the rampaging soldiers found Lumumba in an officers' mess. All that saved his life was the protection of the same Ghanaian troops that Lumumba himself had ordered to leave the country only a week before. One Congolese charged the building with a hand grenade, another with a Sten gun. but the Ghanaians turned them back at bayonet point. "Lumumba must die!" the crowd shouted. "He made us kill our brothers!" For nine hours' Lumumba cowered inside, first in a laundry closet and then in a bedroom, while Lundula hid out in a vegetable...
After nightfall, Mobutu organized a dependable detachment of military police into a flying wedge and hustled Lumumba through the milling soldiers to an army truck. But along the way, Congolese reached past the guards to kick and spit on Lumumba and rip his flapping white sports shirt to shreds. As Lumumba rode off, General Lundula sneaked out the back way aquiver with fear, and with all insignia of rank carefully removed. At Lumumba's official residence, Ghanaian troops put the Premier under heavy guard. Next day, Mobutu's men raided Lumumba's headquarters, arrested 26 staff members...