Turning Congo's history on its head

Washington Times ^ | 9/11/01 | Arnaud de Borchgrave

[kattracks]

The first prime minister of the newly independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba, has transmogrified into a heroic figure unrecognizable to those who knew him well in 1960.

Beginning with independence day on July 1, 1960, this reporter covered Lumumba's two months in power with the kind of access unknown to subsequent generations of journalists. We dropped by Lumumba's home every day and sipped soft drinks in his living room while waiting for him to emerge from his post-lunch "naps." His aides winked knowingly about the boss' insatiable sexual appetites. Reporters nodded approvingly. Sexcapades didn't make the cut as news in those days. Wasn't adultery Leopoldville's favorite sport in the wicked Belgian colonial period that had just ended?

[Chapita]

I was once told by a Special Forces sergeat who had just arrived from Lang Vei, that the Congo was the most brutal scene he'd ever witnessed!

[backhoe]

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