Mobutu Sese Seko

20th Century

Congo's first elected prime minister is executed with Belgian and CIA involvement, just months after independence. The assassination—and subsequent decades o…

• 1961 CE

  Patrice Lumumba assassinated in Congo

  Congo's first elected prime minister is executed with Belgian and CIA involvement, just months after independence. The assassination—and subsequent decades of Mobutu's brutal U.S.-backed dictatorship—embodies how Cold War powers undermined African self-determination.