{"id":253962,"date":"2024-11-21T12:38:17","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T12:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/21\/false-alarm-over-dr-congo-heros-golden-tooth\/"},"modified":"2024-11-21T12:38:17","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T12:38:17","slug":"false-alarm-over-dr-congo-heros-golden-tooth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/21\/false-alarm-over-dr-congo-heros-golden-tooth\/","title":{"rendered":"False alarm over DR Congo hero&#8217;s golden tooth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanaweb.com\/imagelib\/pics\/867\/86709010.295.jpg\" alt=\"The gold tooth was placed in this mausoleum after its return to DR Congo in 2022\" title=\"The gold tooth was placed in this mausoleum after its return to DR Congo in 2022\" width=\"295\" height=\"157\" \/> <span class=\"image_caption\"><span>The gold tooth was placed in this mausoleum after its return to DR Congo in 2022<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"-webkit-user-select: none; -webkit-touch-callout: none; -moz-user-select: none; -ms-user-select: none; user-select: none;\">\n<p id=\"article-123\">The gold-capped tooth of Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of Congo&#8217;s independence hero, is safe and has not been stolen, his daughter has told the BBC.<\/p>\n<p>The news comes as a relief to a nation gripped by fear that the only remains of the country\u2019s revered first prime minister had been swiped after his mausoleum in the capital, Kinshasa, was vandalised on Monday night.<\/p>\n<p>But Juliana Lumumba said previous concerns about the security of the site had prompted the family to move the tooth to a more secure location.<\/p>\n<p>The tooth was only returned to the Lumumba family by former colonial power Belgium two years ago &#8211; and had been placed in the special memorial building.<\/p>\n<p>Lumumba was much loved not just by many at home but across Africa for his outspoken criticism of colonialism &#8211; and he became an icon of pan-Africanism.<\/p>\n<p>He was seen as a symbol of change and hope after the harrowing years under Belgian rule, during which millions of Congolese people died or were brutalised.<\/p>\n<p>But within months of the country\u2019s independence from Belgium in 1960 he was toppled as prime minister.<\/p>\n<p>At the age of 35 he was shot by a firing squad in January 1961, with the tacit backing of Belgium.<\/p>\n<p>His body was then dissolved in acid, but Belgian police officer Gerard Soete, who oversaw the destruction, took the tooth as a macabre memento.<\/p>\n<p>The return of Lumumba&#8217;s gold tooth in June 2022 was a cause for celebration in DR Congo &#8211; and it was taken on a tour of the vast country so people could pay their respects.<\/p>\n<p>The vandalism of the mausoleum has caused outrage &#8211; and when Culture Minister Yolande Elebe Mandembo announced on Tuesday that an investigation had been launched, many feared the worst.<\/p>\n<p>Footage circulated showing that a glass door had been smashed to get access to the chamber where a coffin could be seen.<\/p>\n<p>But Ms Lumumba sought to reassure people on Wednesday &#8211; saying her father\u2019s tooth had not been there at the time of the break-in.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless she told the BBC she felt &#8220;anger and sadness&#8221; that her father&#8217;s grave had been disrespected.<\/p>\n<p>Now 69, she spent years lobbying Belgium for the return of the tooth.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Patrice Lumumba sacrificed himself for the sovereignty and independence of his country and the Congolese,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is so unrepresentative of our culture, which respects the graves of our dearly departed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Local authorities say four suspects have been arrested over the desecration, but their identities have not been made public.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Lumumba said the Lumumba Foundation wanted to take over management of the mausoleum because of security worries and had been lobbying the government to do so.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The gold tooth was placed in this mausoleum after its return to DR Congo in 2022 The gold-capped tooth of Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of Congo&#8217;s independence hero, is safe and has not been stolen, his daughter has told the BBC. The news comes as a relief to a nation gripped by fear that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":253963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-africa"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>False alarm over DR Congo hero&#039;s golden tooth - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/21\/false-alarm-over-dr-congo-heros-golden-tooth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"False alarm over DR Congo hero&#039;s golden tooth - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The gold tooth was placed in this mausoleum after its return to DR Congo in 2022 The gold-capped tooth of Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of Congo&#8217;s independence hero, is safe and has not been stolen, his daughter has told the BBC. 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