Patrice Lumumba, First Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo and a pioneer of African unity, was murdered on 17 January 1961. This book unravels the appaling mass of lies, hypocrisy and betrayals that have surrounded accounts of the assasination of Lumumba since its perpetration. Making use of a huge array of official sources as well as personal testimony from mnay of those in the Congo at the time, Ludo de Witte reveals a network of complicity ranging from the Belgian government to the CIA. Chilling official memos which detail 'liquidation' and 'threats to national interest' are analysed alongside macabre tales of the destruction of evedence, putting Patrice Lumumba's personal strength and his dignified quest for african unity in stark contrast with one of the murkiest episodes of twentieth-century politics.