Joseph Okito

Joseph Okito
Joseph Okito
Second Vice-President of the Senate of the Republic of the Congo
	In office; 22 June 1960 – 14 September 1960
Succeeded by	Kasai Province
	In office; May 1960 – 17 January 1961
Personal details
Born	5 February 1910; Koyapongo, Mouvement National Congolais

Joseph Okito (5 February 1910 – 17 January 1961) was a

Senate of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Republic of the Congo). He was executed alongside Lumumba in Katanga

in 1961.

Biography

Joseph Okito was born on 5 February 1910

Mouvement National Congolais (MNC).^[5] The following year he became president of the Sankuru chapter of the party.^[1]

In March 1960 Okito participated in the Akutshu-Anamongo Congress of

Joseph-Désiré Mobutu launched a coup that removed Lumumba from power and adjourned Parliament.^[12]

In late November Lumumba fled political hostility in the capital to organise

Élisabethville, capital of the secessionist State of Katanga. Once there, they were brutally tortured at the hands of Moïse Tshombe and Godefroid Munongo, Lumumba's chief political rivals and the leaders of the secessionist state.^[14] That night, one by one they were lined up against a tree to be executed via firing squad. Okito was the first to be shot. As he was led to the tree, he said, "I want my wife and children in Léopoldville to be taken care of," to which someone replied, "We're in Katanga, not in Léo!" Following the execution his body was immediately placed in a nearby grave.^[15] The following morning, on orders of Katangan Interior Minister Godefroid Munongo who wanted to make the bodies disappear and thereby prevent a burial site from being created, Belgian Gendarmerie officer Gerard Soete and his team dug up and dismembered the corpses, and dissolved them in sulfuric acid while the bones were ground and scattered.^[16]

On 17 January 2011, a mass of thanksgiving was held in memory of Mpolo and Okito at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Kinshasa.^[17]

Notes

^ According to Makombo, on 7 September Okito became a member of an "arbitration commission" established by Parliament to mediate the dispute.^[9] Hoskyns and Artigue do not list Okito as a member of the commission.^[10]^[11]

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Heinz & Donnay 1976, p. 10.
^ ^a ^b Cahiers Africains 2004, p. 252.
^ Kasongo 1998, p. 85.
^ Turner 1973, pp. 289–290.
^ Turner 1973, p. 257.
^ Turner 1973, p. 262.
^ "DISCOURS PRONONCE PAR LE PRESIDENT DU SENAT A L'OCCASION DE LA COMMEMORATION DU CINQUANTENAIRE DE LA CREATION DU SENAT DE LA REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO" (PDF). Congolese Senate. 23 June 2010. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
^ Hoskyns 1965, pp. 76–77.
^ ^a ^b Makombo 2015, p. 10.
^ Hoskyns 1965, p. 219.
^ Artigue 1961, p. 311.
^ Young 1965, p. 362.
^ de Witte 2002, p. 93.
^ Gondola 2002, pp. 126–127.
^ de Witte 2002, p. 120.
^ Kinzer, Stephen (2013). The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War. New York: Times Books.
^ "50ème anniversaire de l'assassinat de Lumumba: Mpolo et Okito honoré" (in French). Radio Okapi. 17 January 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2017.

References

Artigue, Pierre (1961). Qui sont les leaders congolais?. Carrefours Africains (in French). Vol. 3. Brussels: Éditions Europe-Afrique.
OCLC 469948352
.

"Cahiers Africains". Cahiers Africains / Afrika Studies / Afrika Instituut, Afrika Studie-En Dokumentatiecentrum (in French). 75–80. Brussels: Centre d'étude et de documentation africaines. 2004.
ISSN 1021-9994
.

Gondola, Ch. Didier (2002). The History of Congo. Greenwood histories of the modern nations (illustrated, annotated ed.). Greenwood Publishing Group.
ISSN 1096-2905
.

Heinz, G.; Donnay, H. (1976). Lumumba Patrice: les cinquante derniers jours de sa vie (in French). Centre de recherche et d'information socio-politiques.
Hoskyns, Catherine (1965). The Congo Since Independence: January 1960 – December 1961. London: Oxford University Press.
Kasongo, Michael (1998). History of the Methodist Church in the Central Congo. University Press of America.
ISBN 9780761808824
.

Makombo, Jean-Marie Mutamba (2015). Autopsie du gouvernement au Congo-Kinshasa: Le Collège des Commissaires généraux (1960-1961) contre Patrice Lumumba (in French). Editions L'Harmattan.
ISBN 9782336392158
.

Turner, Thomas Edwin (1973). A Century of Conflict in Sankuru (Congo-Zaire). Madison: University of Wisconsin.
OCLC 38789852
.

de Witte, Ludo (2002). The Assassination of Lumumba (illustrated ed.). Verso.
ISBN 9781859844106
.

Young, M. Crawford (1965). Politics in the Congo: Decolonization and Independence. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
OCLC 307971
.

[12] According to Makombo, on 7 September Okito became a member of an "arbitration commission" established by Parliament to mediate the dispute.^[9] Hoskyns and Artigue do not list Okito as a member of the commission.^[10]^[11]

[FOOTNOTEHeinzDonnay197610-1] Heinz & Donnay 1976, p. 10.

[FOOTNOTECahiers_Africains2004252-2] Cahiers Africains 2004, p. 252.

[FOOTNOTEKasongo199885-3] Kasongo 1998, p. 85.

[FOOTNOTETurner1973289–290-4] Turner 1973, pp. 289–290.

[FOOTNOTETurner1973257-5] Turner 1973, p. 257.

[FOOTNOTETurner1973262-6] Turner 1973, p. 262.

[7] "DISCOURS PRONONCE PAR LE PRESIDENT DU SENAT A L'OCCASION DE LA COMMEMORATION DU CINQUANTENAIRE DE LA CREATION DU SENAT DE LA REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO" (PDF). Congolese Senate. 23 June 2010. Retrieved 26 July 2021.

[FOOTNOTEHoskyns196576–77-8] Hoskyns 1965, pp. 76–77.

[FOOTNOTEMakombo201510-9] Makombo 2015, p. 10.

[FOOTNOTEHoskyns1965219-10] Hoskyns 1965, p. 219.

[FOOTNOTEArtigue1961311-11] Artigue 1961, p. 311.

[FOOTNOTEYoung1965362-13] Young 1965, p. 362.

[FOOTNOTEde_Witte200293-14] Witte 2002, p. 93.

[FOOTNOTEGondola2002126–127-15] Gondola 2002, pp. 126–127.

[FOOTNOTEde_Witte2002120-16] Witte 2002, p. 120.

[17] Kinzer, Stephen (2013). The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War. New York: Times Books.

[18] "50ème anniversaire de l'assassinat de Lumumba: Mpolo et Okito honoré" (in French). Radio Okapi. 17 January 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2017.

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