Tooth of Congolese independence hero 'secure' after vandalism

The tooth of DR Congo's independence hero Patrice Lumumba, said to be kept in a mausoleum which was vandalised earlier this week, is "secure", the interior minister said Thursday.

"The relic has been secured and it is protected," Jacquemain Shabani said in a recorded statement sent to AFP.

The minister did not specify where the gold-capped tooth -- all that is left of Lumumba -- is currently located or if it was in the mausoleum when it was vandalised.

The mausoleum, which is in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kinshasa, was vandalised Monday.

The glass door was broken, an AFP photographer saw, and a police forensic team attended the scene Monday.

The site is now closed to the public and the entrance sealed.

Six people have been placed in detention after an inquiry was opened into the incident, Shabani said.

"Two other people are being sought and will be arrested very soon," he added.

The culture ministry described the vandalism as a "heinous act aimed at desecrating the burial place".

Lumumba became an anti-colonial icon when he gave a fiery speech against racism on independence day on June 30, 1960. By Arsene Mpiana (AFP/File)

The tooth was returned by Belgium in 2022 and interred during a solemn ceremony attended by President Felix Tshisekedi.

It was placed under heavy guard in the concrete mausoleum at the foot of a tower that is a symbol of Kinshasa.

Nationalist politician Lumumba became an anti-colonial icon when he gave a fiery speech against racism on independence day on June 30, 1960.

He then became Congo's first post-colonial prime minister.

But only a few months later, he was forced out by a coup fomented with the help of Belgium and the CIA, which also opposed the support he had requested from the Soviet Union.

He was shot dead in January 1961 at the age of 35 in mineral-rich southern Katanga province, which had seceded from the fledgling nation months earlier with Belgium's support.

His body was dissolved in acid, but a Belgian police officer involved in the killing kept one of his teeth as a trophy.

The tooth was seized by Belgian authorities from the daughter of the policeman in 2016.

Belgium returned the relic to Lumumba's family during a ceremony in Brussels in 2022.

It was transported to DRC the same year.