Lubumbashi, January 19th, 2026 (CPA).- On Monday, the Congolese people were called upon to honour the memory of national heroes Patrice-Emery Lumumba and Laurent-Désiré Kabila, by an official from the provincial human rights division of Haut-Katanga, in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, during an interview. « What we must remember is this: these people sacrificed their entire lives for the national cause. We should continue to remember these two great figures. In Morocco, there is an avenue named after Lumumba. If the outside world should remember Lumumba and Mzee Laurent Désiré Kabila, why shouldn’t we? Given the obstacles these people faced during their political careers, should we forget them? We should continue to honour their memory as we did in the past here, » said Boniface Didier Monga, head of the provincial human rights division of Haut-Katanga. ‘I would say that the way we are commemorating them is not dignified and does not do justice to these two great figures, whom the outside world continues to remember in relation to us,’ he added.
« The 16th and 17th of January are two dates close together, and on both of these dates there were two major events, painful and macabre, which plunged the Congolese population into mourning. These events were terrible because they involved the assassination of two great figures who were a source of great hope for the Congolese people, » concluded Boniface Didier Monga, provincial head of the Human Rights Division of Haut-Katanga.
The legacies of Lumumba and Kabila explained
During the interview, the provincial head of the Human Rights Division of Haut-Katanga also discussed the legacies left by Patrice Emery Lumumba and Laurent Désiré Kabila. « Patrice Emery Lumumba was a symbol of the struggle against colonialism. This is the first legacy left to us by Lumumba. We must all continue to fight against it. Today, we find ourselves in another form of colonialism without even realising it. He also fought for national unity, which is why Lumumba’s political party was national. He also fought for political pluralism and was a supporter of pan-Africanism and the struggle for African dignity, » he explained. Lumumba left us a legacy that we all have a duty to continue, to ensure that we never fall back into a one-party system, a form of colonisation with a new guise, he added. As for Mzee Laurent Désiré Kabila, he left us with revolution. The Congolese people must continue to revolt against anti-values, to revolt as long as our sovereignty is tainted by serious violations. He also fought against external dependence, he revealed. ‘Mzee Laurent Désiré Kabila left us with the struggle for our sovereignty and our dignity as human beings. He also left us with what is known as the principle of self-reliance, taking care of ourselves,’ said the head of the Human Rights Division of Haut-Katanga. If the Congolese population were one people, as the two great figures wanted, this matter of political colonization should be put aside and everyone should look eastwards together. In two or three months, the war would be over, he stressed.