Patrice Lumumba: Why Belgium dey return dis African hero golden teeth

One gold-crowned teeth na di only tin wey remain of assassinated Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba.

Dem shoot am dead by firing squad for 1961 wit stylish backing of former colonial power Belgium, dem dig up im bodi wey dem bin bury for shallow grave, transport am go 200km (125 miles), inter am again, remove am and den dem cut am to pieces and finally dissolve am for acid.

Di Belgian police commissioner, Gerard Soete, wey oversee and get hand for di destruction of di remains, na im take di teeth, na so e later tok.

E also tok about anoda teeth and of di corpse fingers, but dem neva find dem.

Dem don return di gold-crowned teeth of Lumumba to im family for one ceremony for Brussels.

Di fact say Soete pocket di body parts dey reflect di behaviour of European colonial officials for many many years , wey dem go take di bodi remains back home as shocking mementos.

But for di mata, dis action serve as a final humiliation of one man wey Belgium consider as enemy.

Soete, wey show for one documentary for 1999, describe di teeth and fingers wey e take as "type of hunting trophy". Di language just be like say for di Belgian policeman, Lumumba - wey pipo respect across di continent as leading voice of African liberation - bin dey less dan human.

For Lumumba daughter, Juliana, she dey wonda weda di pipo wey do dis bad tins be human being.

"Which kain hate you go get for bodi to do dis kain tin?" she ask.

"Dis na reminder of wetin happen wit di Nazis, wey dey take pieces of pipo - and dat one na crime against humanity," na so she tell di BBC.

Lumumba bin rise to become prime minister at di age of 34. Dem elect am for di final days of colonial rule, as e come dey head di cabinet of di new independent nation.

For June 1960, for di handover of power, Belgian King Baudouin praise di colonial administration and tok about im ancestor, Léopold II, as di "civiliser" of di kontri.

E no mention di millions of pipo wey die or collect serious beta beating unda im leadership for di time wey dem know di Congo Free State as im personal property.

Di failure to see di past years point to denial by Belgium, wey na just now e just dey relate wit am.

Lumumba bin no dey reserved for im own address.

For tok wey dem bin no schedule on di official programme, di prime minister tok about di violence and degradation wey Congolese pipo suffer.

For speech wey drag di former colonial leaders, wey dey interrupted by plenti clapping and standing ovation wen he finish, e describe "di disgraceful slavery wey dem put on dem by force".

Di Belgians dey in shock, according to academic Ludo De Witte, wey write one ogbonge tori of di assassination.

Before now, dem no get any black African wey get mind to tok like dis in front of Europeans. Di prime minister, wey De Witte tok say dem bin describe as illiterate tiff - pesin wey no sabi book - for Belgian press, come drag and disgrace di king and oda Belgian officials.

Some pipo tok say wit im speech Lumumba bin sign im own death warrant, but im murder di next year come bey follow corner corner gist about di Cold War and Belgium desire to maintain control.

Di Americans also get hand for im death because of possible chance to collabo wit di Soviet Union and Lumumba stand on anti-colonialism, na dat same time one British official write memo say to kill am na option.

Based on evritin, e be like say e get personal element to di way dem pursue and run down Lumumba.

Di total destruction of di body, plus how dem wan remove all di evidence, be like dem wan comot Lumumba from di memory pata pata. Dem no do memorial, make e be like say e no even exist. E no do dem for bodi say dem just bury am.

But im still dey remembered.

And im daughter Juliana dey front - she dey lead campaign make dem return di teeth home, as she go Brussels to receive am.

She laff gently as she rememba some childhood memories. As di youngest, and di only girl for di family, she tok say she bin dey very close to her papa.

Ms Lumumba bin dey "less dan five" wen he become prime minister. She rememba wen dem allow her to just dey inside im office "to just dey sit and look my father wen e dey working. For me na daddy."

But she sabi say her papa "belong to di kontri, bicos e die for Congo… and for im own values and wetin dey im mind of di dignity of di African pipo".

She follow gree say di handing ova of di teeth for Belgium and to bring am back to di Democratic Republic of Congo get big big meaning "bicos wetin remain no really dey enuf. But e gats come back to im kontri wia dem shed im blood."

Dem go carry di teeth around di kontri before dem go bury for di capital.

For years, di Lumumba family no know wetin exactly happened to dia papa as official silence bin surround di mata of im death.

Lumumba journey from prime minister to victim of assassination take less dan seven months.

Short time afta independence, di kontri bin suffer secessionist crisis as di mineral-rich south-eastern Katanga province bin declare say e dey cut imsef comot from di rest of di kontri.

For di political katakata wey come happen, dem send Belgian troops wey go protect Belgian nationals, but dem also epp support di Katangan administration.

Di president come dismiss Lumumba as prime minster and just like one week pass army chief of staff Col Joseph Mobutu seize power.

Lumumba come dey under house arrest, den e escape and dem re-arrest am for December 1960, before dem hold am for di west of di kontri.

Sake of say e dey dia, dem see am as possible source of instability and di Belgian goment come dey ginger make dem transfer am go Katanga.

For di flight on 16 January 1961 dem brush am wella. Wen e arrive dem still beat am as di Katangan leaders come dey tink wetin dem go wit am.

'No trace left'

Eventually dem come decide say e go face firing squad and on 17 January dem shoot am wit two of im allies.

Dis na wen police commissioner Soete step in. Wen come realise say dem go fit discover di bodis dem come take decision "to make dem disappear once and for all! No trace go remain," according to testimony wey dey quoted for De Witte's book Di Assassination of Lumumba.

Dem arm demsef wit saws, sulphuric acid, face masks and whisky, Soete come lead team to move, destroy and dispose of di remains. Na process wey e go later describe as travelling "to di inside of hell".

But e no go be until 40 years later, for 1999, wey e go publicly agree say e get hand for di mata and say e still get one teeth for im hand. E tok say im bin troway di oda bodi parts e take.

Ms Lumumba bin dey tink deep wen she recall di time she hear say one part of papa still dey exist.

"You fit understand wetin I feel about dat," she tok, as her voice full of emotion.

E no dey known wetin Soete bin do wit di teeth wey dey im hand. One photograph show am for padded box, but weda e dey on display no dey clear.

But e bin dey for im family hand.

E bin show for 2016 wen Soete daughter, Godelieve, do interview for Belgian magazine Humo, wey dem publish just before di 55th anniversary of Lumumba killing.

She bin tok about her "poor daddy" wey dey suffer wit di knowledge of wetin im do. Ms Soete also tink say her family suppose get apology for di order wey di Belgian authorities give her papa.

She tok say im bin keep private archive and even afta e die for 2000 wey dem throw plenti tins, she bin dey "able to save interesting tins".

Among those tins na di teeth wey she bring out to show di interviewer and photographer.

Di Belgian police come seize am and afta De Witte filed complaint and den four-year legal battle, court rule say dem suppose return am to di Lumumba family.

As part of di campaign to get am back, Ms Lumumba write one moving and poetic open letter to King Philippe.

"Why, afta im terrible murder, say di remain of Lumumba dey condemned to remain soul wey go dey wander forever, without grave to shelter im eternal rest?" she ask.

Wit di return of di teeth, di former prime minister go have final resting place for special mausoleum for di capital, Kinshasa.

"Dis na wetin we dey usually do for our culture, we like to dey bury our dead," say Congolese historian and di kontri UN ambassador, Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja.

"Na comfort for di family and di pipo of di Congo bicos Lumumba na our hero and we go like to give am beta burial."

Despite di burial still need dey to chook eye for wetin happen for di past.

De Witte book, wey torch light years of official silence, lead to di creation for 1999 of parliamentary inquiry wey dem charge to find out di "exact circumstances of di assassination… and di possible involvement of Belgian politicians".

For dia conclusion two years later dem write say di "norms of international politically correct thinking bin dey different" for di 1960s. Sha, even as dem no see one document wey order di murder of Lumumba, di inquiry find out say some members of di goment "dey morally responsible for circumstances wey lead to di death".

'Need to know our past'

Di Belgian foreign minister at dat time, Louis Michel, den express "apologies" and "profound and sincere" regret to di Lumumba family and di Congolese people.

Prof Nzongola-Ntalaja, wey speak to di BBC for im personal capacity, no believe say Belgium don fully accept dia role for di killing. "Belgium dey refuse to take responsibility for sometin wey dem know dem do - so e no dey totally satisfactory," e tok.

Belgian prosecutors dey treat di murder as war crime but 10 of di 12 suspects wey dem identify don die, and 10 years in, di investigation dey move very slowly.

Di handover of di teeth go be anoda element for di process wey go reconcile Belgium and DR Congo ontop di colonial era and Lumumba death.

"Na step - and we need do more," im daughter tok.

But she follow argue say dem gats be some serious konking for di Congolese side, as some of her compatriots also get hand for di papa death.

"We gats accept our history - di good and di bad of it."

And for way wey be like dat of di former prime minster, she say "we need know our past, to build our future and to live for di present".

Di burial of di teeth - plan to coincide wit di 61st anniversary of Lumumba famous independence-day speech - go offer opportunity to revisit dat past.