US documents released in August 2011 reveal that President Eisenhower directly ordered the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of Congo. But the Americans were not alone... Six months after achieving independence from Belgium, Congo’s first legally elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, was assassinated on 17 January 1961. The effects of that attempt at annihilation, sanctioned by the United States and carried out by the Belgians, continue to reverberate throughout the continent today as the ‘scramble for Africa’ continues.