18 September 1961 Mounting evidence suggests the involvement of British intelligence services in the assassination of UN secretary general, Dag Hammarskjöld, on 18 September 1961. He was killed along with 15 others, when his DC-6 aircraft, which had taken off from Leopoldville, the capital of Belgian Congo, was downed shortly after midnight on its approach…
17 January 1961 On 17 January 1961, Patrice Lumumba, Congo’s first democratically elected prime minister, was abducted, tortured and then shot dead in a coup masterminded by MI6. To prevent any possible autopsy, Belgian mercenaries, who had been involved in his death, dug up and dismembered his body from where it had been hastily buried,…
Douglas-Home considers the ‘crocodile option’ for Congo’s ousted prime minister [ 19 September 1960 ] In May 1960, Patrice Lumumba was elected prime minister of the Congo. He was a troublesome believer in independent economic development, who thought Congolese nationals rather than foreigners should be allowed to run the important offices of government and that…
BRITAIN SIGNS A TREATY WITH THE MAORIS ONLY TO RENEGE ON IT [ 6 February 1840 ] On 6 February 1840, the treaty of Waitangi was signed between representatives of the crown and five hundred Maoris chiefs. THE BRITISH ARMY LOOTS AND BURNS THE ASHANTI CAPITAL OF KUMASI [ 6 February 1874 ] Determined to…
