The gold-capped enamel of Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s self determination hero, is defend and has no longer been stolen, his daughter has informed the BBC.

The scoop comes as a holiday to a population gripped by means of concern that the one extra of the rustic’s respected first top minister were swiped then his mausoleum within the capital, Kinshasa, used to be vandalised on Monday night time.

However Juliana Lumumba mentioned earlier considerations concerning the safety of the website online had induced the crowd to proceed the enamel to a extra keep location.

The enamel used to be most effective returned to the Lumumba crowd by means of former colonial energy Belgium two years in the past – and were positioned within the particular memorial construction.

Lumumba used to be a lot beloved no longer simply by many at house however throughout Africa for his outspoken complaint of colonialism – and he turned into an icon of pan-Africanism.

He used to be viewable as a logo of alternate and hope then the harrowing years beneath Belgian rule, all over which hundreds of thousands of Congolese nation died or had been brutalised.

However inside of months of the rustic’s self determination from Belgium in 1960 he used to be toppled as top minister.

On the time of 35 he used to be shot by means of a firing squad in January 1961, with the tacit backing of Belgium.

His frame used to be upcoming dissolved in acid, however Belgian police officer Gerard Soete, who oversaw the wreck, took the enamel as a macabre souvenir.

The go back of Lumumba’s gold enamel in June 2022 used to be a motive for birthday celebration in DR Congo – and it used to be taken on a excursion of the giant nation so nation may pay their recognizes.

The vandalism of the mausoleum has led to outrage – and when Tradition Minister Yolande Elebe Mandembo introduced on Tuesday that an investigation were introduced, many feared the worst.

Pictures circulated appearing {that a} glass door were smashed to get get admission to to the chamber the place a coffin may well be viewable.

However Ms Lumumba wanted to reassure nation on Wednesday – pronouncing her father’s enamel had no longer been there on the moment of the break-in.

Nevertheless she informed the BBC she felt “anger and sadness” that her father’s grave were disrespected.

Now 69, she spent years lobbying Belgium for the go back of the enamel.

“Patrice Lumumba sacrificed himself for the sovereignty and independence of his country and the Congolese,” she mentioned.

“This is so unrepresentative of our culture, which respects the graves of our dearly departed.”

Local authorities say four suspects have been arrested over the desecration, but their identities have not been made public.

Ms Lumumba said the Lumumba Foundation wanted to take over management of the mausoleum because of security worries and had been lobbying the government to do so.