Near Elizabethville, Katanga, Republic of the Congo · 1961
Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo, was executed by firing squad in Katanga on 17 January 1961 after being transferred to the custody of Belgian-aligned Katangan separatists, in an operation later found to involve Belgian, American, and British covert interests.
Credit: Etienne Scholasse, European CommunitiesCC BY 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenPalais de Marbre, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo · 2001
On 16 January 2001, President Laurent-Désiré Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was shot in his Kinshasa office by a young bodyguard and died two days later; over 100 people were later tried, with dozens sentenced to death, though doubts about the true organizers of the killing persist.
UNSOLVEDListenKindu Port-Émpain, Congo-Léopoldville (now Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo) · 1961
On 11 November 1961, thirteen Italian airmen serving with the UN Operation in the Congo were killed by Congolese National Army (ANC) soldiers in Kindu, Congo-Léopoldville, amid rumors they were spies for the secessionist Katangan faction; their bodies were subsequently mutilated and partially eaten by onlookers.
SOLVEDListenVirunga National Park, near Kibumba and Kanyamahoro, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo · 2021
Italian ambassador Luca Attanasio, his bodyguard, and a UN driver were killed on 22 February 2021 when a World Food Programme convoy was attacked in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Six men were convicted of murder in 2023 and sentenced to life in prison.
The files run from 1961 to 2023. The 1960s hold the most, with 2 files. The oldest is Assassination of Patrice Lumumba, from 1961.
By type, the largest groups are murder and homicide cases (2) and arson cases (1).
None of these files has creator coverage attached yet; each one can still be heard as a narrated case file.
Every file is written from cited sources and pinned where it happened, and every person named carries the legal status the record gives them. If you hold information about an unsolved case, contact the investigating agency named in its file rather than posting it publicly. Families and anyone involved can request a correction from any file.
This page updates from the published files, so counts and statuses change the day a record does. Open any file for its timeline, its sources and the coverage worth your time, or play it as a narrated case file.
Lumumba arrested — Credit: Universal StudiosCC0Source
File:Visit of Laurent Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to the EC (cropped2).jpg — Credit: Etienne Scholasse, European CommunitiesCC BY 4.0Source
7. By status: 3 unsolved, 1 ongoing and 3 solved. The count covers published files only and changes as new files clear review.
Assassination of Patrice Lumumba, from 1961. Open the file
It rebuilds hourly from the published files; the newest file change here is dated Jul 14, 2026. A status changes only when the record behind it does.
