Ngongo Lutete (or Gongo Lutete or Ngongo Leteta) was a Songye leader and chieftain during the late 19th century.

Biography

As a boy Ngongo Lutete was enslaved by Arabs, but after winning his freedom he became a respected leader of the Watetera & Kilembwe people in Maniema. Ngongo Lutete gained control of the region around Ngandu on the upper

Lomami River The Lomami River (, , ) is a major tributary of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The river is approximately long. It flows north, west of and parallel to the upper Congo. The Lomami rises in the south of the country, near ...

. In 1886, he joined forces with the Arab slave trader

Tippu Tip Tippu Tip, or Tippu Tib (– June 14, 1905), real name Ḥamad ibn Muḥammad ibn Jumʿah ibn Rajab ibn Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd al Murjabī (), was an Afro-Omani ivory and slave owner and trader, explorer, governor and plantation owner. He ...

near Stanley Falls, where Tip was organizing resistance to Leopold II's

Congo Free State The Congo Free State, also known as the Independent State of the Congo (), was a large Sovereign state, state and absolute monarchy in Central Africa from 1885 to 1908. It was privately owned by Leopold II of Belgium, King Leopold II, the const ...

. On his expedition to Katanga,

Alexandre Delcommune Alexandre Delcommune (6 October 1855 – 7 August 1922) was a Belgian officer of the armed '' Force Publique'' of the Congo Free State who undertook extensive explorations of the country during the early colonial period of the Congo Free State. H ...

was given a magnificent reception at Ngandu by Ngongo between 2 May and 18 May 1891. When the Congo Arab war began, Ngongo Lutete and his people fought for the Arabs initially, under the command of Tippu Tip's son

Sefu bin Hamid Sefu bin Hamid or Sayf bin Hamed (1850 – 20 October 1893) was an Arabs, Arab Zanzibari slave trader and administrative official. The son of Tippu Tip, he was killed while fighting in the Congo–Arab war. Governor of the Stanley Falls Distri ...

. However, the Arabs failed to pay Lutete for his allegiance and also for some ivory which he had provided for them. After losing a series of engagements with Francis Dhanis, late in 1892 he changed sides and was accepted as an ally by the Belgians. This infuriated Sefu, who sent the Free State a message demanding that they surrender Lutete to him and threatening to drive his forces all the way to Stanleyville in the western Congo if they did not comply. Ngongo Lutete fought for the Free State until September 1893, when he was accused of plotting to betray the Free State and executed. Lutete was executed after a drumhead court-martial chaired by a young Belgian lieutenant at which no credible evidence was presented. One story says that Ngongo had had his lieutenant, a Songye, killed for some offense. Other Songyes complained to the whites, presumably convincing them of treachery. The story went on to say that the whites tied Ngongo up and fired at him all day without injuring him. It was only when they removed his amulets and fired into his ear, as directed by his Luba magician, that the spirits who had been protected him left and he died. It is believed the soldiers he had brought over to the Belgians considered the trial to be a miscarriage of justice, and in 1895 historians assumed this was the cause of the Batetela rebellion 2 years later though other earlier sources cannot determine the cause of this revolt. Also the followers of ngongo lutete were identified as “Luba” , “Songye & Kusu”

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lutete, Gongo 1863 births 1893 deaths People from Sankuru Tetela people People executed by the Congo Free State People executed by Belgium by firing squad 19th-century executions by Belgium 19th-century slaves Congo Free State people