Patrice Lumumba was the first Prime Minister of:

Patrice Lumumba was the first Prime Minister of the Congo (Kinshasa), which gained independence from Belgium on 30 June 1960. The country, then known as the Republic of the Congo (later renamed Zaire under Mobutu Sese Seko and now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), appointed Lumumba as its first head of government following the elections held shortly before independence.

Lumumba was the leader of the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC), the only party to win a nationwide following in the Congo's first democratic elections in May 1960. He was a passionate advocate for Congolese independence and national unity, and he became a prominent voice of African nationalism.

His tenure as Prime Minister was extremely short-lived and turbulent. Within weeks of independence, the country descended into political crisis, military mutiny, and the secession of the mineral-rich Katanga province. Lumumba was deposed in a political power struggle in September 1960 and was subsequently arrested. He was assassinated in January 1961, an event in which Belgian operatives and the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union played significant roles. Lumumba is remembered as a martyr of African independence and a symbol of the struggle against neocolonialism.