Gongo Lutete

Gongo Lutete was a Congolese leader and chieftain during the late 19th century.^[1]

As a boy he was enslaved by Arabs, but after winning his freedom he became a respected leader of the Batetela and Bakussu tribes in the Congo.^[1] In 1886, he joined forces with the Arab slave trader Tippu Tip near Stanley Pool, where Tip was organizing resistance to Leopold II's Congo Free State.^[1] When the 1892-1894 war in the Eastern Congo began, he and his people fought for the Arabs initially, under the command of Tippu Tip's son Sefu.^[2] However, the Arabs failed to pay Lutete for his allegiance and also for some ivory which he had provided for them, so he defected to the Free State's Force Publique in 1892, infuriating 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.^[3] Lutete fought for the Free State until in 1893, when he was accused of plotting to betray the Free State and executed.^[2]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Edgerton, Robert B. (2002). The Troubled Heart of Africa: A History of the Congo. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 94–95. ISBN 0-312-30486-2. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Edgerton, Robert B. (2002). The Troubled Heart of Africa: A History of the Congo. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 98. ISBN 0-312-30486-2. 
3. ^ Edgerton, Robert B. (2002). The Troubled Heart of Africa: A History of the Congo. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 99. ISBN 0-312-30486-2.