Watch HDToday. Patrice Lumumba – the first Prime Minister of the newly independent African state, The Congo. To fellow Africans he was a hero – the man who had won his country’s independence from the Belgians. But for the secret services of the western powers he was a threat. It was at the height of the Cold War, when the superpowers of both East and Western blocs were competing for spheres of influence in the New Africa. Congo was vital to Western interests because of it’s vast mineral resources. The West believed Lumumba was pro-soviet and would open the door to communist control of this mineral rich region. CIA agent Larry Devlin received 100,000 dollars from the Agency along with telegraphed instructions to make the “elimination of Lumumba” the “priority goal” of his covert action.