Influential politician, diplomat and businessman Etienne Davignon has died at the age of 93. Formerly an envoy to the newly independent Congo in the 1960s, he was under investigation for his alleged role in the assassination of prime minister Patrice Lumumba.
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Statesman Etienne Davignon dies aged 93
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Davignon was born in 1932 in Budapest and came from a family of diplomats. His father, Jacques Davignon, was an adviser to King Leopold III and acted as an intermediary between the King and the German occupiers. His mother, Jacqueline de Liedekerke, was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elisabeth.
In the run-up to the Second World War, his father was the Belgian ambassador in Berlin. Hermann Göring, commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, came to dinner at the embassy one evening, Davignon later recalled. “I saw him in his white Grand Marshal’s uniform, covered in decorations. We found that a bit laughable.”
His grandfather, Julien Davignon, was a minister and was ennobled in 1916. The title of Viscount is passed down to his descendants.
“I started a step higher than many people in society,” Davignon said on the subject when his biography My Three Lives was published in 2019. “I was given opportunities because of the circumstances and the situation.”
Davignon followed in his father’s footsteps and became a diplomat in 1959. In the 1960s, he served as envoy to the newly independent Congo. According to writer and sociologist Ludo De Witte, he played a role in the 1961 assassination of prime minister Patrice Lumumba and in the suppression of the uprising in Stanleyville, now Kisangani.
I was given opportunities because of the circumstances and the situation
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In 2011 Lumumba’s children filed a complaint against 10 people whom they believed were involved in their father’s murder. The federal public prosecutor’s office investigated the case and, in 2026, the Brussels Chamber of Indictment decided to refer Davignon to the criminal court. The nine other suspects had already died. Davignon denied any wrongdoing and appealed against the decision. With his death, the case will now end.
After his return to Belgium, Davignon worked in the Foreign Affairs Ministry. He was among the leading figures in Belgian diplomacy in the 1970s and served as chair of the executive committee of the International Energy Agency.
The banks abused their power at the time
He was vice-president of the European Commission under Roy Jenkins, responsible for the internal market and industry, with the thankless task of managing the decline of the European steel industry.
Following the collapse of the airline Sabena in 2002, Davignon and Maurice Lippens raised enough funds to keep SN Brussels Airlines afloat. He subsequently remained closely involved with its successor, Brussels Airlines, in his capacity as chair.
In the banking world, he was unable to prevent the collapse of Fortis Bank and was held partly responsible for this by the shareholders, who pelted executives with shoes at a meeting. Davignon later admitted that he had made an error of judgement. “The banks abused their power at the time,” he said.