Lumumba as head of the Congo government, the disarming of the forces of Mobutu, and the immediate evacuation of Belgians from the Congo. Soviet Representative Valerian Zorin refused U.S. demands that he disqualify himself as Security Council President during the debate. Hammarskjöld, answering Soviet attacks against his Congo operations, said that if the UN forces were withdrawn from the Congo, "I fear everything will crumble." Lumumba fled house arrest in the capital in late November 1960. Following a U.N. report that Lumumba had been mistreated by his captors, his followers threatened (on December 9, 1960) to seize all Belgians and "start cutting off the heads of some of them" unless Lumumba was released within 48 hours. On January 14, 1961, Larry Devlin was informed of Lumumba's escape from house arrest and ultimate capture by Mobutu's forces. Lumumba was to be transferred to South Kasai, whose leader was intent on murdering Lumumba. Lumumba's scheduled transfer was suddenly switched from South Kasai to Katanga, whose leader also vowed to murder him. However, Katangan soldiers and a Belgian officer executed Lumumba a few days later on 17 January. Larry Devlin's cable informing Washington of the transfer was not reached in time, as Lumumba had already been murdered. On February 7, a field report informed Washington that Lumumba and his two companions had been executed on January 17, by Katangan soldiers and a Belgian officer, weeks after Lumumba's assassination. Larry Devlin was noted as taking a permissive stance, despite his deep knowledge of what may happen to Lumumba. Devlin also "deliberately kept Washington out of the loop", which is noted as being an "exception" for a closely managed CIA operation such as his own. His stance is criticized as being "a major factor in the government's decision to move Lumumba". Devlin would later state, "Lumumba was a danger for both the Congo and the rest of the world" because of his perceived anti western attitudes. When asked if he was happy following the death of the leader, Devlin responded that, although happy wasn't his specific word of choice, he was certainly glad to be moving on to another project. Others provided mixed thoughts on why Lumumba posed the threat that ultimately made Mobutu a US-sponsored leader in the Congo. Jacques Brassin, a Belgian diplomat at the time of Lumumba, and chronicler of his death, acknowledged that part of the reason the Congo's leader was