Joseph Kabila
Joseph Kabila Kabange (June 4, 1971) is a Congolese politician who has been President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the assassination of his father Laurent-Désiré Kabila in January 2001 during the of the Second Congo War. He won the 2006 presidential election, so he continued in office, just like in the 2011 election. His political party is the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy.
He has tried to stop the civil war and get foreign troops out of the Congo with some success. Following a peace agreement, a temporary administration was set up in 2003. It has included the heads of the two main rebel groups as vice-presidents. In order to organize elections before the end of 2005, the positions have been distributed proportionally.
On March 28, 2004, supporters of former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko attempted to overthrow him in a coup.
Since coming to power, Joseph Kabila has had to face continuous wars in eastern Congo or internal rebel forces or those supported by neighboring governments (Uganda, Rwanda).
Biography
Early years and education
Joseph Kabila Kabange and his twin sister Jaynet Kabila were born on June 4, 1971. According to official reports, the twins were born in Hewabora, a small village in Fizi territory in South Kivu province in eastern Congo. Rumors have surfaced that Kabila was born in Tanzania, which would make him a citizen of that country. He is the son of former AFDL leader and Congolese president Laurent-Désiré Kabila and Sifa Mahanya.
Kabila's childhood coincided with the nadir of his father's political and military career. He was raised in relative remoteness, with few records of his early days. Kabila attended a primary school organized by his father's rebel forces before moving to Tanzania, where he completed primary and secondary school. Due to his father's status as an enemy of President Mobutu Sese Seko, Kabila posed as a Tanzanian in his school years to avoid discovery by Zairian intelligence agents.
Years in the guerrilla and the army
After finishing high school, Joseph Kabila joined the military in Tanzania, then studied at Makerere University in Uganda. In October 1996, Laurent-Désiré Kabila launched a guerrilla campaign in Zaire to overthrow the Mobutu regime. Joseph became the commander of an army called "kadogos" (child soldiers) and played a key role in major battles on the way to Kinshasa.
The liberation army received logistical and military support from the regional armies of Rwanda, Uganda, Angola and Zimbabwe. After the AFDL victory and Laurent-Désiré Kabila came to power as President, Joseph Kabila went on to study at the PLA's National Defense University in Beijing, China.
When he returned from China, Kabila he was appointed Major General and had been appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 1998. In 2000, he was appointed Chief of Ground Forces, a post he held until his father's assassination, President Kabila in January 2001. As chief of staff, he was one of the main military leaders in charge of government troops during the time of the Second Congo War (1998-2003). After the assassination of his father, President Kabila, he became hereditary in that position.
Rapes committed by their soldiers
In 2006, Kabila responded before international justice to allegations of widespread sexual crimes committed by the Congolese army. He noted that 300 soldiers had been found guilty of sexual offences.
Wedding
Kabila married Olive Lembe di Sita on June 1, 2006. The wedding ceremony took place on June 17, 2006. Kabila and his wife have a daughter, born in 2001 named Sifa, named after Kabila's mother.
As President Kabila is Protestant and Lembe di Sita is Catholic, the ceremony was ecumenical and therefore they were officiated by both archbishops, natives of Kinshasa; They were Cardinals Frederic Etsou Bamungwabi and Pierre Marini Bodho.
First presidential term
Joseph Kabila ascended to the Presidency on January 26, 2001 after the assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, becoming the world's first head of government born in the 1970s. At 29, he was considered young and inexperienced. He later tried to end the ongoing civil war by negotiating peace deals with Rwandan- and Ugandan-backed rebel groups, the same regional armies that brought Laurent-Désiré Kabila's rebel group to power three years earlier. The 2002 peace agreement signed in Sun City, South Africa, which nominally ended the Second Congo War, retained Joseph Kabila as Congo's president and head of state. An interim administration was established under him, which included the leaders of the country's two main rebel groups as vice-presidents (two other vice-presidents were representatives of the civil opposition and government supporters, respectively). On March 28, 2004, Kabila was confronted with an apparent coup attempt or riot in the capital Kinshasa, allegedly by members of the ex-guard of former President Mobutu Sese Seko (who had been overthrown by Kabila's father in 1997). and died in the same year), the coup d'état was a total failure. suspended, but were defeated by loyal troops.
In December 2005, a partial referendum approved a new constitution, and a presidential election was held on July 30, 2006 (delayed from an earlier date in June). The new constitution lowered the minimum age of presidential candidates from 35 to 30; Kabila turned 35 shortly before the elections. He registered as a candidate in March 2006. Although Kabila registered as an independent, he is the "initiator" of the political party. of the Popular Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), which chose him as its candidate for the election. Although the new constitution stipulates that a debate must be held between the two remaining presidential candidates, there were no debates and this was declared by many to be unconstitutional.
According to widely disputed provisional results announced on August 20, Kabila got 45% of the vote; his main opponent, Vice President and former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, won 20%. Irregularities surrounding the election results led to a runoff election between Kabila and Bemba, which was held on October 29. On November 15, the electoral commission announced the official results and Kabila was declared the winner, with 58.05%. of the votes. These results were confirmed by the Supreme Court on November 27, 2006, and Kabila was appointed on December 6, 2006 as the country's newly elected President. Kabila appointed Antoine Gizenga, who ranked third in the first round of the presidential election (and later endorsed Kabila in the second round) as prime minister on December 30.
In 2006, Kabila responded to evidence of widespread sexual crimes committed by the Congolese military by describing the acts as "simply unforgivable." He noted that 300 soldiers had been convicted of sexual offences, although he added that this was not enough.
Second Term
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In December 2011, Kabila was re-elected for a second term as president. After the results were announced on 9 December, there were violent riots in Kinshasa and Mbuji-Mayi, where official tallies showed a large majority had voted for opposition candidate Etienne Tshisekedi. Official observers from the Carter Center reported that data from nearly 2,000 polling stations in areas where support for Tshisekedi was strong had been lost and not included in the official results. They described the election as lacking credibility. On December 20, Kabila was sworn in for a second term, pledging to invest in infrastructure and public services. However, Tshisekedi maintained that the election result was illegitimate, saying that he, too, intended to "swear to himself"; as president.
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In January 2012, Catholic bishops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo also condemned the election, complaining of "betrayal, lies and terror" and asking the electoral commission to correct the "serious errors".
On January 17, 2015, the Congolese parliament passed an electoral law requiring a census before the next election. On January 19, protests led by students from the University of Kinshasa broke out. The protests began after the announcement of a bill that would allow Kabila to remain in power until a national census can be taken (elections had been planned for 2016). By Wednesday, January 21, clashes between the Police and protesters had claimed at least 42 lives (although the government claimed that only 15 people had been killed).
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The Senate responded to the protests by dropping the census requirement of its law. Moïse Katumbi announced in October 2015 that he would leave the ruling party due to disagreements over the scheduled election.
Jaynet Kabila, the sister of Joseph Kabila, was named in the Panama Papers. Document leaks in 2016 revealed that she is a co-owner of one of the main Congolese telecommunications companies, Digital Congo TV, through subsidiaries abroad.
Kabila is immensely unpopular, partly because of the conflicts in Congo, but also because of the widespread belief that he has enriched himself and his family without regard for the millions of poor Congolese. There have been protests against his attempts to change term limits and extend his rule. The harsh demonstrations broke out on April 20, 2016 in Lubumbashi, one of the largest cities in the Congo.
After Moise Katumbi, the former governor of Katanga province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and now an opposition figure, announced that he would run for president in the upcoming elections, his home was surrounded by security forces with intent to arrest him.
Although Kabila's forces have scored a major victory against a large rebel group, the M23, in 2013, many other armed groups have splintered into dangerous movements. And by 2016 new ones have emerged, such as militias in the Nyunzu area that have killed hundreds of people.
2016 elections delayed and extension of the presidency
According to the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, President Kabila should not serve more than two terms. On September 19, 2016, there were massive protests calling for his legal resignation in Kinshasa. Seventeen people were killed as a result of the protests. Elections to determine a successor to Kabila were originally scheduled for November 27, 2016. On September 29, 2016, the nation's electoral authority announced that the election would not take place. until early 2018. According to the vice president of the electoral commission, the commission " he did not call elections in 2016 because the number of voters is unknown ". However, the opposition alleges that Kabila intentionally delayed the elections to stay in power.
Partially in response to the delayed elections, the United States issued sanctions against two members of Kabila's inner circle, John Numbi and Gabriel Amisi Kumba on September 28. These actions were seen as a warning to President Kabila to respect the constitution of his country.
Days later there were new demonstrations to demand the removal of the president from power. Opposition groups claimed that if Kabila were to win again in the next elections, this would lead to a new civil war.
Maman Sidikou, Special Representative of the Secretary General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and head of MONUSCO, said a turning point in uncontrollable violence could come quickly if the political situation did not normalize.
Joseph Kabila's second term as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was due to end on December 20, 2016. A statement issued by his spokesperson on December 19, 2016, stated that Joseph Kabila would remain in office until the a new president was to be established after elections not to be held until at least April 2018. Kabila subsequently installed a new cabinet headed by Prime Minister Samy Badibanga, which led to protests in which at least 40 people were killed. In accordance with articles 75 and 76 of the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the event of a vacancy in the position of President, the President of the Senate, currently Léon Kengo, will assume the presidency in an interim capacity.
On December 23, an agreement was proposed between the main opposition group and the government led by Kabila, under which the latter agreed not to alter the constitution and to leave office before the end of 2017. According to the agreement, opposition leader Étienne Tshisekedi will oversee that the agreement is implemented and that the country's prime minister will be appointed by the opposition.
Elections in 2018 and end of term
It was announced that there will be elections on December 23 and that President Kabila will not participate, and so it was. Days before, 8,000 voting machines were burned in various offices and the government was accused of burning them. The elections were reported by Corneille Nangaa for December 30. On December 30, people went to vote from 6:05 p.m. At 9:00 p.m., the offices closed. The votes began to be counted. On January 10, Félix Tshisekedi was declared president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kabila bid farewell to him on January 23. Tshisekedi made his speech on January 24 and takes office on January 25
External links
- Biography by CIDOB (in Spanish)