Congo's Complicated History: From Lumumba to the Kabilas | All Parts (1 - 4)

on 30 June 1960 as he said listening to King Balwin of Belgium deliver his address to the assembled dignitaries in leopo view on the Congo's Independence Day the new prime minister Patrice lumumba became increasingly agitated scribbling notes furiously The King's Speech was full of patronizing remarks without showing any form of remorse King Balwin praised Belgium's Colonial record singling out the contribution made by his great uncle Leopold II in his speech the king unashamedly declared de the independence of the Congo is the crowning of the work conceived by The Genius of King leopo II undertaken by him with firm courage and continued by Belgium with perseverance having been excluded from the official program prime minister Patrice lumumba Rose to deliver a tyd against Belgium denouncing at length the terrible suffering and exploitation that the congales people had experienced under Belgian colonial rule lumumba's speech was warmly applauded by the congales present but the belgians were were outraged and King Baldwin was not amused in delivering this speech Patrice lumumba merely confirmed the suspicions of the Belgian government that he was an enemy of Belgian interests in the region just 6 months later Patrice lumumba was imprisoned and tragically murdered aged only 35 this is the story of Patrice lumumba an African hero and Congo's first prime minister whose reputation inspired hope for Independence throughout Africa in the 20th century a tall thin man with lots of Charisma and great oratory Powers but a volatile temperament Patrice Amir lumumba was born in Kasai province in the Congo in 1925 the young boy began attending missionary schools at age 11 most missionary schools primary objective was to prepare Africans for manual labor and only 1 hour per day was given to actual study with the rest dedicated to farming and other physical work but Patrice lumumba was was different his teachers at the missionary responded to his deep desire for knowledge and his inquisitive Nature by lending him books to read before dark as his family was too poor to afford a candle for him to read by Patrice lumumba was known for being a vocal precocious young man and his outspoken nature would come to Define his life and career growing up the young lumumba was Tau about the horrific Tales of atrocities committed in the Congo at the hands of Belgian soldiers under King leopo II King Leopold II had ruled the territory as his fifth Dom and he employed the Explorer Henry Morton Stanley as his agent Leopold the second exploited the Congo with such ruthless brutality that following the revelations of endless mutilations and other atrocities the Belgian Parliament finally in the year 1908 deprived him of control and turned his territory into a colony anyways Patrice lumumba left school at age 18 and it has been suggested that it was because his father could no longer afford school fees after leaving school he went in search of work first to kindu a mining town then to khima where he worked as a nursing assistant in 1944 Patrice lumumba set out for kasai's second largest city Stanley view now kisangani in this big city lumumba was dazzled by The Cosmopolitan and European areas its white boulevards swimming pools skyscrapers and luxurious fers however the city's restaurants theaters and hotels were off limits to Africans who were relegated to the back seats of buses and boats and were not permitted to leave within City Limits while lumumba was unable to take advantage of many of the city's amenities he was able to use the Township Library in mongoo where he lived lumumba took a course to improve his French and learned several congales languages including Swahili as well as the lingala language in 1947 because he was fluent in congales languages Patrice lumumba got a job as a poster worker in the capital city of leop Portville nearly 1,000 Mi down the cono River but he was transferred back to Stanleyville in 1950 back in Stanleyville lumumba surrounded himself with conges intellectuals together this group of intellectuals debated issues listened to the news on the radio and exchanged books in the early 1950s lumuma began expressing himself in editorials and poems he wrote for voice of the cono and lcro D cono two EV Publications the EV were the upper TR of the middle class the highest level indigenous congales could attain in the Belgian Colony through these writings Patrice lumumba became known as one of only a dozen congales in a country of 13 million who deed to express himself Patrice lumumba became an evil in 1954 at a time when he believed in Western values and had not yet become critical of Belgian colonialism in 1955 when King Baldwin of Belgium and his Minister for the colonies visited the Congo lumumba Prestige Rose when he had talks with them the king Drew Patrice lumumba aside to discuss the future of the Congo however his newly found status made him bitter enemies among both the Belgian administrators and some locals in the Congo as a result from 1956 onwards the colonial Administration kept him under constant surveillance in 1956 the young lumumba was invited by the government to visit Belgium for a study tour but on his return to the Congo was arrested on charges of emis onment this alleged imprisonment of funds had taken place when he worked in the post office there is a general belief however that these charges against patries were trumped up the authorities were determined to get him out of the way and he was sentenced to 2 years in prison fortunately the minister of the colonies reduced his sentence to One Year Patrice lumumba's term in prison served only to enhance his reputation in the eyes of the nationalists while in prison lumumba considered his status as an evil way and made a radical sh shift towards pan-africanism and congales nationalism the notion of nationalism enabled different ethnic groups that made up the congales society to come together and fight against Colonial economic exploitation political repression and cultural oppression upon his release Patrice lumumba moved to the capital leopoldville where he worked as a salsman for a local Brewery political activity in Leopold view at the time was beginning to ster news of Ghana's Independence in 1957 and the growing momentum in neighboring French colonies towards African rule provided a new stimulus for the people in the Congo to fight colonialism the first organized movement came from a tribal organization called Abaco abako was originally founded by bakongo leaders to promote use of the Kongo language but the organization now began to make overt political demands abaco's Leader Joseph kasavubu set his sides on reuniting the bakongo people divided by the boundaries of the Belgian Congo the French Congo and Angola Joseph kasavubu also sought to rebuild the old Congo Kingdom that had last flourished in the 16th century abako established a strong political base among the bakongo living in leop View and the lower Congo region another party later appeared and it was called kakat the party was led by MOA chombe a shrewd politician who was the son of a wealthy businessman from katanga kakat favored provincial autonomy for katanga and worked closely with Belgian groups pursuing the same interest and also advocated continuing ties with Belgium Patrice lumumba chose a different path in 1958 he joined a group of other young evals to launch the congales national movement the MNC to Rally support on a national basis only lumumba's MNC stood out as a champion of conges nationalism it was the first all conges political party based not on ethnicity or based on region but for the entire country one very important encounter for lumumba was when along with two companions he was allowed to travel to arra Ghana in December of 1958 to attend the all African people's conference at the conference Patrice had the privilege to address the crowd gathered as a number of other African nationalists pushing for political Independence listened lumba declared the Winds of Freedom currently blowing across all of Africa have not left the congales people indifferent political awareness which until very recently was latent is now becoming manifest and assuming outward expression and it will assert itself even more forcefully in the months to come we are thus assured of the support of the masses and of the success of the efforts we are undertaking like other delegates that were present at the conference Patrice lumumba returned home burning with enthusiasm for the struggle against colonial rule and determined to build the MNC into a mass political movement along the lines of common kumas CPP Patrice lumumba was now h on fighting for conges Independence in January of 1959 the city of Leopold view was torn by vicious rioting the immediate cause of the violence was a decision by the local authorities to refused permission for kasavubu saako to hold a scheduled Sunday afternoon meeting but further investigations by the belgians revealed that unemployment overcrowding and discrimination had produced a groundwell of frustration and discontent amongst the masses and so to help quote the discontent the Belgian government announced a program of political reform starting with local government elections the colonial government also added a vague promise about independence as being the eventual goal of Belgian policy however many people felt that these reforms were not enough more radical nationalists denounced these plans as being too slow and called for a boycott of the proposed Municipal and Rural elections well the belgians did not take this line down and their repression followed Belgian repression peaked on 30 October 1959 when the forcable dispersion of an MNC rally in Stanley view led to the death of 30 people thereafter Patric lumumba was imprisoned on a charge of inciting riots following all of this Congo descended into chaos there was disorder and violence in other key areas of the country and the Belgian authorities found it difficult to suppress over the next few months the congales felt empowered to resist they tested the Belgian administrators daring them to punish the colonized people in the lower Congo the bakongo refused to pay taxes and to abide by the administrative regulations more disturbances occurred in Stanley View and when King Balwin visited the city in December of 1959 the mob of demonstrators that greeted him at the airport had to be dispersed with tear gas pressure was increasingly piling on Belgium and so it felt obliged to hasten the process of Independence for the Congo a conference was convened for all conges political parties and they were to meet in Brussels in January of 1960 lumumba's MNC refused to take part without him being present and it was soon obvious to the belgians that the conference would not succeed without lumumba being there and so Patrice lumumba was released from prison and he arrived in Brussels on 26th January 1960 at the conference only Patrice lumumba insisted upon a single Congo while Mo chombe who power base was the mineral Rich katanga Province proposed an independent Congo made up of a loose Federation of semi-autonomous provinces at this conference provincial and national elections were set for May of 1960 with Congo eventually gaining independence in June of that year the elections themselves were a true Testament of how divided the Congo was of the 137 seats that were up for grabs on the National Assembly the PSA party won 13 seats kasavubu abako with 12 seats kak cut with eight and lumumba's MNC with a majority of 33 seats the rest of the seats went to over a dozen smaller parties lumumba tried unsuccessfully to unite with chomes kakat as did kasavubu finally on 23 June 1960 Patrice lumumba and Joseph kasavubu Allied to form a Unified Government of Congo with kasavubu as president and lumuma as prime minister on Independence Day attended by the king of the belgians king Balwin the new prime minister lumumba considered himself and the conges people as being utterly disrespected when he was not scheduled to speak at the foral ceremony ending over power on 30 June 1960 following the patronizing speech by King balun that I alluded to earlier in which he praised Belgium's great civilizing mission in the Congo lumuma defied protocol and made a radical speech in reply in which he castigated the brutality and Injustice of Belgian rule in the Congo in his independent speech lumumba also said said and I quot we are going to show the world what the black man can do when he works in Freedom and we are going to make of the Congo the center of the sun's radians for all of Africa we're going to keep watch over the lands of our country so that they truly profit their children the official lunch which followed the ceremony was delayed for 2 hours while King Baldwin and his ministers debated whether to boycott it and fly back at once to Belgium when the lunch eventually took place it was cold and disorganized the country that lumumba and kasavubu inherited was by any standard ill prepared for Independence except at a local level no congales had acquired any experience of government or parliamentary life in the top ranks of the civil servants no more than three congales out of an establishment of 1,400 held posts and two of those had been recently appointed moreover prior to the Handover of government authorities the belgians had produced a new Constitution that assigned to six provincial governments the same competencies as those of the central government this Arrangement was an invitation for an immediate power struggle between the provinces and the central government and for sure such a poor struggle duly erupted within days of the country's Independence the honeymoon for Congo and for patri lumumba if he even had any was shortlived it was only a few days after Independence before the first disaster struck here among the ranks of the force public the Congo's Army resentment over low pay and lack of promotion had been simmering for months the soldiers contrasted their own dire living conditions and Bleak prospects with the sudden wealth and influence of Civilian politicians former clerks and salesmen who are now driving around in large cars and spending money freely the members of the force public were also not happy with the slow rate of africanization or lack thereof that was taking place in this Army while the government was run by congales the Army remained under the control of the same 1,100 strong Belgian officers the commander of the force public General Amir Jansen only made this situation worse the general was adamant that there would be no acceleration in the africanization program after an incident of indiscipline at an army barrack in leopoldville on 4 June General jansens summoned officers and Men on duty at Army Headquarters and lectured them on the need for absolute obedience to make his point clear he wrote on a Blackboard the following words before independence is equal to after Independence in response the soldiers held a protest meeting in the army camp that night demanding the dismissal of General jansens this ended up in a riot troops at another Garrison were ordered to intervene but they mutinied and went on a rampage attacking European civilians Congo was in crisis prime minister lumumba had to act and he publicly accused Belgian officers of forting rebellion he then dismissed General jansens and other senior officers in subsequent negotiations with Army lumumba decided that the entire offic of call should be replaced by conges prime minister lumumba also appointed Victor Lula as a new Army commander and as Chief of Staff lumumba chose his trusted personal aid one Joseph Mutu who had spent s years in the force public working mainly as a clerk rising to the rank of Sergeant Major the highest rank open to congales amid this war chaos thousands of Europeans primarily belgians fled and stories of atrocities against white people surfaced in newspapers around the globe streaming into the little town of kway in Northern Ria just across the border from the Congo come the refugees with whatever they could bring and often bearing marks of the trouble they had getting away further north at the frontier post of kasum balesa families arrive by car and on foot leaving the children are the great mineral worth of the Congo meant that a number of Western Nations including the former colonial power Belgium Britain and and France as well as the United States with the principal motive of cold war strategy were not prepared to lose these vast resources and so they had to act fast the Belgian government at first tried to persuade lumumba to permit Belgian troops stationed in the Congo to restore order but when lumumba refused the belgians unilaterally ordered their forces into action and arranged to fly in reinforcements as their troops took control of key points like leopard view airport Patrice lumumba became convinced that Belgium was trying to reimpose its rule well on 11 June 1960 the crisis escalated even further with the connivance of Belgium and support of Belgian Mining and Commercial firms the katanga leader Mo chier grasped the opportunity of the chaos to declare katanga an independent state Belgian troops were used to disarm and expel congales Army units from The Province the main purpose of this Mission and Arrangement was to insulate The Province from the disorder and apparent militant Nation ISM sweeping the rest of the Congo as well as to safeguard the Western investment there the belgians were also intent on using katanga as a base from which to establish a pro Belgian government in leopoldville desperate for help Patrice lumumba appealed to the United Nations to help restore order and maintain the Integrity of the Congo by preventing katanga's cessation the United Nations also faced a formidable task and although it acted swiftly it was unable to prevent the immediate cessation of katanga in an increasingly volatile mod Patric lumumba demanded that the United Nations force be used to expel the Belgian troops lumumba issued an ultimatum threatening that if the United Nations did not remove all Belgian troops from the Congo by midnight or 19th July then he would invite the Soviet Union to intervene now you have to understand that this was at a time when the Cold War rivalry was at one of its Peaks and so lumumba's threats infuriated the United States and ped the Congo into the middle of a cold war confrontation United States officials feared the possibility of a communist Takeover in Congo similar to Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution in 1959 they feared that this would provide the Soviet Union with a base in the heart of Africa lumumba's nationalism was seen by the West as a threat to its strategic interests in the region not least because of the country's enormous mineral wealth encompassing as it did copper diamonds rubber uranium and Co about in 1958 the Congo produced 50% of the world supply of uranium most of which was purchased by the United States it also produced 75% of the world's Cobalt and 70% of its industrial diamonds Belgian troops were eventually withdrawn from the Congo but lumumba issued new demands insisting that the United Nations troops be used to end the cessation of katanga by force if necessary when United Nations officials made clear to him that they did not include interfering in the Congo's internal conflicts and that they wanted a negotiated settlement in katanga lumumba reacted in Fury accusing the United Nations of collaboration with Belgium key un officials came to share the United States and the Belgian view that lumumba was too erratic and irrational to be trusted on 15 August seeing the need for military victory in katanga and facing another sensation in South Kasai the main source of Congo's Diamond reaches lumumba took the faithful decision to ask the Soviet Union for immediate military assistance with the support of the Soviet aircraft trucks Crews and Technics lumumba planned to send a military force first to regain control in South Kasai and then to march on Elizabeth view in katanga to overthrow Mo Chom at a meeting of the United States National Security Council 3 Days Later President Eisenhower went told by his advisers that lumumba might succeed in forcing the United Nations to leave the Congo authorized dcia a to eliminate lumumba Patrice lumumba's military expedition to Kasai meanwhile resulted in the massacre of hundreds of baluba tribesmen and the flight of a quarter of a million refugees news of these atrocities in casai added to the alarm spreading among lumumba's growing band of critics and opponents kenel mabutu now the Army's Chief of Staff fell out with lumumba offered the Expedition and joined the ranks of his critics as moves to a lumumba gathered momentum the focus of attention turned to President Joseph kasavubu in a radio broadcast on 5 September 1960 President Joseph kasavubu accused Patrice lumumba of governing arbitrarily and plunging the Congo into Civil War he then announced that he had revoked his appointment as prime minister and appointed Joseph ILO a widely respected moderate in his place lumumba however was not so easily defeated upon hearing the news he rushed to the radio station to make an announcement of his own lumumba announced that he had dismissed Joseph kasavubu as president accusing him of treason the outcome of this whole Fiasco was ultimately decided on the 14th of September with the active encouragement of the United States CIA and the connivance of some United Nations official Kel Joseph Mutu the 29-year-old Army Chief of Staff who controlled the troops in Lort view stepped forward and declared that he was neutralizing all politicians until the end of the year 1960 Keno Mutu assumed power himself and he then ordered the exposion of all Russian and Czech Personnel the CIA station Chief in the Congo Lawrence delin developed a particularly close relationship with Keno mabutu providing him with funds to secure the Loyalty of his troops now in order to deal with issues of legitimacy in the eyes of the International Community Keno Mutu formed an interim government retaining Joseph kazabubu as president but excluding all of lumumba's supporters meanwhile in October of 1960 Patrice lumumba was placed under house arrest in leopoldville lumumba continued to leave at the prime minister's residence a mansion situated on a bluff overlooking the Congo River guarded by an inner ring of United Nations troops in the garden to prevent his arrest lumumba's house was also surrounded by an outer ring of Mutu soldiers on the perimeter to prevent his escape the CIA meanwhile fearing that Mumba might return to power continued working on his assassination schemes at a meeting of the US National Security Council on 21 September the chief of the CIA stressed that lumumba remained a grave danger as long as he was not disposed of with this in mind a senior Cia scientist Dr Sydney glib put together an assassination kit that included a poison designed to produce a disease indigenous to that area of Africa that could be fatal but this poison reached its expiry date before before Lawrence delin had worked out a scheme to infiltrate lumumba's residents the belgians were also working on their own assassination schemes United Nations officials in leod view well aware of how perilous and precarious lumumba's position was continue to warn him that they would only be able to provide him with protection if he remained in his residence now when the United Nations General Assembly under intensive American pressure voted to recognize kazav vubu and mo U as the legitimate occupiers of the conges seat in the UN General Assembly Patrice lumumba knew that his time was running out and so he tried to make a plan on 25th November 1960 during a heavy tropical downpour hidden in the back of a car Patrice lumumba secretly left the safety of his residents and set out to drum up support in the rest of the country on his way to his personal power base in Stanleyville the United Nations Force which was not allowed to interfere in internal conges politics was ordered neither to assist nor to interfere with lumumba's progress or with the movements of his pursuers lumumba's decision to leave his residence turned out to be a fatal one Keno mutu's soldiers caught up with him at mea in the vast territory of CAS Patrice lumba comes back to Leopold Bill a prisoner the former Congo Premier who was captured when he fled Inland no longer wears the TFT of whiskers on his chin that helped to identify him his arrest provoked several clashes between lumumba followers and congales Army troops Patrice lumumba was imprisoned in the military camp at tville halfway between leopoldville and the Atlantic even in captivity lumumba's undoubted Carisma made Joseph kazabubu and keno mabutu and perhaps also the United States and Belgium very worried they were concerned that the soldiers in tville were sympathetic to him while the United Nations Secretary General and his Representatives demanded lum's release Joseph kasavubu and konel Mutu with the help of their Belgian mentors searched for a way to get rid of him for good they came up with an essentially Simple Plan to hand him over to the Luba people of casai the Luba wanted revenge for lum's forces disastrous foray in tasai which resulted in the deaths of many Luba people the idea was to land lumumba at banga in Kasai and let the Luba people do the rest but at the last minute the plotters found that the United Nations troops were in charge of the banga Airfield and so Patric lumba and his two companions Joseph okito and moris poo were redirected to Elizabeth field in katanga President Joseph kasavubu telephoned the katanga secessionist leader moisa chombe to tell him that three Parcels were on the way and that he would know what to do with them on the aircraft the specially picked Luba guards worked over their hated enemy with immense brutality after landing at Elizabeth view the plane was directed to a remote corner of the Airfield at an isolated house in the bush katanga ministers and some belgians subjected what was left of lumumba to further beatings the three men were then driven to a remote area executed and buried in Shallow Graves the next day the bodies were exhumed cut up and dissolved in sulfuric acid no identifiable trace of lumumba and his companions remained Patrice lumumba was on 35 years old it was only in June of 2022 that a tooth that had once belonged to Patrice lumumba was returned to the now Democratic Republic of the Congo from Belgium the announcement nearly a month later by katanga's minister of interior that lumumba had escaped and had been caught and killed by the people of a loyal Village was universally disbelieved this announcement triggered a violent worldwide reaction Belgian and American embassies were attacked and there was a riot in The Spectators G of the United Nations security Council following his death Patrice lumumba became a national and African hero to this day especially for oppressed people lumumba stars as a matter to colonialism and as a symbol for the fight against Western capitalism and [Music] greed on Saturday 17 May 1997 lauran kabila's forces ceased power from mobu to ceso marking the collapse of Z the 32-year-old state which had been created by Mutu out of the chaos of the original Congo zah had been sustained with the help at different periods of mobutu's Western allies namely Belgium the United States and France mutu's departure as the leader of Z was one of the most significant events to shape postcolonial Africa and various analysts say that mbutu created his own downfall with a mixture of extreme greed and shortsightedness mut was unable to just to the changing reality of the post Cold War era and Regional politics he had trouble accepting that the United States would shift its support from opponents of Communism to advocates for democracy most importantly Mutu also miscalculated in thinking he could gain from supporting hu militia men against Tosi rulers in neighboring Randa this move backfired and contributed to his eventual demise born Joseph Mutu in lisala in the extreme Northwest of the then Belgian Congo on 14 October 1930 Mutu went on to become a definitive figure in the Congo's postcolonial history like a number of first generation African leaders the Army made Mutu after he enlisted in 1949 the Army provided him with a means by which he could later dominate his fellow citizens Mutu also grew to know many of the leading conges politicians during the late 1950s including Patrice lumumba the first prime minister of the Congo in fact Mutu joined lumumba's movement National congal Party the MNC mutu's mic rise to power came during the Congo crisis of 1960 to 1964 when the Congo became independent on June 3r 1960 the coalition government of President Joseph kasavubu and prime minister Patrice lumba appointed Mutu the Secretary of State for National Defense and he was responsible for the Army the Army took on an important role in the Congo as it was tasked with preventing the cessation of the mineral Rich provinces of katanga and Kasai Patric lumba was assassinated in 1961 and his successors faced difficulties governing the Congo in 1965 a constitutional crisis developed in which the Prime Minister moisa chombe and the President Joseph kasavubu wrestled for power in the midst of this deadlock Mutu launched a successful Kar after taking power he quickly moved to Buran political parties having blamed politicians for the Congo's ills throughout all of this Mutu was a master manipulator violent when necessary yet also able to charm his enemies into eventually becoming his allies Mutu gradually established a dictatorial regime after eliminating many of his allies and enemies among the politicians and the military the dictator acted as a king and so owner of the Congo in the early 197 0s he intensified his authenticity campaign in which the name of the Congo was changed to Zer and the names of cities were changed to their supposedly original African names at the same time he Shackled Regional administrators and vested so much power on the presidency that he became the sole legislator above all mutu's means of control was personal down to the finest detail everything went through him because he was fearful of military CRS he purged the army of competent officers switched money from infective to inexperienced brigades and constantly disrupted the military command structure this is all while some of the troops were often left unpaid resorting like every other state employee to theft mutu's Army was essentially made up mostly of individuals from one region and it had no capacity to fight any Rebels this would later prove to be detrimental for the dictator early on Motu did much to enrich himself and members of his inner circle his regime was the epitome of kleptocratic rule and remains one of his lasting legacies to this very day greed sustained Mutu his bottomless funds allowed him to bribe The Incorruptible and it was his command over cash flow within the country rather than the military operatus which kept him in power for so many years the demand for base Metals such as Cobalt and copper of which the Congo is well endowed was spurred by the Vietnam War and this boosted the conges economy between 1968 and 1974 the vast revenues from this resources should have enabled the government to move millions of congales out of poverty but were instead used by Mutu to bribe political allies in the country and abroad and to strengthen the hold of his party over the country in November 1973 in a drive to create a national buy which in his own words would spur Z's development confiscated all small and medium-sized Enterprises and handed them over to his cronies this was indeed a turning point in the country's economic history the beneficiaries of this policy by Muto had no experience nor any intention of running businesses and merely siphoned the businesses available cash and let them root by 1974 most of the businesses had folded and this started a downturn in the National economy from which the country never recovered all of this was exacerbated by the rapid fall of commodity prices which brought most of the Congo's Revenue as a result hundreds of thousands of workers lost their jobs and this raised the levels of unemployment in the country the government lost revenue and thus the means to maintain infrastructure which quickly deteriorated the economic deterioration of Z year was such that civil servants struggling to survive on the misly salaries turned to extortion contributing further to a system of corruption that became deeply entrenched in Z mutu's policy of nationalizing Industries and handing out lucrative contracts to his allies proved catastrophic so in 1976 Z accepted its first structural adjustment package but as one industry after another crumbled and the regime defaulted on debts incurred by Massive loans Mutu could perhaps sense an end inside the economic erosion in Zira fured the growth of a credible opposition in the early 1980s which saw the beginning of a half-hearted transition into multi-party Politics as a way by Mutu to qu foreign and domestic pressure but I'll touch on this a little bit later despite his disregard for democracy and proven human rights abuses Mutu enjoyed widespread support from the International Community particularly the United States France and Belgium Mutu served as a bwar against communism in the region supporting n Rebels who are fighting against the Communist mpla Regime in Angola in fact Z acted as a conjured for United States military aid to the Unita guerillas which allowed Mobutu to act as a broker between Unita and the angolan government additionally mutu's government's efforts to take on political and security roles in a region that was regarded as chronically unstable served as a justification for United States policy makers to support him these efforts by mutu's government included Z's military interventions in the Central African Republic in 1979 in Burundi in 1972 and in Chad between 1981 and 1983 it is also worth mentioning that the soldiers that helped Mutu Crush rebellions in 1977 and 1978 were Moroccan French and Belgian the fact that Z produced More than 70% of the world's cobal may have had a lot to do with this following the end of the Cold War Z lost both its strategic importance and The crucial International assistance that went with it the old dictator Mutu had outlived his usefulness to his former Masters as a bwar against communism in the region meanwhile on the political front in Zera discontent was mounting not only among the masses but also among the elites who had benefited from the regime in 1980 in an unprecedented move a group of about 13 m members of parliament led by a and chedi wrote a letter to Mutu denouncing the regime's mismanagement and the capture of the state by a click and demanding political reforms the reaction of the regime's repressive machine was Swift and brutal the members of parliament were all arrested and tortured but this did not deter them in 1982 in a show of exceptional courage and Defiance of the law establishing a one party state in Z the MPS created a party the Union for democracy and social progress their struggle combined with pressure from the regime's Allies forced Mutu to accept multi party democracy in April of 1990 the incumbent Secretary General of the economic community of Central African States was appointed head of a restructured transitional government that was installed on 4 May of that year 1990 over the next year Z's Constitution was revised to permit the formation of trade unions and at least two additional political parties however the Euphoria generated by the prospect of a new political social order quickly evaporated as a result of mutu's continuing repression of opposition political activities in particular mutu's announcement that a limited multi-party system would not come into effect for at least 2 years led to a bloody confrontation at the University of luomashi on May 11 1990 here it was reported that Security Forces killed more than 50 student demonstrators eventually mut was persuaded by opposition pressure to announc on December 31 both presidential and legislative elections they were scheduled to be held in 1991 as was a referendum on another new constitution at the end of September 1991 under pressure from the opposition Mutu not only appointed as prime minister aan chisaki but he also agreed to the formation of an oppos opposition dominated cabinet and diminished presidential powers in addition a transitional Constitution was adopted and it reor the separation of powers and strengthened human and civil rights in 1992 a sovereign National Conference was convened to decide which form the new multiparty system would take but rather than furthering the snc's work Muto successfully sold division among the delegates and managed to stay in power as you can probably imagine Mutu and his Entourage did not want to relinquish power and lose all the Privileges that they enjoyed and so they did their very best to disrupt the running of the new government and then Used military force to remove it from power in fact president Mobutu Sayo went on to dismiss prime minister aedi and his government illegally Mutu still retained the Loyalty of the security forces and he managed to remain in power by a complex strategy that involved seemingly to agree to reforms but never implementing them repression of the opposition instigation of mutineers in the armed forces and the fueling of ethnic grievances as well as the cooptation of prominent opposition leaders amid the ensuing economic and political crisis of 1991 mutu's Army turned on the cities taking by violence the goods left unstolen after the leaders years of taking by stealth following this looting by the soldiers the civilians follow Road suit shops offices and factories were trashed and millions of dollars were stolen this exercise was repeated in some towns in 1993 and it is alleged that on both occasions Mutu had encouraged the Rampage by the Army by 1993 such was the conflict between Pro and anti- Mobutu forces that there was a duplication of political institutions in Z there were two governments two parliaments and two currencies this political stalemate was finally overcome at the end of the year when the two legislators merged into the transitional High Council of the Republic the HCR but unlike the previous National Conference Pro Mobutu forces dominated the HCR Mutu ceso the quintessential mavan operator cleverly played the opposition parties against each other to maintain his group on power seven Prime Ministers came and went during what became a 7-year transition and many of the opposition parties were actually Pro Mobutu France in the confusion he cast himself as the only unifying political force in Zer but with the fall of the Cold War the United States lost tolerance for mutu's resistance to democracy and along with other Western countries they cut off Aid in June of 1994 Z was suspended from the IMF and its collapse [Music] deepened when the politicians were arguing in kinasa trouble was Mount on the Eastern fringes of the country in fact from April 1994 because of the genocide in Rwanda and the war that ensued close to a million rwandese refugees crossed the border into the Eastern Zan provinces of North and South K at first Mutu sought to use the arrival of Randon Hutu and tosti refugees in his country to ingratiate himself once more to the International Community not only as a cdor Ally but also as a humanitarian yet his strategy collapsed in the face of Randon opposition to his hosting of these refugees on Z's eastern border this Refugee crisis was the ultimate cause of his fall some of the refugees that had crossed over into Zer fermented local ethnic Strife joining with local hutus to drive tosis out of Eastern Z and also using the refugee camps as basis to attack Rwanda now Mobutu had miscalculated and underestimated the drive for survival of rwanda's new leaders in October 1996 Rwanda and Uganda invaded Eastern Z they recruited congales Proxes who acted as Rebels and as a front for this Invasion the leaders in these two countries used mutu's longtime opponent lauran Des cabila to front a movement called The Alliance of democratic forces for the liberation of Congo these forces would eventually Dethrone Mobutu a former lumist and Marxist considered unpromising Revolution material by sh guara lauran kabila's 30 years in the political Wilderness made him a little known figure but one who unlike more prominent leaders of the Zan opposition was in no way compromised by association with Mutu or acceptance of political reward from him on 24 October 1996 kabila's campaign began at first the French one of mutu's major allies wanted to step in to rescue him however the Americans blocked their idea saying that foreign forces should stay out of Z initially zans reconed that laures re capila was heading an invasion of Tois from Rwanda and so they look their leader Mobutu to drive him back when Mobutu returned from France where he was getting treatment in December of 1996 he was cheered by the masses at this point it looked as if Mobutu would outpat his enemies and work on a strategy to fully retain power in this regard he changed the Army command but unfortunately all of this was to no avail his troops kept on losing against kabila's forces this time around it was clear for all to see that the end was near town after town fell to kabila's Rebellion on 19 April the rebel forces captured lubumbashi and it was only a matter of time until kinasa the capital fell mutu's demoralized and IL equipped Army hardly fought the Invaders Mutu had lost control of the situation ailing and weak he was confronted with the fact that he could not master up his divided and unpaid Army to mount a credible defense against cabila in the final stages of the splits kabila's troops were joined by the angolan Army which seized the opportunity to flash out angolan Rebels who are using Z as their base the buk of the forces loyal to him were concentrated in and around Kinshasa this included uded some 3,000 soldiers of the division special presidential the DSP as well as several thousand Unita soldiers along with former members of the Rwandan Army and the Hutu militia this was the setting for the intense diplomatic efforts that were undertaken by special American envoys along with South African president Nelson Mandela and his vice president taboi in attempting to set up a meeting for Mutu ceso and lauran capila to negotiate under pressure Mutu and K cabila met for the first time aboard the SAS Otona on 4 May 1997 off the cast of P Noir in the Republic of the Congo these negotiations were presided over by Nelson Mandela himself however nothing of consequence came out of this meeting a second meeting that was set for 14 may had to be cancelled when Mobutu was left Waiting in Vain for lauran kabila's arrival the only reason for the Diplomatic efforts was to convince Mutu to Ute power little by little in order to avoid Bloodshed and so that lauran Cap's forces could enter kinasa without fighting on May 13 the government declared a curfew from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. while the opposition parties announced a general strike for May 15 and May 16 calling upon the citizens to stay home to avoid a bloodbath on Thursday May 15 three top generals General lolia General Mah and general respectively prime minister minister of defense and head of mobutu's DSP met three times with Mobutu to inform him that they could not defend kinasa and to encourage him to relinquish power on Friday May 16 Mutu ceso abandoned power and took refuge in his Palace at bite while still holding on to his title of Head of State on Saturday May 17 kabila's afdl soldiers entered kinasa without fighting they were warmly welcomed by a population happy to finally read itself of the reign of terror which had left it weak and drained on the morning of the same day lauran des re cabila proclaimed himself president of the Republic and took complete authority over the transition following his departure from kinasa on May 16 Mutu SEO did not even have the time to catch his breath at his Palace in bite on Sunday May 18 he was forced to flee in haste to L the capital of Togo when afdo forces threatened to take over the Region's Airport from l in too where his friend Nasim AA found his presence to be an embarrassment Mutu later fled to Robert Morocco where he died of prostate cancer on 7th September 1997 it's been over 20 years since the assassination of the drc's former president lauran desire kabila at the hands of his child so soers cabil was the leader of the Rebellion that overthrew president mut of Zira in 1997 and restored the country's name what many don't know about him is how he spent most of his life in Exile engaged in the illegal gold and diamond trade as well as wild schemes to overthrow the dictatorship of Mutu his immediate predecessor along the way he briefly recruited she guara in 1965 as well as the armies of Uganda and r which helped bring him to power in 1997 lauran desre cabila was born in the province of katanga a part of what was then Belgian Congo this was in 1939 he completed his studies in high school in Elizabethville now luomashi in the DRC and then studied political philosophy at a French University it is also said that kabila attended the University of darus Salam in Tanzania in 1960 when he was 21 years old cabila became a leader in the political movements Allied to the first prime minister of independent Congo Patrice lumumba at the dawn of Congo's independence from Belgium the young cabila was one of the bright young men who may have become a star in his country's politics at the time yet after the United Nations intervention and the assassination of Patrice lumuma the cream of these young conges politicians were exiled the Army also chased kabila and other communist sympathizers away into the bush where they formed a Guerilla Force these young congales then formed a rebellion which was then backed by both the Chinese and the Russians and a half dozen other African [Music] countries the Rebellion by this group of Fighters including cabila attracted the attention of the United States the United States was panicking about possible Soviet gains in newly independent Africa the Americans recruited Belgian officers exiled Cuban Pilots as well as foreign mercenaries forced to retreat kabil and his friends turned to the Cubans and Sh guara for support So sh guara and his Squad arrived on the Tanzanian Congo border with a small contingent of Guerilla Fighters This was in April of 1965 however in his diary that was published in 1999 sh guara noted Lauren kabila's lack of involvement in the party and the general lack of organization in the group guara judged kabila who was 26 years at the time as not being the man of the hour and that kabila was too distracted this in kar's opinion accounted for kabila showing up days later times to provide supplies Aid or backup to gara's men gar also discovered to his dismay that cabila was given to drinking traditional portions that he believed would Pro protect him from bullets and sometimes kabila also turned up quite drunk the Revolt of the rebels that were led by kabila was suppressed in 1965 by the congales army with support from the United States Mobutu took control of the nation in 1965 established a dictatorship and in 1971 renamed the country Zira in 1967 cabila founded the People's revolutionary party fighting to establish itself sufficient Marxist territory in the Eastern section of Zira this group carved out an enclave on lake tanganika in the distant K Province there kabila's Rebels supported themselves by killing elephants trading in Ivory as well as gold mining they also received occasional help and funding from China and Cuba but kabila's Rebels also gained International notoriety in 1975 when they kidnapped two American students and one Dutch researcher for ransom Mutu who was now firmly in control of the country ordered his troops into the region and they managed to suppress kabila's forces who had no choice but to relocate to Tanzania where they regrouped in the 1970s kabil moved his family to Tanzania after years of leading the unsuccessful Rebel movement in Congo at that point in time lauron desab was a wanted man and the cabila family would go on to live discreetly in Exile in Uganda and Tanzania while in Tanzania kabila's family members used assumed names often versions of one of Laurent kabila's pseudonyms Francis mutale and ran several small businesses including restaurants bars and markets cabil and his family imported food and imported and exported other Commodities from the Congo through the ports in D Salam Tanzania the family was protected by the Tanzanian government and moved from house to house in the city's affluent neighborhoods to escape detection by mutu's intelligence agents in 1979 when the Ugandan Exiles supported by Tanzania decided to overthrow idam Dada cabila was incorporated by the Tanzanian troops among several armed groups to get a firsthand experience of Modern Warfare according to Ugandan Exiles cabila stayed in Uganda and became close to the group of Yim 7i until they went to the bush in 1980 in kabila and mouser's first meeting kabila is said to have asked for arms in order to attack Mutu but was given a condition which was not to operate on the Uganda Congo border unfortunately for cabila the arms deal fell through but mvi gave cabila a modest Financial contribution and linked him with Libya to see if they could assist in any way without involving Uganda meanwhile in Tanzania cabila would have a falling out with the then Tanzanian president Julius nerer because of their disagreement over kabila's lifestyle Nera criticized cabila for being too autocratic in his Guerilla movement and being too involved in illicit business activities which later led to cabila being cut off of contacts with the Tanzanian Security Services at the time by 1985 while kabila was living in Dar Salam he had been involved in smuggling gold and diamonds as well as Timber on Lake tanganika his other businesses included running a bar as well as a broel in Tanzania after all of this drama cabila disappeared from the public View for the next 15 years and did not reemerge until 1994 so cabila only surfaced the again in 1994 when the Ronda patriotic front the RPF took power in Ronda Ugandan president Yim seeni introduced cabila to the then Rwandan vice president po kagame who had a sharp conflict with President Mutu kagame was crossed with Mutu over the presence of randan refugees on the randan Congo border who were being held hostage by inter hang militias who were hu militia men that had led the genocide back in Randa as well as elements of the former randan Army and the former randan government the presence of the inter hang in Congo as well as mutu's continuing support for his old Hutu allies sold the seeds of much of the upheaval that was to come and the Zan leaders own downfall the inter hang and former Ron government officials used the refugee camps in the Congo as basis to launch attacks against the new government in Rwanda by 1996 Randa decided that it could no longer tolerate the refugee camps the toi of South K in Zira who were called the BAM mulen staged an uprising in the sum of 1996 against mobutu's government this was with support from the government in Rwanda by the second half of 1996 the alliance of the banam mulen as well as the tosti of North k kabila's Rebels Randa Uganda and Angola formed to overthrow Mutu the alliance appointed lauran deser cabila as the spokesperson and the then leader of the Coalition and the Coalition was called The Alliance of democratic forces for the liberation of cono Zira the afdl so here are the reasons why the different countries and the different groups supported kabila Uganda apparently supported him as a means of eliminating Ugandan opposition groups on the cono Z border and perhaps to also punish Muto and in the case of Ronda as I said earlier they wish to eliminate the Hutu Refugee forces in Zira and perhaps to punish Mutu the angolan government meanwhile was motivated by a wish to punish Mutu as well as to strike a blow against its opponents who were the separatist groups in the Congo as well as Jonas saimi Unita so kabila was chosen as a spokesperson and the leader of the Coalition probably in part because he was the oldest among the founders of the afdl but more importantly he had a long history of anti Mobutu protests going back to the 1960s the alliance also had support from the kadogo which is Swahili for child soldiers from the eastern part of the country one of the co-founders of the alliance was another conges politician called kassen gandu kassen gandu had been the chief of the National Council of resistance for democracy which was a group opposed to Mutu and to whom many of the kados belonged as a result most of the kados were loyal to their leader kassen gandu and this point is important for the latter part of the story which involves the death of Lauren cabila we will talk about this later so even before the forces of the alliance reached kinasa in May of 1997 certain elements of their policies as well as leadership styles began to emerge almost from the start of their military campaign the alliance attempted to forge a new morality for the average congales citizen the new morality policy involved for example whipping drunkards or women whose skirts were Too Short The Alliance also created a mechanism of local control which was similar to totalitarian systems with the formation of the so-called chbe CH who were Street by Street committee that were set up to both inform and watch ordinary citizens with time the leadership of the alliance became divided initially the leadership of the afdl was supposed to be collegial with kabila only being the spokesperson but when he started calling himself the president of the alliance other leaders are reported to have objected especially kassen gandu who I spoke about earlier unfortunately for kassen gandu kabil felt threatened by him and so Consolidated his power Base by organizing kassen gandu assassination it is said that this assassination displeased the kadogo and this might have been the reason why they eventually assassinated gabila in 2001 meanwhile with the end of the Cold War in the 1990s Mutu had lost so much of the Western financial support that they had provided in return for his intervention in the Affairs of Z's neighbors marginalized by the new multiparty system in Z as well as ill health Mutu finally relinquished control of the government in May of 1997 to Lauren kabila and his forces Mutu died in Exile a short time later when the afdl forces took control of kinasa on 17 May 1997 they were initially met with an enthusiastic welcome cabilla would go on to be sworn in as the president of the newly renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo on the the 31st of May 1997 and officially commenced his term as president however after perhaps one of the shortest honeymoons any Victorious revolutionary leader has enjoyed kabila found his policies being challenged and his association with his foreign supporters especially the Rwandan government being viewed with suspicion during his presidency cabil also went on to suspend the Constitution some people saw him as a new breed of leadership While others saw him as a continuation of the authoritarianism and Corruption that he was supposedly replacing cabil wouldn't allow people to form the political parties that they wanted to form and the elections that he had promised for April of 1999 became a distant dream cabil retained power to throw into prison those who dared to demand that he fulfill his promises and he used this power very often he also placed his leading opponent etan chisaki under house arrest however in May of 1998 cabil authorized a legislative assembly during this supposed period of political liberalization his opponents continued to be arrested so it came as no surprise when in August of 1998 some of the groups in the Eastern Congo that helped place cabila in power began to oppose him and began a rebellion against his government accusing it of numerous human rights abuses including large scale massacr of civilians as well as a president's apparent favoritism towards his own ethnic group for political posts furthermore his former National allies Uganda and Rwanda began supporting these Rebels after kabila's forces invaded both Uganda and Randa in pursuit of gerilla Fighters kabila however found new allies in in Angola Zimbabwe and Namibia all of whom sent troops into the Congo in order to support kabila's repression all of this was the Genesis of the second Congo War which devastated the country with its effect still being felt across the [Music] DRC forent desire cabila his survival skills served him well in Exile but deserted him once he had moved into the presidential Palace rather cabila kogos that I mentioned earlier were the ones that pulled the trigger that led to their boss's death it is said that the kadogo believed that kabila had betrayed them kabila had believed that the kadogo who had served him loyally since his rebellion in 1997 against Mutu were utterly loyal he even told a visiting foreign businessman that and I quot they will never do anything against me they have been with me since the beginning they are my children however he overestimated their loyalty some of the kogos that had mared in support of cabila in 1997 had never pardoned him for killing their former leader kisas gandu one of them is quoted saying I marched with kabila but I knew he was a traitor so the plot to kill kabila started in early January of 2001 when a dissident group of the kogos went to brazaville in the Republic of Congo and Drew up a document setting out operation Bongo zero Bongo is a Swahili word for buffalo a reference to kabila's physical stature it is said that the plan was that the conspirators would infiltrate strategic positions in kinasa the capital of the DRC including the presidential Palace the national radio and television station and the headquarters of the country's electricity company the whole plot involved some 75 members of kab P's bodyguards at the presidential Palace many of whom were arrested after the killing of course there was a hidden Force supporting them but there are many theories as to whom that may have been the day before kabila's assassination he had witness the execution of 47 kogos all believed to have been plotting against him so here is a version of the events that transpired on that fateful night of 16 January 2001 it is said that kab's young killer entered the president's office at the marble Palace in kinasa as the increasingly paranoid and isolated K cabil was discussing with an economics advisor about a looming Summit with France the Assassin bent over cabila and the president assuming the teenager wanted to talk to him leaned towards him the kadogo then produced a revolver and shot the president four times and then escaped with other conspirators while the palace resounded with gunfire at least three of those involved in the plot including the unnamed killer himself fled kinasa and may have gone into hiding in braz view the capital of the neighboring Congo two days later conges officials announced kabila's death afterwards his son Joseph kabila then aged 28 became the next president of the country on January 16th 2001 the Democratic Republic of the Congo tumbled into uncertainty the country's president lauran desire cabila had been sitting in his office at his marble Palace in kinasa the capital when one of his bodyguards entered drew his pistol aimed it at cabila and fired several times the news broadcast then reviewed his successor as being his 29-year-old son Joseph cabila who had yet to make a name for himself the young capila was a shyman of a few words and was a mystery un known to foreign diplomats and the congales public alike yet having marched across the country as part of his father's afdl forces as they Topo mutu's government he enjoyed legitimacy among the military and his father's close confidence H why they chose him to be his father's successor young Joseph cabila inherited a country that was going through an intractable War a near void of civil institutions and the legacy of Human Rights abuses committed under the rules of his father lauran cabila as well as the dictator mutuo the young Leader Joseph kabila had this work cut out for him this is the story of Joseph kabila's rise to power as well as his 18-year reign of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Joseph kabila Kang's Origins including his parentage and place and date of birth are the subject of persistent controversy and without an irrefutable birth certificate the rumors and many conspiracies about Joseph kabila's origin have never ceased Joseph cabila and his twin sister Janet were born around the 4th of June 1971 to lauran desire cabila and their mother CA MAA in anoro a small town on the banks of the Congo River in North katanga there are some reports that instead he was born on 4 December 1971 at H Bora which was lauran kabila's Guerilla headquarters in the phys territory of South K in the DRC his mother CA MAA was one of Lon kabila's three wives she was a member of the bangu bangu tribe in the man province of Eastern Congo although some people have claimed that she was a tootsie from Rwanda for years many of Joseph kabila's detractors argued that he was in fact a foreigner this accusation even doged Joseph cabila many years later most notably leader of the opposition aan chisti even accused Joseph of not being lauran kabila's legitimate son the late at chisi argued that Joseph was in fact of r origin an accusation that carried some significance in a country that was still reeling from an invasion of ran forces in what came to be known the Congo Wars lauran cabila moved his family to Tanzania in the 1970s after years of leading an unsuccessful Rebel movement in fi South K against Zan dictator Mutu SEO at this point lauran cabila was a wanted man and so the cabila family lived discreetly in Exile in Uganda and Tanzania in order to avoid the attention of mutu's intelligence service they pretended to be members of the fipa people a small ethnic group from Southwest Tanzania the Cabas did not grow uach during a trip to the Soviet Union in the late 1980s lauran cabila was stranded in Moscow and able to afford the AA Home his wife CIFA Joseph's mother sold vegetables in Tanzania people who knew Joseph cabil from that time described him as an intelligent sporty young man who was passionate about cars and had a great admiration for revolutionary Heroes like Thomas Sankara sh guara and yarim S Joseph kabila received his primary and secondary education in Tanzania attending schools based on the British school system where he learned to speak English at a young age he was also fluent in soili although not in lingala which is the language spoken in Congo's Capital kinasa after completing primary and secondary school young Joseph aab trained in the Rwandan military for 3 years before he went on to continue his education Joseph kabil had just begun University in Uganda in 1996 when his father called him to help in the rebel war against then president Mobutu [Music] ceso in this period between 1996 and 1997 which came to be known as the first Congo War lauran desire cabila headed the alliance of democratic forces for the liberation of Congo the afd DL which was the rebel group that wanted to put an end to Mutu ceso dictatorship in Zira Mutu had been in power since 1965 during this war Joseph cabila worked alongside a prominent Rwandan figure James kabarebe who at the time was Chief military strategist in lauran kila's Rebel afdl James kabarebe Wanted young Joseph who was then 25 years to take part in military operations led by the afdl forces on congales soil with the support of the Rwandan Army kabarebe said of his prote that Joseph cabil had the hardest time learning how to fight behind lauran kabila's afdo stood the Firepower troops and diplomatic Council of the Rwandan patriotic front uganda's National resistance movement and Angola's npla but also that of the arrian people's Liberation Front as well as the burundian and Tanzanian governments the members of this Coalition of Liberation movements each had their own motives for wanting to Topo Mobutu this Coalition sealed the fate of Mobutu and lauran Des cabila announced in May of 1997 from lubumbashi that he was assuming the presidency of the Republic following the afd's victory and lauran desire kabila's rise to the presidency young Joseph kabila went on to get further training at the pla National Defense University in Beijing China meanwhile the help that lauran cabila had received from the various nations came with strings attached namely from two of his so-called friends Rwandan president PA kagame and Ugandan president Yi musen however the congales people felt profound resentment over the Rwandan and Ugandan presence and influence in their country this resentment by the congales prompted lauran capila to reconsider his relations with his former friends in July of 1998 amid deteriorating relations with Randa president kabila dismissed the Randa General James kabarebe from his position as Army chief of staff and ordered Rwandan soldiers to leave the DRC in turn kabila's refusal to satisfy the expectations of his former Rwandan and Ugandan friends prompted the second Congo war in the following months the DRC was divided into two zones one led by lauran cabila with support of the Armed Forces of Zimbabwe Angola Namibia Chad and Sudan and the other controlled by the armed wing of what was known as the rcd the ran Army the Ugandan Army and the burundian Army in addition to these forces a group called The mlc led by Jean pier bber and the rcd KML occupied other parts of the country the second Congo War precipitated Joseph kabila's returned to the Congo in August of 1998 when he was appointed General major and Chief of Staff of the congales army at the age of 27 his rapid promotion was surprising to many considering the very short time he had spent in the military in the year 2000 Joseph kabila became Chief of Staff of the land forces and was one of the main military commanders during the second Congo War Joseph kabila's life changed dramatically in the beginning of 2001 on January 16 of that year his father lauran cabil had been sitting in his office at his marble Palace in kinasa when one of his bodyguards shot him several times following this incident lauran Cab's advis scrambled to react keeping news of the attack from the public they arranged for his dead body to be flown to Zimbabwe under the guise of him getting treatment Congo's borders were sealed its airports shut down and a curfew announced when it became apparent that lauran kabila's gunshot wounds were fatal his close allies in consultation with several other members of the presidential cabinet met in order to decide on a successor they settled on his son Joseph as the only person who could hold to together various government and Military factions at that point there had been a lot of bad blood between senior government officials and so appointing Joseph cabil was the path of least resistance in other words this was an appointment that everyone could get behind Joseph kabila kabang was just 29 years old and hardly had any experience his only civilian work experience lay in doing odd jobs for his father and driving a taxi for this group of lauran cabillas advisers and Associates selling their choice to other power Brokers was not easy other military commanders also had to be convinced but this wasn't as difficult since Joseph was well known and generally respected within the military an unexpected obstacle was Joseph kabila's initial reluctance to accept the offer when his father's advisers asked him to become president it is said that he was initially very resistant to the idea most likely because he feared for his life he eventually relented and and accepted the proposal and so on January 27 2001 11 days after his father's death Joseph cabil became the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and at the time the youngest head of state in the world the congales did not know what to expect from their new president they did not know if he was strong enough to hold the country together or whether he could pursue war or peace also at the time many people were unhappy with the way Joseph cabil had come to power they objected to the fact that he was chosen secretly and automatically others disapproved of the choice because they were unhappy with his father's record as a leader they also believed that Joseph was easily influenced and a puppet to his father's advisor whatever the case when Joseph kabila became president the country faced many challenges as I already alluded to almost half of the national territory was occupied by the armies of neighboring countries which had their own plans for the Congo despite despite this complicated State of Affairs Joseph cabila was no pushover he displayed a strong will and he understood that remaining in power could not be left to chance immediately upon inheriting the presidency he made surprising decisions that diverged completely from his fathers among other things he dismissed his father's former advisers and allies Joseph cabil also began the normalization of bilateral relations with key allies such as the United States France Britain and Belgium among others his trip to France the US and Belgium hardly a week after his rise to power increased his legitimacy both at home and abroad the words that he uttered were well received and so he was given the benefit of the doubt in his speeches Joseph cabila referred to the need to restore peace and consolidate National communion the relaunching of the laka peace Accord the return to democratic life and the opening up of the political system Joseph cabil also spoke about the need to organize an inter cones dialogue as well as the liberalization of the economy cabil also held talks with Rebel groups in the governments of five countries namely Rwanda Uganda Zimbabwe Angola and Namibia that had troops in Congo political talks also took place between conges actors in laka Zambia as well as in pitor and S city in South Africa in a meeting in Zambia in February of 2001 Joseph cabila agreed to begin the implementation of a SE fire agreement that had been signed in July of 1999 but had not been honored in December of 2002 Joseph cabila was a signatory to an agreement with Rebels to end the war and to form a Powers sharing transitional government this agreement known as a global and inclusive agreement was signed on December 16 2002 based on the deal the parties agreed to combine their efforts in order to achieve National reconciliation to this effect they decided to set up a government of national Unity which would eventually organize free and Democratic elections after a period of transition the duration of which was fixed the power sharing agreement kept Joseph cabil as interim president with four vice presidents one representing the government one the rebel Group rcd G another the mlc of jeanpier bber and another for the Civil Society this agreement was ratified in April of 2003 United Nations peacekeepers arrived in Dr Congo at the end of March 2003 to monitor the ceasefire and the pull back of troops though Joseph cabila made strides towards peace his actions were not without opposition for instance in 2004 there were alleged core attempts against him in one of these attempts members of an elite unit that guarded him took charge of State Radio major Eric Lange of the presidential guard who are said to be the leader of the group announced on the radio that the country's transitional process was not working and that he was suspending it and taking control himself fortunately for Joseph cabil his loyalist forces prevailed and crashed the ca undeterred Joseph cabil continued in his attempts to unify the country back in 2001 when Joseph cabil took over the economy was in a disastrous state with no growth infrastructure broken rapid inflation and a tanking currency soon after assuming office Joseph cabila called in the World Bank the IMF and west donors to the Congo the initial results of his reforms at least were impressive inflation and the value of the Congolese Frank stabilized and new investment flowed into the mining telecommunications construction and infrastructure sectors although the drc's development indicators remained below the African average there was significant progress with increases in life expectancy and School enrollment and a dramatic fall in childhood mortality economic indicators also improved under Joseph kabila's rule although they remained far below the country's potential however the key challenge was to diversify the conges economy since most of the growth was still too reliant on mining unfortunately corruption was also rif in the DRC and Joseph cabila and his family were accused of being the top perpetrators of corruption in the country as well as abusing power to enrich themselves it is alleged that the most egregious form of corruption involved Joseph cabil and his family for instance an organization known as the Congo research group published a report in collaboration with Bloomberg news that exposed the elaborate web of businesses that the president and his relatives constructed in Congo the report showed that the Cabas had their fingers in everything from farming and Mining to Aviation and construction this report also alleged that many cabila linked businesses received special treatment for example there were mines that were protected by Presidential Cal Guards there was even a company with links to the cabila family that was said to have gotten $60 of the $185 fee for each new congales passport the Panama papers that were published beginning of April 3 2016 reviewed that kabila's Twin Sister Janet using a different name owned an indirect share in the nation's largest mobile phone operator and this was through a company registered in the South Pacific Islands another the investigation titled the Congo holdup which was conducted by International media and NOS accused Joseph kabila and his family of having siphoned at least $138 million us from State coffers these alleged ements took place from 2013 to 2018 according to the authors of this investigation the main actor was alleged to be kabila's Brother Francis selmani it is said that selmani purchased numerous luxury homes in the United States and South Africa in part using funds diverted from the congales government however none of the documents to emerge from most of these scandals have Joseph cabil signatures on them though the names of his top AIDS and companies of his associates are all over them as part of the peace process that ended the war in 2003 the DI Congo created a new political system the various Rebel leaders rebranded their militias as political parties and exchanged their milit fatigues for suits a new constitution was drafted powerful International and National backers including United States diplomats in kinasa enabled Joseph kabil to th Jean P bber who was president of the mlc in his quest to become the president in the 2006 elections veteran politician ET and chik's party boycotted the elections and remained outside the institutions and continue to play a role as an opposition party this 2006 presidential election was generally regarded as free and fair Jean Pierre bber was subsequently arrested in Belgium and brought before the international criminal court maybe one day I'll do a video on janier bber Joseph cabila stood for reelection in 2011 facing 10 other candidates in the PO that was scheduled for November 28th of that year his strongest Challenger was ET and chisti kabila's re-election beid was bolstered by his well organized political campaign as well as a anuary 2011 Constitutional Amendment that eliminated the second round of voting in the presidential race therefore allowing a candidate to win without necessarily having a majority of the vote however many congales were disgruntled over kabila's failure to keep all of his 2006 election campaign promises and so H chisti was a popular opposition figure with considerable support the political climate leading up to the election was tense and punctuated with violence because of tensions between the parties as well as legitimate concerns that the logistical challenges would interfere with voting in remote parts of the country nonetheless the elections were held as scheduled and provisional results showed that cabil was a winner with 49% of the vote chisti followed with 32% however several International monitoring groups characterized the PS as being poorly organized and noted many irregularities International observers even reported that some districts at impossibly high turnout rates of more than 99% and that hundreds of thousands of ballots had disappeared we wanted to organize perfect elections did we attain that Perfection not 100% were there mistakes errors definitely definitely like in any other election be on the continent or otherwise for his part the Arch Bishop of kinasa declared that the results of the Electoral commission conformed neither to truth nor Justice indeed Joseph kabila's Proclamation as winner of the presidential elections raised the questions of his legitimacy and pled the Congo into a grave constitutional crisis but the results were confirmed by the Supreme Court and Joseph kabil was inaugurated on 20 December 2011 in the years that followed Joseph cabil was a target of protest when there were suspicions as early as 2013 that he would not step down at the end of his term in late 2016 and would Instead try to find a way to extend his time in office this suspicion was confirmed when 3 years before the scheduled vote he pushed for an amendment to the Constitution that would do away with the two-term limit but this speed by Joseph cabila failed and it triggered defections from kabila's ruling Coalition his allies then proposed a Time consum assuming National sensors that would push back the date of the fault but that failed as well and cabila turned to more creative means in 2015 for example the government announced that the Congo's 11 provinces would be split into 26 which had the effect of weakening rival politicians and diverting resources from elections suspicions against cabila were boostered even further after the Constitutional Court ruled in May 2016 that in the event that the elections were delayed Joseph cabil would remain in office until a successor could be elected and installed months later the court granted a request from the Electoral commission to postpone the 2016 elections one of the reasons cited for delaying these elections was the logistical obstacles associated with holding the elections a presidential election was eventually scheduled for December 23 2018 and after years of speculation about Joseph Cab's intentions it was confirmed that he would not be standing in the election and would instead support the candidacy of Emmanuel ramazani shadari although the elections were held in most parts of the country and in generally peaceful conditions there were problems reported regarding the voting process and tabulation of the votes when the results were announced a week and a half later Felix chisaki the son of a chisti who had died in 2017 was declared the winner followed closely by Martin fulu another opposition candidate shadari came in third thereafter Martin fulu and others accused Felix chisi and Joseph capila of having made a deal to secure the former's election victory in exchange for protecting the interests of the latter and his associates however representatives of both chisti and kabila denied the accusations mtin fulu challenged the results at the Constitutional court but the court appealed ched's Victory Joseph kabila kabang stepped down on January 2th 4 2019 handing power to Felix chisi the first peaceful transition of power in Congo since the country became independent in 1960 this marked the end of Joseph kabila's 18-year role of the DRC thank you all for tuning in this has been tatenda for African biographics until next time cheers have a good one

Channel: African Biographics

Views: 115,100

Keywords: africa, african history, laurent kabila, joseph kabila, mobutu sese seko, patrice lumumba, drc, congo civil war, congo war, king leopold, congo diamonds, african dictator

Id: DSKZpUIjUak

Length: 89min 18sec (5358 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 24 2023