The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the state organisation responsible for defending the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The FARDC was rebuilt patchily as part of the peace process which followed the end of the Second Congo War in July 2003.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly Zaire, is a country in Central Africa. It is, by area, the second largest country in Africa, and the 11th-largest in the world. With a population of around 105 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populous officialy Francophone country in the world. It is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, African Union, and COMESA. Since 2015, the Eastern DR Congo has been the site of an ongoing military conflict in Kivu. The capital and largest city is Kinshasa, who is also the world's most populous francophone city in the world.
Joseph Kabila Kabange is a Congolese politician who served as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between January 2001 and January 2019. He took office ten days after the assassination of his father, President Laurent-Désiré Kabila in the context of the Second Congo War. He was allowed to remain in power after the 2003 Pretoria Accord ended the war as the president of the country's new transitional government. He was elected as president in 2006 and re-elected in 2011 for a second term. Since stepping down after the 2018 election, Kabila, as a former president, serves as a senator for life.
The Second Congo War began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August 1998, little more than a year after the First Congo War, and involved some of the same issues. The war officially ended in July 2003, when the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took power. Although a peace agreement was signed in 2002, violence has continued in many regions of the country, especially in the east. Hostilities have continued since the ongoing Lord's Resistance Army insurgency, and the Kivu and Ituri conflicts.
The term Mai-Mai or Mayi-Mayi refers to any kind of community-based militia group active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that is formed to defend local communities and territory against other armed groups. Most were formed to resist the invasion of Rwandan forces and Rwanda-affiliated Congolese rebel groups, but some may have formed to exploit the war to their own advantage by looting, cattle rustling or banditry.
DEMIAP was the military intelligence organization of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to Belgian official sources in 2002, it falls under the authority, 'at least officially', of the chief of staff of Congolese Armed Forces, now succeeded by the FARDC. it was divided in two departements:
James Kabarebe is a Rwandan military officer who has served as a Senior Presidential Adviser on security matters in the government of Rwanda, since 19 October 2018.
The University of Kinshasa, commonly known as UNIKIN, is one of the three major universities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, together with the University of Kisangani and University of Lubumbashi. Originally founded in 1954 as Lovanium University during Belgian colonial rule, the current university was established following the division of the National University of Zaire (UNAZA) in 1981. It is located in Kinshasa.
Dieudonne Kayembe Mbandakulu Tshisuma was the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since 12 June 2007 he has the rank of Lieutenant General.
The Kivu conflict began in 2004 in the eastern Congo as an armed conflict between the military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and the Hutu Power group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has broadly consisted of three phases, the third of which is an ongoing conflict. Prior to March 2009, the main combatant group against the FARDC was the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP). Following the cessation of hostilities between these two forces, rebel Tutsi forces, formerly under the command of Laurent Nkunda, became the dominant opposition to the government forces.
Admiral Baudouin Liwanga Mata Nyamunyobo is a Congolese military officer and politician who has served as the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2002–2004 and as the governor of Kinshasa province in 2006–2007.
Bosco Ntaganda is a convicted war criminal and the former military chief of staff of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), an armed militia group operating in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He is a former member of the Rwandan Patriotic Army and allegedly a former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC), the military wing of the Union of Congolese Patriots.
The National Congress for the Defence of the People is a political armed militia established by Laurent Nkunda in the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in December 2006. The CNDP was engaged in the Kivu conflict, an armed conflict against the military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In January 2009, the CNDP split and Nkunda was arrested by the Rwanda government. The remaining CNDP splinter faction, led by Bosco Ntaganda, was planned to be integrated into the national army.
The 2008–2009 Garamba offensive started on 14 December 2008, when joint Ugandan, DR Congolese and Southern Sudanese forces launched a botched military attack against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in the Garamba region of DR Congo.
General John Numbi is a Congolese military officer. Until January 2010, he was the Inspector General of the Congolese National Police. In 2018 he was appointed as the Inspector General of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC).
The National Navy is the maritime component of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC). It is a brown-water navy, which is currently commanded by Vice Admiral Rombault Mbuayama Nsiona.
François Olenga is an Army General of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and was one of its highest-ranking members along with Didier Etumba, the Chief of General Staff. He and Etumba both retired in July 2018, although they remain as military advisors to the head of state.
Charles Bisengimana Rukira is the former Commissioner General of the Congolese National Police of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This is a list of Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zaire.
Army General Célestin Mbala Munsense is a Congolese military officer who has served as the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) since 14 July 2018. He is considered a loyalist of President Joseph Kabila and held a number of high ranking posts in the presidential and military administration prior to his appointment, replacing Army General Didier Etumba as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. Before that, he was a long time Chief of Staff to the President's office, since at least 2010, as a brigadier general. In September 2014, during Kabila's restructuring of the army, Mbala was a major general and was appointed as Deputy Chief of Staff for Administration and Logistics.
Democratic Republic of the Congo 
Army general (since 2013)
