Luc Nkulula | |
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| Born | October 18, 1985 |
| Died | June 10, 2018 |
| Occupation(s) | Lawyer, political activist |
Luc Nkulula (October 18, 1985 - June 10, 2018) was a Congolese political activist and leader of the pro-democracy movement lutte pour le changement (LUCHA).
Nkulula was born in Lubumbashi, a city in southern Congo, and grew up between there and Goma in the east of the country. He obtained a law degree from the University of Goma, after which he worked as a consultant for various international organizations. [1]
Nkulula joined LUCHA, a Congolese pro-democracy movement, upon its creation in 2012 and became one of its leading members. [2] He represented the movement at a meeting with President Joseph Kabila in 2016, where he criticized the president for his lack of action for the violence-plagued east of the country [2] and urged him to relinquish power peacefully. Nkulula's activism involved encouraging young people in his country to be involved in public affairs. [1] From his leading role in a campaign to improve access to safe drinking water in Goma, he was often known by the nickname "H2O". [2]
Nkulula died on the night of June 9–10, 2018 as his house burnt down. [3] The death was deemed "suspicious" by other LUCHA members, [4] even though "an investigation blamed a faulty solar panel". [5] He was eulogized by The Economist as "one of Congo’s bravest campaigners for democracy and free elections." [2]
The earliest known human settlements in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been dated back to the Middle Stone Age, approximately 90,000 years ago. The first real states, such as the Kongo, the Lunda, the Luba and Kuba, appeared south of the equatorial forest on the savannah from the 14th century onwards.
Laurent-Désiré Kabila or more succinctly, Laurent Kabila, was a Congolese revolutionary and politician who served as the third President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1997 until his assassination in 2001.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Kinshasa, DRC, DR Congo, or simply the Congo and known from 1971–1997 as Zaire, is a country in Central Africa. By land area, the DRC is the second-largest country in Africa and the 11th-largest in the world. With a population of around 112 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populous officially Francophone country in the world. The national capital and largest city is Kinshasa, which is also the economic center. The country is bordered by the Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, the Cabinda exclave of Angola and the South Atlantic Ocean.
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Eugène Serufuli Ngayabaseka is a Congolese politician, the ex 2nd Vice President of the Congolese Rally for Democracy-Goma and was the governor of Nord-Kivu province from July 31, 2000 until 2007, when was succeeded by the RCD-K-ML candidate, Paluku Kahongya Julien.
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The March 23 Movement, often abbreviated as M23 and also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army, is a Congolese rebel military group that is for the most part formed of ethnic Tutsi. Based in eastern areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), it operates mainly in the province of North Kivu. The M23 rebellion of 2012 to 2013 against the DRC government led to the displacement of large numbers of people. On 20 November 2012, M23 took control of Goma, a provincial capital with a population of a million people, but it was requested to evacuate it by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region because the DRC government had finally agreed to negotiate. In late 2012, Congolese troops, along with UN troops, retook control of Goma, and M23 announced a ceasefire and said that it wanted to resume peace talks.
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