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Early political career Presidency
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During the presidency of President Mobutu Sese Seko of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, later Republic of Zaire (1965-1997), social and political rights were strongly curtailed. As a consequence, several Congolese/Zairean citizens went into exile for political reasons.
After the crisis of the early years of independence (1960-1965), Joseph-Désiré Mobutu seized power through a coup d'état on 24 November 1965. He began consolidating his power through far-reaching and repressive measures. The role of provinces was curtailed, their number was reduced, which led to a highly centralised state. The country was renamed the Republic of Zaire, and the 1974 constitution, replacing the 1967 constitution, codified the authoritarian state. It strongly curtailed political rights of Zairean citizens. Furthermore, it established the Popular Movement of the Revolution (MPR) as the embodiment of the Zairean people and the only legally permitted party. [1]
At the start of his time in office, Mobutu set some examples to his political adversaries, showing that the contestation of his reign could have deadly consequences. The final Prime Minister of the First Republic, Évariste Kimba, was sacked by Mobutu during the 1965 coup d'état, and replaced by Colonel Léonard Mulamba. In 1966, Kimba and three other former government ministers were sentenced to death by a military tribunal and publicly hanged. Political dissidence was so extremely discouraged that it would take until 1980 to have renewed public political dissidence.
In 1980, thirteen Members of Parliament, including Etienne Tshisekedi and Joseph Ngalula, wrote an open letter to Mobutu, stating their concerns with the authoritarian state and the evolution of the MPR after the release of the Manifesto of N'sele. [2] [lower-alpha 1] Mobutu responded with repressive measures including the arrest for "aggravated treason" and incarceration of the parliamentarians. Marcel Lihau, politician and jurist, testified on their behalf at the ensuing trial. Furthermore, Mobutu underestimated the favourable response of large parts of the population to the open letter. Contrary to the 1974 constitution, the 1967 constitution provided the possibility for a second political party next to the MPR. [3] The thirteen parliamentarians grouped together with other allies such as Lihau to form an illegal second political party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress.
Given the precarious domestic situation for political dissidence, many politically active citizens, politicians, and diplomats went into exile to avoid persecution. Moïse Tshombe, former President of the secessionist State of Katanga and Prime Minister of Congo, went into his second exile after the 1965 coup d'état. He was sentenced to death in absentia for trying to bring down the new regime and 'alienation of the economic independence' of Congo because he signed the Spaak/Tshombe accords with Belgium when he was the Congolese Prime Minister. [4] On 30 June 1967, Tshombe flew back from Ibiza to Majorca in a business plane, returning from a trip and possible real estate opportunity, when his plane was hijacked and diverted to Algiers, Algeria. [5] Most likely, the Congolese Ambassador in Brussels, Bernardin Mungul Diaka, asked the kidnapper Francis Bodenan to kidnap Tshombe. [6] Tshombe died two years later under house arrest in El Biar, Algiers.
Some elite Zairean political exiles were at times part of the Zairean government or diplomatic staff, or exiles advocating and testifying against the Zairean regime. Jean Nguza Karl-i-Bond became the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1972 to 1974 and 1976 to 1977. After the first Shaba War, he fell out of grace with Mobutu and was sentenced to death, tortured, pardoned, and made Foreign Affars Minister again in 1979. He eventually became the Prime Minister in 1980. [lower-alpha 2] The next year, he went into exile again and wrote Mobutu ou l'incarnation du mal zaïrois (Mobutu or the incarnation of the Zairean sickness) which detailed his abusive treatment while incarcerated. [7] He participated in the Russell Tribunal for the Congo , a 'people's tribunal' in Rotterdam, testifying against Mobutu and his regime. [8] In addition, he spoke to the Congress of the United States in 1981. In 1985, Nguza Karl-i-Bond was made the Zairean Ambassador in the United States. In 1988, he became Foreign Minister once again, became a member of the opposition after the democratisation process of the early 1990s, and became Prime Minister one final time in 1991.
Cléophas Kamitatu, one of the leaders of the Parti Solidaire Africain during the First Republic, went into exile to France in 1970, where he wrote La grande mystification du Congo-Kinshasa: Les crimes de Mobutu. Since France wanted to have close ties with Mobutu's Zaire, Jacques Foccart wanted to expel Kamitatu, whereas Minister of Foreign Affair Maurice Schumann wanted to prevent Kamitatu's expulsion. Next to a left-wing activist network in France, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadruddin Aga Khan intervened at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in favour of Kamitatu's stay. Eventually, Schumann's point prevailed and Kamitatu stayed in France. [9]
Politics of the Democratic Republic of Congo take place in a framework of a republic in transition from a civil war to a semi-presidential republic.
Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 1997. Zaire was located in Central Africa and was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa, and the 11th-largest country in the world. With a population of over 23 million inhabitants, Zaire was the most populous officially Francophone country in Africa, as well as one of the most populous in Africa.
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.
Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa za Banga, commonly known as Mobutu Sese Seko or simply just Mobutu and also by his initials MSS, was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the 1st and only President of Zaire from 1971 to 1997. Previously, Mobutu served as the 2nd President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1965 to 1971. He also served as the 5th Chairman of the Organisation of African Unity from 1967 to 1968. During the Congo Crisis, Mobutu, serving as Chief of Staff of the Army and supported by Belgium and the United States, deposed the democratically elected government of left-wing nationalist Patrice Lumumba in 1960. Mobutu installed a government that arranged for Lumumba's execution in 1961, and continued to lead the country's armed forces until he took power directly in a second coup in 1965.
Moïse Kapenda Tshombe was a Congolese businessman and politician. He served as the president of the secessionist State of Katanga from 1960 to 1963 and as prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1964 to 1965.
The Congo Crisis was a period of political upheaval and conflict between 1960 and 1965 in the Republic of the Congo. The crisis began almost immediately after the Congo became independent from Belgium and ended, unofficially, with the entire country under the rule of Joseph-Désiré Mobutu. Constituting a series of civil wars, the Congo Crisis was also a proxy conflict in the Cold War, in which the Soviet Union and the United States supported opposing factions. Around 100,000 people are believed to have been killed during the crisis.
Étienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba was a Congolese politician and the leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), the main opposing political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A long-time opposition leader, he served as Prime Minister of the country on three brief occasions: in 1991, 1992–1993, and 1997. He was also the father of the current President, Felix Tshisekedi.
Jean Nguza Karl-i-Bond was a prominent Zairian politician.
The Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the head of government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Constitution of the Third Republic grants the Prime Minister a significant amount of power.
Albert Kalonji Ditunga was a Congolese politician best known as the leader of the short-lived secessionist state of South Kasai (Sud-Kasaï) during the Congo Crisis.
The Republic of the Congo was a sovereign state in Central Africa, created with the independence of the Belgian Congo in 1960. From 1960 to 1966, the country was also known as Congo-Léopoldville to distinguish it from its northwestern neighbor, which is also called the Republic of the Congo, alternatively known as "Congo-Brazzaville". In 1964, the state's official name was changed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but the two countries continued to be distinguished by their capitals; with the renaming of Léopoldville as Kinshasa in 1966, it became also known as Congo-Kinshasa. After Joseph Désiré Mobutu, commander-in-chief of the national army, seized control of the government in 1965, the Democratic Republic of the Congo became the Republic of Zaire in 1971. It would again become the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1997. The period between 1960 and 1964 is referred to as the First Congolese Republic.
Bernardin Mungul Diaka was a Congolese/Zairean diplomat and politician.
Presidential elections were held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 1 November 1970. The only candidate was Joseph Mobutu, who had taken power in a military coup five years earlier. The elections took the format of a "yes" or "no" vote for Mobutu's candidacy. According to official figures, Mobutu was confirmed in office with near-unanimous support, with only 157 "no" votes out of over 10.1 million total votes cast. Mobutu also received around 30,000 more "yes" votes than the number of registered voters, even though voting was not compulsory.
The Constitution of Zaire, was promulgated on 15 August 1974, revised on 15 February 1978, and amended on 5 July 1990. It provided a renewed legal basis for the regime of Mobutu Sese Seko who had emerged as the country's dictator after the Congo Crisis in 1965.
Cléophas Kamitatu Massamba was a Congolese politician and leader of the Parti Solidaire Africain.
Marcel Antoine Lihau or Ebua Libana la Molengo Lihau was a Congolese jurist, law professor and politician who served as the inaugural First President of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Congo from 1968 until 1975, and was involved in the creation of two constitutions for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Rémy Mwamba (1921–1967) was a Congolese politician who twice served as Minister of Justice of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was also a leading figure of the Association Générale des Baluba du Katanga (BALUBAKAT).
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it is common for individuals to possess three separate names: a first name (prénom) and surname (nom) as well as a post-surname (postnom). Each form may comprise one or more elements. For example:
Albert Nyembo Mwana-Ngongo is a Congolese and Katangese politician who was a Secretary of State and Minister for Congo and secessionist Katanga.
Dominique Diur (1929—1980) was a Congolese and Katangese politician who was one of the founders of the CONAKAT party.
