hii ndiyo historia fupi ya Rais Joseph Kabila Kabange...
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Joseph Kabila Kabange (known commonly as Joseph Kabila; born June 4, 1971), is the
president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He took office in January 2001, ten
days after the murder of his father and DRC president Laurent-Désiré Kabila. On November 27,
2006, Joseph Kabila was confirmed as President following the July 2006 general election.
Early life and education
Kabila was born in a small town in the Fizi territory of the South Kivu province, in the east of
Zaire, now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is the son of Laurent-Désiré Kabila
and Sifa Mahanya. There are however some doubts as to the correctness of this official story.
Many, especially those in the Congolese diaspora, believe that Laurent-Désiré Kabila was not his
biological father; but rather his step father. Many opposition voices have called for a DNA test to
prove his identity as Laurent-Désiré Kabila's natural child, but those calls have gone unanswered.
[1] He started elementary school in the public school system, in Fizi, South Kivu, and never
finished in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. He then went on to attend primary school in Mbeya,
Tanzania.
Guerrilla and army years
Following high school, Joseph Kabila followed a military curriculum in Tanzania, then at
Makerere University in Uganda. In October 1996, Laurent-Désiré Kabila launched the campaign
in Zaire to oust the Mobutu regime. Joseph became the commander of the famous army of
"kadogos" (child soldiers) and played a key role in major battles on the road to Kinshasa. The
liberation army received logistical and military support from regional armies from Rwanda,
Uganda, Angola and Zimbabwe. Following the AFDL's victory, and Laurent-Désiré Kabila's rise
to the presidency, Joseph Kabila went on to get further training at the PLA National Defense
University, in Beijing, China.
When he returned from China, Kabila was given the rank of Major-General, and appointed
Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 1998.
He was later, in 2000, appointed Chief of Staff of the Land Forces, a position he held until the
elder President Kabila's assassination in January 2001. As chief of staff, he was one of the main
military leaders in charge of Government troops during the time of the Second Congo War (1998
- 2003).
Presidency
Kabila rose to the Presidency on 26 January 2001 after the assassination of Laurent-Désiré
Kabila. At age 29, he was considered young and inexperienced. He subsequently attempted to
end the ongoing civil war by negotiating peace agreements with rebel groups who were backed
by Rwanda and Uganda, the same regional armies who brought Laurent-Désiré Kabila's rebel
group to power 3 years before. The 2002 peace agreement signed at the Inter-Congolese
Dialogue in Sun City, South Africa, which nominally ended the Second Congo War, maintained
Joseph Kabila as President and head of state of the Congo. An interim administration was set up
under him, including the leaders of the country's two main rebel groups as vice-presidents (two
other vice-presidents were representatives of the civilian opposition and government supporters
respectively).
On March 28, 2003, an apparent coup attempt or mutiny around the capital Kinshasa, allegedly
on the part of members of the former guard of former president Mobutu Sese Seko (who had
been ousted by Kabila's father in 1997 and died in the same year), failed. On June 11, 2004, coup
plotters led by Major Eric Lenge allegedly attempted to take power and announced on state radio
that the transitional government was suspended, but were defeated by loyalist troops.
In December 2005, a partial referendum approved a new constitution, and a presidential election
was held on July 30, 2006 (having been delayed from an earlier date in June). The new
constitution lowers the minimum age of presidential candidates from 35 to 30; Kabila turned 35
shortly before the election. In March 2006, he registered as a candidate. Although the new
constitution stipulates that a debate be held between the two remaining candidates for the
presidency, no debates took place and this was declared by many as unconstitutional.
According to widely disputed provisional results announced on August 20, Kabila won 45% of
the vote; his main opponent, vice-president and former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, won
20%. The irregularities surrounding the elections results prompted a run-off vote between Kabila
and Bemba which was held on October 29. On November 15, the electoral commission
announced the official results and Kabila was declared the winner, with 58.05% of the vote.
These results were confirmed by the Supreme Court on November 27, 2006, and Kabila was
inaugurated on December 6, 2006 as the country's newly elected President. He named Antoine
Gizenga, who placed third in the first round of the presidential election (and then backed Kabila
in the second round) as prime minister on December 30.
Although Kabila registered as an independent, he is the "initiator" of the People's Party for
Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), which chose him as their candidate to the election.
In response to accusations that sex crimes had been committed by the Congolese military, he
pointed out that 300 soldiers have been convicted of sex crimes, although he admitted that is not
enough.
Wedding
On June 1, 2006, after many wedding rumors were fueled by many in top positions in the
country, the head of the Presidential Household, Ambassador Theodore Mugalu officially
announced the wedding of the President to Ms. Olive Lembe di Sita. The wedding ceremonies
took place on June 17, 2006. Mr. Kabila and his spouse have a daughter, born in 2001, named
Sifa after Kabila's mother.
As President Kabila is Protestant(Anglican), and Ms. Lembe di Sita is Catholic, the wedding
ceremonies were ecumenical, and were therefore officiated by both the Catholic Archbishop of
Kinshasa, Cardinal Frederic Etsou Bamungwabi, and Pierre Marini Bodho Presiding Bishop of
the Church of Christ in Congo, the umbrella church for most Protestant denominations in the
Congo, known within the country simply as "The Protestant Church".