Kabila, Joseph

Joseph Kabila Kabange is the eldest son of ten children of his father, the third president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Laurent-Desire Kabila ^[1] . Joseph was born in the small town of Heva Bora in the Congolese province of South Kivu , one of the influential field commanders in which was his father Laurent-Desire Kabila. In the late 1970s, he was forced to leave for Tanzania , and Kabila Junior graduated from Dar es Salaam and Mbeya . There, in Tanzania, and then in Uganda and Rwanda, Joseph Kabila began to receive a higher military education. In 1996, he joined his father’s rebel group, called the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo (Eng.) . ru.encydia.com . The appeal date was January 12, 2019. , commanded several operations during the military campaign known as the First Congo War . After the victory of the Alliance and the ascent of Laurent-Desire Kabila to the presidency, Kabila Jr. left to complete education at the PLA National Defense University in Beijing .

After returning from China in 1998, Joseph Kabila was promoted to Major General and was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Congolese army. Two years later, in 2000, he was appointed head of the General Staff of the Congolese armed forces. In this position, he was one of the commanders of government forces in the Second Congo War .

On January 26, 2001, after the death of his father, Joseph Kabila at the age of 29 becomes the fourth president of the DRC. Despite his youth and lack of experience, he succeeds in a number of steps to end the protracted civil war in the country and withdraw foreign military contingents from it. According to the 2002 peace agreement signed in the South African city ​​of Sun City and which became the formal end of the Second Congo War, Kabila retained the post of president and head of state. However, his power was limited to the provisional administration of the four vice-presidents: the leaders of the two largest rebel groups, a representative of the civil opposition and a representative of the supporters of the official government.

In 2004 ( March 28 and June 11 ), two unsuccessful attempts at a coup d'état occurred in the country, suppressed by troops loyal to the government.

In December 2005, a national referendum approved a new constitution of the country, according to which the minimum age of a presidential candidate was reduced from 35 to 30 years. The presidential election under the new constitution, the first democratic presidential election in the 46-year history of the independence of the DRC, was held on July 30, 2006. Joseph Kabila was supported by the People’s Party for reconstruction and democracy , the initiator of the creation of which he was. However, he officially stood as an independent candidate.

At the end of the first round, Kabila won 45% of the vote, his main rival, vice president and former leader of one of the rebel military groups, Jean-Pierre Bemba , 20%. The second round of voting took place on October 29, 2006. On November 15, the election commission announced the official election results, in which the incumbent president Kabila won (58.05% of the vote). These results were confirmed on November 27 by a decision of the Supreme Court of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and on December 6, Joseph Kabila was inaugurated as President of the Republic.

In economic terms, the Kabila board was characterized by infrastructure projects (such as, for example, the restoration of railways) and the development of the extractive industries. Stabilization of the situation in the country has allowed to achieve significant success in the economy. Since the end of the Second Congo War in 2003, only in the extractive industries (oil, copper, tin, cobalt, etc.) with the participation of foreign investors 100 thousand jobs were created ^[2] . At the same time, all large business in the country is controlled by the Kabila family (often - directly).

In 2011, Kabila was re-elected for a second term ^[3] .

The powers of Kabila were supposed to end in 2016 , but in 2015 a law was passed, according to which elections can be called only after a population census.

In September 2016, protests began in DRC demanding the resignation of Kabila and the urgent holding of presidential elections in the country. Presidential elections were to be held in the Congo in November 2015, but were not held. The DRC Constitution limits the maximum presidency to ten years, but according to the country's Supreme Court ruling, the president can remain in power until elections are held. The protests began in the city of Lumumbashi , led by the returning leader of the opposition, . Then the protests moved to the capital Kinshasa ^{[4] [5]} .

December 20, 2016, Joseph Kabila announced that he would not leave the presidency after the end of his presidency. After that , a new wave of protests began .

In early December 2016, the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on the DRC, accusing the country's authorities of resorting to violence, using also other methods to postpone the elections ^[6] .

On December 23, 2016, an agreement was reached between the opposition and President Kabila. According to him, Kabila had to leave his post before the end of 2017. According to the agreement, Etienne Chisekedi was to oversee the execution of the contract, and the country's prime minister was also to be appointed by the opposition ^[7] .

However, in November 2017, the election commission once again postponed the presidential election, now until December 23, 2018 ^[8] .

In December 2018, the elections were postponed to December 30 of this year due to the loss of most of the voting equipment in Kinshasa during a fire ^[9] .

At the presidential elections held on December 30, 2018, Felix Chisekedi won and on January 24, 2019 Kabila handed over presidential powers to him ^[10] .

On June 17, 2006, President Kabila married Olive Lembe di Sita . The ceremony was ecumenical, as Kabila was a Protestant, and his wife was a Catholic. The service was led by Archbishop Kinshasa Cardinal Frederick Etsu-Nzabi-Bamungwabi and President of the Church of Christ in the Congo , uniting the Protestant communities of the country, Bishop Pierre Marini Bodo.

Joseph Kabila and his spouse have a daughter, born in 2001, and a son, born in September 2008.