Léon Kengo

Léon Kengo
Léon Kengo in the Polish Senate (2008)
5th Prime Minister of Zaire
In office 5 November 1982 – 31 October 1986
Preceded by	N'singa Udjuu Ongwabeki Untubu
Succeeded by	Position abolished
8th Prime Minister of Zaire
In office 26 November 1988 – 4 May 1990
Preceded by	Sambwa Pida Nbagui
Succeeded by	Lunda Bululu
17th Prime Minister of Zaire
In office 6 July 1994 – 2 April 1997
Preceded by	Faustin Birindwa
Succeeded by	Étienne Tshisekedi
President of the Senate of Congo
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 May 2007
Personal details
Born	Leon Lubicz 22 May 1935[1] Libenge (Équateur province), Belgian Congo
Political party	Popular Movement of the Revolution
Alma mater	Université libre de Bruxelles (1962–1968, PhD in Law)
Religion	Roman Catholic

Léon Kengo Wa Dondo (born Leon Lubicz; 22 May 1935) served as the "first state commissioner" (a title equivalent to prime minister) several times under Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaïre.^[2] He was one of the most powerful figures in the regime and was a strong advocate of economic globalization and free-market economics. Since 2007, he has been President of the Senate of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Origins

Kengo was born in Libenge, Équateur province, Belgian Congo (later Zaire and now Democratic Republic of Congo). He was the son of a Polish Jewish father and a Rwandan Tutsi mother.^[3][4] He changed his name to Kengo Wa Dondo in 1971 during Mobutu's Africanization campaign.

Prime Minister of Mobutu

Kengo served as Prime Minister for the first time from 1982 to 1986, appointing able technocrats to important positions, such as Munga Mibindo, President Delegate General of the National Electrical Utility (SNEL). He then served as foreign minister from 1986 to 1987 and as Prime Minister again from 1988 to 1990. During the early 1990s Mobutu allowed a transitional parliament to be set up, and Kengo was chosen Prime Minister by it in 1994 as a candidate in an attempt to neutralise the challenge from the country's then most popular politician, Étienne Tshisekedi. He expelled members of the Lebanese community from Zaire for alleged involvement in the illegal trade of conflict diamonds, though the credibility of such actions is perhaps challenged by the fact that trade in conflict diamonds from Angola had long been essential to the survival of the Mobutu regime, in which Kengo had been such an important figure.

Shortly after the beginning of the Congo civil war, in December 1996, Kengo became the leader of a crisis cabinet which sought to defeat the rebellion of Laurent Kabila. He was undermined by many Mobutu supporters because of his Tutsi origins, as Kabila's rebels were allied with the Tutsi governments of Rwanda and Burundi. As Kabila's armies advanced through the country, Kengo was also criticized for not conducting the war very well. He announced his resignation in March 1997 and left office in April 1997. The Mobutu government fell a month later, and Kengo retired from politics. In 2003, he was charged with money laundering in Belgium.^[5][6]

President of the Senate of Congo

Following his return to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kengo backed Jean-Pierre Bemba in the 2006 presidential election; Bemba was defeated by President Joseph Kabila in the second round of the election.^[7] Kengo was then elected as a Senator from Équateur province in January 2007.^[8] On 11 May 2007, Kengo was somewhat unexpectedly elected as President of the Senate, defeating Léonard She Okitundu, the candidate of the majority coalition, the Alliance of the Presidential Majority. Kengo, who was an independent candidate, took 55 votes against 49 for Okitundu.^[7][8] On 21 January 2015 during the 2015 Congolese protests he met with American, Belgian, British, and French diplomats who urged him to either suspend debate and voting on the election modifying law or to remove its controversial provisions.^[9]

References

1. Official birth date mentioned on his candidacy file for the 2011 presidential elections: Kengo wa Dondo Léon, Radio Okapi, 28 September 2011
2. "Zaire's Prime Minister Gives in to Parliament and Resigns Post". Los Angeles Times. 25 March 1997.
3. Dan Colwell, "The Jews of the Congo", The Bulletin (Brussels), 26 February 2004
4. Gérard Prunier, The Rwanda crisis: history of a genocide, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, London, 1995, p. 319 n16 ISBN 978-1-85065-372-1
5. Blanchiment d’argent : l’ancien Premier ministre Kengo inculpé à Bruxelles, Le Soft online, 25 June 2003.
6. Vers de nouvelles inculpations à Bruxelles ?, La Libre Belgique, 27 June 2003.
7. "RDCongo: élection surprise d'un ancien mobutiste à la tête du Sénat", AFP (Jeuneafrique.com), 11 May 2007.
8. "DRC : Opponent elected Senate president", African Press Agency, 11 May 2007.
9. "West urges Congo to suspend new election law after deadly protests". Reuters. 22 January 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015.