Look up vital in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Vital or Vitals may refer to:

• VITAL for Children, a charitable organisation
• Vitalism, the doctrine that life cannot be explained solely by mechanism
• Vitalism (Jainism), the Jain teacher Mahāvīra's philosophy
• Vital Forsikring, a Norwegian insurance company
• Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, the 16th century Rabbi and Mystic
• Vital currents, the concept of currents within the body found in Yoga
• Vital (film) (2004), a Japanese movie directed by Shinya Tsukamoto
• Vital (album) (1978), a live album from the British progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator
• Vital (grape), a Portuguese wine grape grown in the Alcobaça wine region
• Vitals (novel) (2002), a science fiction/techno-thriller novel by Greg Bear
• Vitals (website), a medical website

See also[link]

• Saint Vitalis (disambiguation)
• St. Vital (electoral district), Winnipeg
• St. Vital, Winnipeg
• Vital signs, a set of measurements taken by health professionals in order to assess the most basic body functions
• Vital signs (disambiguation)
• Vitalize!, a web browser plug-in

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Vital Kamerhe
Vital Kamerhe - December 2010
Born	(1959-03-04)4 March 1959 Bukavu, Belgian Congo
Residence	Democratic Republic of Congo
Website
http://www.vital-kamerhe.com/

Vital Kamerhe (born 1959) is a Congolese politician. Former Speaker of the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and former Minister of Information, he is currently Honorary President of the National Assembly, founder and leader of the UNC party (Union pour la Nation Congolaise) and candidate to the 2011 presidential election in the DRC.

Biography[link]

Early life and education[link]

Born in Bukavu, Sud-Kivu, on March 4, 1959, Vital Kamerhe Lwa Kanyiginyi Nkingi^[1][2] is the son of Constantine Kamerhe Kanyginyi and Alphonsine Mwa Nkingi. Originally from the Shi community of the Walungu territory, he is married and father of 9 children.

He began his primary school in Bukavu and then in Goma. He then continued in the Kasai-Oriental, in Gandajika, where he finishes his primary school. School years 1975-1976 and 1976–1977, he attended the Institut Sadisana (former College St. Francois-Xavier) in Kikwit Sacré-Coeur,Bandundu province. He then moved to Kananga (Kasai-Occidental Province) and finally, after one year, to Mbuji-Mayi where he obtained his State degree in 1980 (Institut Mulemba). This experience led him to learn all four national languages of Congo namely Kikongo, Lingala, Kiswahili and Tshiluba. He also speaks fluent French.^[2]

From there he completed his studies at the University of Kinshasa, where he received his degree in Economics in 1987 with distinction. There he stayed as teaching assistant.^[3]

Political career[link]

Concert/rally for the UNC candidate in 2011.

Under Mobutu[link]

Kamerhe started his political career in 1984 with the UDPS (Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social). During the democratic transition under Mobutu, he was a member of the Rassemblement des forces Sociales et Federalistes (RSF) of Vincent de Paul Lunda Bululu and was also president of the Jeunesse de l'Union Sacrée de l'opposition Radicale et Alliés (JUSORAL), an opposition youth league. Between 1993 and 1995 he works in several public functions:

• 1993 : Director of the Cabinet of the Ministry of the Environment, Tourism and Directeur de Cabinet au Ministère de l’Environnement, Tourisme et Conservation de la Nature
• 1994 : Coordinator of the Prime Minister's Cabinet
• 1994-1995: Director of the Cabinet for the Minister of Higher Education and University, Mushobekwa Kalimba wa Katana, member of Lunda Bululu's RSF

There is some controversy over whether he was a member of a Mobutist youth league (Frojemo), led by General Etienne Nzimbi Ngbale Kongo wa Basa, a fact his opponent often use to discredit him.^[4]

Under Kabila[link]

Under Laurent Kabila, Kamerhe becomes the deputy chief of staff of Etienne-Richard Mbaya, the minister of reconstruction, then:

• From 1997 to 1998 : Director of the Service National (a quasi-military service set up by Laurent Kabila)
• In 1998 : Finance Counselor at the Ministère de la Défense Nationale et Anciens Combattants, with the general Denis Kalume

and finally deputy commissioner in charge of MONUC affairs.^[4]

Role in the peace process of the Great Lakes region[link]

A founding member of the PPRD party in 2002, Vital Kamerhe was one of the leading figures in the peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he was even nicknamed "le Pacificateur", the "Peacemaker". As Commissioner General of the Government responsible for monitoring the peace process in the Great Lakes region he is one of the principal negotiators of the 2002 peace deal.^[5] In 2003, he is appointed Minister of Press and Information in the transitional government.

Role in the 2006 General Election Campaign[link]

In July 2004, he takes on the leadership of the PPRD and prepares Joseph Kabila's election campaign, which he receives a lot of credit for. He is elected as parliamentarian in Bukavu with one of the highest scores in the country and on December 29, 2006 he is elected president of the National Assembly.^[4]

More Recent Developments[link]

In 2009, as president of the National Assembly he questions the president Joseph Kabila and his own party over the Umoja Wetu operations that allowed several thousand Rwandan troops to deploy into the Congo without informing the parliament.^[6] On January 21, 2009 he releases a statement to Radio Okapi expressing his disappointment^[7] for the joint military operations between the Congolese and Rwandan army in the Kivu, conducted without informing the National Assembly and the Senate and thus violating the article 213 of the constitution.^[8]

On March 25, 2009 he delivers a speech resigning as President of the National Assembly.^[9][10] On December 14, 2010 Kamerhe officially quits the PPRD announcing his candidacy to the Presidential Elections of 2011 and the creation of his new party,^[11] the UNC (Union pour la Nation Congolaise),^[12] which is expected to have its official inauguration in February 2011.

References[link]

1. ^ "CSIS - The Road to Presidential Elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - Feb 2, 2011" "The question of the name is part of a pseudo-political campaign aiming at depicting Vital Kamerhe as a "rwandaise", hence enemy of the congolese people. Vital Kamerhe himself speaks about this issue during the conference held at the CSIS, in Washington DC on February 2nd, 2011. The question and answer related to this topic can be heard starting at 00:56:26"
2. ^ ^{a b} " Élogieux cursus de Vital Kamerhe, président l’Assemblée nationale ", January 10, 2007, copy on CongoForum.be
3. ^ "Radio Okapi (2006)"
4. ^ ^{a b c} "Fresh air in Congolese politics"
5. ^ "CNN - DR Congo peace deal signed - December 17, 2002", "accessed on 01/30/2011"
6. ^ "Call for DR Congo speaker to quit", AFP, 27 February 2009.
7. ^ "Kabila decision incensed Congolese", Sapa-AFP (IOL), 22 January 2009.
8. ^ "Constitution de la République Démocratique du Congo"
9. ^ "LAVDC Radio - Jeudi 26 mars 2009"
10. ^ "Congolese assembly speaker quits". BBC. 25 March 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7963755.stm. Retrieved 2011-01-29. 
11. ^ "DECLARATION POLITIQUE DE L’HONORABLE VITAL KAMERHE, PRESIDENT NATIONAL DE L’UNION POUR LA NATION CONGOLAISE, UNC, en sigle (Kinshasa, Mardi 14 décembre 2010)"
12. ^ "UNC Party Flyer - released on December 14, 2010"

v t e Candidates in the 2011 Democratic Republic of the Congo presidential election Jean Andeka Adam Bombolé Joseph Kabila François Nicéphore Kakese Vital Kamerhe Oscar Kashala Léon Kengo Antipas Mbusa Nzanga Mobutu Josué Alex Mukendi Étienne Tshisekedi

Joseph Kabila
President of the Congo-Kinshasa
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 January 2001 Acting: 17 January 2001 – 26 January 2001
Prime Minister	Antoine Gizenga Adolphe Muzito Louis Alphonse Koyagialo (Acting) Augustin Matata Ponyo
Preceded by	Laurent-Désiré Kabila
Personal details
Born	(1971-06-04) 4 June 1971 (age 41) Fizi, Congo-Léopoldville (now Congo-Kinshasa)
Political party	People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy
Spouse(s)	Olive Lembe di Sita
Alma mater	Makerere University People's Liberation Army National Defense University

Joseph Kabila Kabange (known commonly as Joseph Kabila, born June 4, 1971) is a Congolese politician who has been President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since January 2001. He took office ten days after the assassination of his father, President Laurent-Désiré Kabila. He was elected as President in 2006. In 2011, he was re-elected for a second term.

Biography[link]

Early life and education[link]

Joseph Kabila Kabange was born on June 4, 1971 at Hewabora, a small village in the Fizi territory of the South Kivu province, in Eastern Congo. He is the son of long time rebel, former AFDL leader and president of the Congo Laurent-Désiré Kabila and Sifa Mahanya.

Guerrilla and army years[link]

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 infamous 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 awarded 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.^[1] 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[link]

Joseph Kabila rose to the Presidency on 26 January 2001 after the assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, becoming the world's first head of government born in the 1970s. He remained the world's youngest head of government until Roosevelt Skerrit became Prime Minister of Dominica in January 2004.^[2]

At age 30, 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).

Kabila in 2002, with Thabo Mbeki, George W. Bush, and Paul Kagame

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.^[3] 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.^[4][5]

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).^[6] The new constitution lowered 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.^[7] 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. 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 ^[8] 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.^[9] 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.^[10] 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.^[11]

In December 2011, Kabila was re-elected for a second term as president. After the results were announced on 9 December, there was violent unrest in Kinshasa and Mbuji-Mayi, where official tallies showed that a strong majority had voted for the opposition candidate Etienne Tshisekedi.^[12] Official observers from the Carter Center reported that returns from almost 2,000 polling stations in areas where support for Tshisekedi was strong had been lost and not included in the official results. They described the election as lacking credibility.^[13] On 20 December, Kabila was sworn in for a second term, promising to invest in infrastructure and public services. However, Tshisekedi maintained that the result of the election was illegitimate and said that he intended also to "swear himself in" as president.^[14]

In January 2012, Catholic Bishops in DR Congo also condemned the elections, complaining of "treachery, lies and terror", and calling on the election commission to correct "serious errors".^[15]

Views[link]

In 2006, Kabila responded to evidence of widespread sex crimes committed by the Congolese military by describing the acts as "simply unforgivable". He pointed out that 300 soldiers had been convicted of sex crimes, although he added that this was not enough.^[16]

Wedding[link]

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 Olive Lembe di Sita. The wedding ceremonies took place on June 17, 2006.^[17] Kabila and his spouse have a daughter, born in 2001, named Sifa after Kabila's mother.

As President Kabila is 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 denominations in the Congo, known within the country simply as "The Protestant Church".

References[link]

External links[link]

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• Joseph Kabila, The Untold Story
• Rape in the DRC
• BBC Country Profile
• Official website of the President of the DRC
• Joseph Kabila 2011 campaign site
• Democratic Republic of the Congo - Permanent Mission to the United Nations
• DR Congo presidential candidates face off in second round Jane's Intelligence Watch Report, 22 August 2006
• For Congo’s Leader, Middling Reviews by Jeffrey Gettleman, The New York Times, April 4, 2009

v t e Candidates in the 2011 Democratic Republic of the Congo presidential election Jean Andeka Adam Bombolé Joseph Kabila François Nicéphore Kakese Vital Kamerhe Oscar Kashala Léon Kengo Antipas Mbusa Nzanga Mobutu Josué Alex Mukendi Étienne Tshisekedi

v t e Candidates in the 2006 Democratic Republic of the Congo presidential election Jean-Pierre Bemba Antoine Gizenga Joseph Kabila Nzanga Mobutu Oscar Kashala Azarias Ruberwa Pierre Pay-Pay wa Syakasighe Vincent de Paul Lunda-Bululu Joseph Olenghankoy Mukundji Pierre Anatole Matusila Malungenine Kongo Antipas Mbusa Bernard Emmanuel Kabatu Suila Eugène Diomi Ndongala Banyingela Kasonga Jean Marinaque Alou Bonioma Kalokola Gérard Kamanda wa Kamanda Norbert Likulia Bolongo Roger Lumbala Guy-Patrice Lumumba Christophe Mboso N'Kodia Pwanga Alafuele Mbuyi Kalala Hassan Thassinda Uba Thassinda Florentin Mokonda Bonza Timothée Moleka Nzulama Justine Mpoyo Kasa-Vubu Jonas Mukamba Kadiata Nzemba Paul Joseph Mukungubila Mutombo Osée Muyima Ndjoko Arthur Z'ahidi Ngoma Jacob Niemba Souga Marie-Thérèse Nlandu Mpolo Nene Wivine N'Landu Kavidi Cathérine Marthe Nzuzi wa Mbombo

v t e President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (list) Republic of the Congo (1960–1971) Joseph Kasa-Vubu • Antoine Gizenga (rebel) Republic of Zaire (1971–1997) Joseph Mobutu/Mobutu Sese Seko Democratic Republic of the Congo (1997–present) Laurent-Désiré Kabila • Joseph Kabila