Christophe Gbenye

Christophe Gbenye (c.1927 – 3 February 2015) was a Congolese rebel who, along with Pierre Mulele and Gaston Soumialot, led the Simba Rebellion, an anti-government insurrection in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the Congo Crisis, between 1964 and 1965.[1]

Gbenye was born in Orientale Province of what was then the Belgian Congo. At the time of Congolese independence on 30 June 1960 he became Interior Affairs Minister under Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. Following Lumumba's removal from power in September 1960, Gbenye and many of his former supporters relocated to Brazzaville. There they set up a revolutionary movement under the title of Comité National de Libération, headed by Gbenye. Assistance was sought from the Soviet Union in the form of equipment and training.[2] Under the leadership of Gbenye, Mulele and Soumialot, much of the eastern Congo was overrun by young rebel fighters known as simbas (lions). Gbenye served as President of the rebel state, the People's Republic of the Congo (République populaire du Congo), established by the rebels in Stanleyville. By late 1965 the rebellion had been suppressed by the Congo's central government, under the tacit control of Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, and Gbenye and others soon fled the country.

In 2010 the then 83-year-old Gbenye was living in retirement in Kinshasa.[3] He died on 3 February 2015.[4][5]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.onwar.com/aced/nation/cat/congo/fcongo1964b.htm
  2. ↑ Van Reybrouck, David. Congo. p. 320. ISBN 978-0-00-756291-6.
  3. ↑ http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/congo-begins-its-“second-independence”-0
  4. ↑ Itimbiri ya Sika, 5th of february 2015
  5. ↑ Roberts, Sam (11 February 2015). "Christophe Gbenye, Radical Nationalist in Congo, Dies at 88". The New York Times (New York). Retrieved 18 January 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, January 20, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.