Ministry Details
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President

Joseph Kabila

Joseph Kabila became Congo's president when his father Laurent was assassinated in 2001. He gained a mandate through the ballot box to rule the vast country as its elected leader in an election in 2006. The historic presidential election was intended to bring a new era of stability after years of war, dictatorship and chaos. The vote was generally praised by international monitors.

Mr Kabila has enjoyed the clear support of western governments such as the US and France, regional allies such as South Africa and Angola and businessmen and mining magnates who have signed multi-million dollar deals under his rule.

He is a former guerrilla fighter who participated in nearly a decade of war that ravaged the country. He fought alongside his father in a military campaign from the east that toppled dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997 after more than 20 years as the despotic, whimsical and corrupt leader of the nation he had renamed Zaire. But when Laurent Kabila was killed by a bodyguard in 2001, his soft-spoken, publicity-shy son, who received military training in China, was thrust into the political limelight and installed as the world's youngest head of state. He swapped his military fatigues for elegant business suits, but - in contrast to his chubby, jovial and temperamental father - remained a reserved figure.

Mr Kabila has promised to rule by consensus to try to heal the still raw scars of Congo's many conflicts. Though revered in the Swahili-speaking east, where he is widely credited with helping to end Congo's 1998-2003 war, he is less liked in the west.

Joseph Kabila is the eldest of 10 children fathered by Laurent Kabila. He spent much of his early life in East Africa, where his dissident father lived in exile.

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Goverment Ministers

Click here for a complete list of government ministers.

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Political Parties

- Alliance for Congo's Renewal (Alliance pour le Renouveau du Congo/ARC)
- Christian Democracy (Démocratie Chrétienne/DC)
- Christian Democrats Party (Parti des Démocrates Chrétiens/PDC)
- Christian Republican Party (Parti Chrétien Républicain/PCR)
- Congolese National Movement–Lumumba (Mouvement National Congolais–Lumumba/MNC–L)
- Congolese Rally for Democracy–Goma (Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie/RCD–G)
-Congolese Rally for Democracy–Kisangani-Liberation Movement (Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie–Kisangani–Mouvement de Libération/RCD–K–ML)
- Democratic Social Christian Party (Parti Démocrate Social Chrétien/PDSC)
- Federalist Christian Democracy – Convention of Federalists for Christian Democracy (Démocratie Chrétienne Fédéraliste – Convention des Fédéralistes pour la Démocratie Chrétienne/DCF–COFEDEC)
- Liberal Christian Democrats Union (Union des Libéraux Démocrates Chrétiens/ULDC)
- Movement for the Liberation of Congo (Mouvement pour la Liberation du Congo/MLC)
- National Alliance Party for Unity (Parti de l'Alliance Nationale pour l'Unité/PANU)
- People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (Parti du Peuple pour la Reconstruction et la Démocratie/PPRD)
- Popular Movement of the Revolution/Nzuzi Faction (Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution/Fait Privé/MPR-FP)
- Union for Democracy and Social Progress (Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social/UDPS)
- Union for the Republic National Movement/UNIR NM (Union pour la République - Mouvement national/UNIR MN)
- Unified Lumumbist Party (Parti Lumumbiste Unifié/PALU)
- Union for Congo's Reconstruction (Union pour la Reconstruction du Congo/UREC)

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