Jean-Pierre Bemba

Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo (born 4 November 1962) is a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

He has served as the DRC's Vice Prime Minister and defence minister since 2023.

The MLC movement started in the Orientale Province of the DRC in 1998 at the beginning of the Second Congo War.

Said Bemba of its founding: "I had identified the possibility of launching an armed movement. So I went looking for serious partners. There were two countries in the region that were interested but I chose to present my dossier to the Ugandans. They liked it and so I went in."

Over time, the movement spread into the Équateur province, and established a permanent base in Gbadolite.

Like many of the rebel groups at the time, the MLC's goal was to take the capital of Kinshasa.

This region had been decimated by war and the population was living in great poverty.

Équateur was under an embargo: healthcare programs, education, and any kind of social assistance had been abandoned.

The population was under constant threat of bombing by government forces, and had stopped producing goods or food.

The popularity of Bemba and the MLC was such that over a thousand child soldiers joined up with MLC.

When the MLC troops arrived in Gbadolite, they secured the area and protected the population.

Health centres and hospitals re-opened with the MLC securing safe passage for medicine and other supplies.

The MLC worked with NGOs and the UN to reopen schools, restart agriculture, economic activity and exportation of goods.

The population was able to sell coffee, corn and soya and build businesses.

In 2002, President Ange-Félix Patassé of the Central African Republic invited the MLC to come to his country and put down a coup attempt.

Human rights activists accused MLC fighters of committing atrocities against civilians in the course of this conflict.

He was previously one of four vice-presidents in the transitional government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 17 July 2003 to December 2006.

He led the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC), a rebel group turned political party.

In 2003, Bemba became vice-president under a peace deal.

He received the second-highest number of votes in the 2006 presidential election.

His father, Jeannot Bemba Saolona, was a businessman who was successful under Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko, and one of his sisters is married to Mobutu's son Nzanga, who was also a candidate in the 2006 presidential election.

Bemba attended boarding school in Brussels and later studied economics at the ICHEC Brussels Management School.

Bemba was one of 33 candidates who ran in the Congolese presidential election on 30 July, 2006.

His main campaign slogan — "One Hundred Percent Congolese" — was widely perceived as an attack on front-runner President Joseph Kabila.

Bemba received substantial support in the western, Lingala-speaking portion of the country, including the capital, Kinshasa.

Following the vote there was significant tension as to whether Kabila would win a majority of the vote, avoiding a runoff against Bemba, who was perceived as Kabila's main opponent.

However, results announced on 20 August gave Kabila 44% of the vote and Bemba 20%,

On 21 August 2006, while accompanied by 14 ambassadors of CIAT members (International Committee in charge of the Transition), including ambassadors from the United States of America, The UK, France (Bernard Prévost) and Belgium (Johan Swinnen), and from MONUC, US diplomat William L. Swing, Bemba survived an assassination attempt by the Presidential Guard bombing his residence in Gombe.

The ambassadors were forced to seek refuge in a cellar.

Kabila and Bemba faced each other in a second round, held on 29 October.

The electoral commission announced the official results on 15 November, naming Kabila the winner with 58.05% of the vote; Bemba's supporters alleged fraud.

In January 2007, he was elected to the Senate.

In 2008, during a trip to Europe, Bemba was arrested on International Criminal Court (ICC) charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

He spent the following 10 years in prison at The Hague, The Netherlands; 8 years awaiting trial and verdict, then 2 more years after conviction in 2016.

In 2018, the verdicts were overturned on appeal.

The court ruled that because the Rome Statute which sets the court's rules do not limit the amount of time a person can spend in prison awaiting trial, Bemba was not entitled to compensation.

It called on member states to urgently review the relevant provisions in the statute.

No such review has yet taken place.

In 2018, Bemba returned to the DRC where he has since been active in national politics.

Bemba was born in Bokada, Nord-Ubangi.