Recent from talks
Joseph Kasa-Vubu
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Joseph Kasa-Vubu
Joseph Kasa-Vubu, alternatively Joseph Kasavubu, (c. 1915 – 24 March 1969) was a Congolese politician who served as the first President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the Republic of the Congo until 1964) from 1960 until 1965.
A member of the Kongo ethnic group, Kasa-Vubu became the leader of the Bakongo Association (ABAKO) party in the 1950s and soon became a leading proponent of Congo's independence from Belgian colonial rule. He forged an unlikely coalition between his regionalist and conservative ABAKO party and Patrice Lumumba's left-wing nationalist Congolese National Movement (MNC) party, offering support in the government. In the agreement, he received support from the Lumumbists in the Senate and the National Assembly, and was elected president of the Republic in 1960 with Lumumba as prime minister.
Shortly after the country's gaining of independence from Belgium on 30 June 1960, the country immediately faced a series of secessionist movements, leading to the establishment of the Katanga and South Kasai breakaway states and marking the beginning of the Congo Crisis. During this time, a deadlock emerged between Kasa-Vubu and Lumumba when Lumumba ordered assistance from the Soviet Union. Kasa-Vubu accused Lumumba of communist sympathies and ordered the dissolution of Lumumba's government. Lumumba attempted to join a rival government of his supporters known as the Free Republic of the Congo, but was captured and killed by Katangese separatist forces in January 1961.
With UN support, Kasa-Vubu's government eventually suppressed the Katanga, South Kasai and Free Republic rebellions between 1962 and 1963. New pro-Lumumba rebellions also emerged in 1963 in the form of the Kwilu and Simba rebellions, which were both later defeated by 1965. Following a political stalemate, Kasa-Vubu was finally deposed by a coup d'état led by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu in November 1965. He died four years later.
Joseph Kasa-Vubu was born in the village of Kuma-Dizi in the Mayombe district in the Bas-Congo, in the west of the Belgian Congo. Different sources list his year of birth as 1910, 1913, 1915, or 1917, though 1915 is the most probable date.[citation needed] He was the eighth of nine children in a family of the Yombe people, an ethnic group that is a subset of the Kongo people. His father was a successful farmer who, as an independent entrepreneur, traded with street merchants in Cabinda and built his house at the outskirts of the village. This earned him the animosity of the villagers and in an attempt to assuage their hostility he volunteered to undergo a "poison test" with a substance extracted from a kasa tree. The word "Kasa" was appended onto his name in commemoration of the event. Kasa-Vubu's mother died four years after his birth, and his father died in 1936. On 31 January 1925 he was baptised under the Christian name of Joseph at the Scheutist Catholic mission of Kizu, near Tshela.
In 1927 Kasa-Vubu enrolled in primary school at the third-year level. The following year he transferred to a minor seminary in Mbata-Kiela, 50 kilometers away from Tshela. There he completed his primary studies and began learning Latin and humanities in preparation for instruction at major seminary. An industrious student, Kasa-Vubu graduated second in his class in 1936 and was admitted to the Kabwe seminary in Kasai Province. He intended to study three years of philosophy and five years of theology before becoming an ordained priest. Following the completion of the former courses in 1939 he was expelled by the bishop.
Kasa-Vubu subsequently returned to Mayombe and took up work as a bookkeeper for the Kangu mission. Dissatisfied with his salary of 80 francs per month, Kasa-Vubu passed the instructor's exam and became a sixth-grade teacher at the mission school in early 1941. However, his pay was not increased and he left the mission in open disagreement with the superior and the local bishop. In May he found a new job at Agrifor, an agricultural and logging company. With a monthly pay of 500 francs, he felt financially secure enough to marry; on 10 October Kasa-Vubu wedded Hortense Ngoma Masunda in a Catholic ceremony at the Kangu mission. They had nine children.
In June 1942 Kasa-Vubu earned a job as a clerk in the finance department of the Belgian colonial administration in Léopoldville, the capital of the Congo. He worked there for 15 years, attaining the rank of chief clerk, the highest level of employment available to Congolese civil servants under Belgian rule. In 1956 he was in charge of accounting for all of the administration's general stores.
Hub AI
Joseph Kasa-Vubu AI simulator
(@Joseph Kasa-Vubu_simulator)
Joseph Kasa-Vubu
Joseph Kasa-Vubu, alternatively Joseph Kasavubu, (c. 1915 – 24 March 1969) was a Congolese politician who served as the first President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the Republic of the Congo until 1964) from 1960 until 1965.
A member of the Kongo ethnic group, Kasa-Vubu became the leader of the Bakongo Association (ABAKO) party in the 1950s and soon became a leading proponent of Congo's independence from Belgian colonial rule. He forged an unlikely coalition between his regionalist and conservative ABAKO party and Patrice Lumumba's left-wing nationalist Congolese National Movement (MNC) party, offering support in the government. In the agreement, he received support from the Lumumbists in the Senate and the National Assembly, and was elected president of the Republic in 1960 with Lumumba as prime minister.
Shortly after the country's gaining of independence from Belgium on 30 June 1960, the country immediately faced a series of secessionist movements, leading to the establishment of the Katanga and South Kasai breakaway states and marking the beginning of the Congo Crisis. During this time, a deadlock emerged between Kasa-Vubu and Lumumba when Lumumba ordered assistance from the Soviet Union. Kasa-Vubu accused Lumumba of communist sympathies and ordered the dissolution of Lumumba's government. Lumumba attempted to join a rival government of his supporters known as the Free Republic of the Congo, but was captured and killed by Katangese separatist forces in January 1961.
With UN support, Kasa-Vubu's government eventually suppressed the Katanga, South Kasai and Free Republic rebellions between 1962 and 1963. New pro-Lumumba rebellions also emerged in 1963 in the form of the Kwilu and Simba rebellions, which were both later defeated by 1965. Following a political stalemate, Kasa-Vubu was finally deposed by a coup d'état led by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu in November 1965. He died four years later.
Joseph Kasa-Vubu was born in the village of Kuma-Dizi in the Mayombe district in the Bas-Congo, in the west of the Belgian Congo. Different sources list his year of birth as 1910, 1913, 1915, or 1917, though 1915 is the most probable date.[citation needed] He was the eighth of nine children in a family of the Yombe people, an ethnic group that is a subset of the Kongo people. His father was a successful farmer who, as an independent entrepreneur, traded with street merchants in Cabinda and built his house at the outskirts of the village. This earned him the animosity of the villagers and in an attempt to assuage their hostility he volunteered to undergo a "poison test" with a substance extracted from a kasa tree. The word "Kasa" was appended onto his name in commemoration of the event. Kasa-Vubu's mother died four years after his birth, and his father died in 1936. On 31 January 1925 he was baptised under the Christian name of Joseph at the Scheutist Catholic mission of Kizu, near Tshela.
In 1927 Kasa-Vubu enrolled in primary school at the third-year level. The following year he transferred to a minor seminary in Mbata-Kiela, 50 kilometers away from Tshela. There he completed his primary studies and began learning Latin and humanities in preparation for instruction at major seminary. An industrious student, Kasa-Vubu graduated second in his class in 1936 and was admitted to the Kabwe seminary in Kasai Province. He intended to study three years of philosophy and five years of theology before becoming an ordained priest. Following the completion of the former courses in 1939 he was expelled by the bishop.
Kasa-Vubu subsequently returned to Mayombe and took up work as a bookkeeper for the Kangu mission. Dissatisfied with his salary of 80 francs per month, Kasa-Vubu passed the instructor's exam and became a sixth-grade teacher at the mission school in early 1941. However, his pay was not increased and he left the mission in open disagreement with the superior and the local bishop. In May he found a new job at Agrifor, an agricultural and logging company. With a monthly pay of 500 francs, he felt financially secure enough to marry; on 10 October Kasa-Vubu wedded Hortense Ngoma Masunda in a Catholic ceremony at the Kangu mission. They had nine children.
In June 1942 Kasa-Vubu earned a job as a clerk in the finance department of the Belgian colonial administration in Léopoldville, the capital of the Congo. He worked there for 15 years, attaining the rank of chief clerk, the highest level of employment available to Congolese civil servants under Belgian rule. In 1956 he was in charge of accounting for all of the administration's general stores.
Recent media