Game Over for the DRC’s Most Powerful Warlord - A Short History of Jean Pierre Bemba’s Rise and Fall
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has acted fast to bring in what many call the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) most powerful warlord - Jean Pierre Bemba. On 23 May 2008, the ICC issued a warrant of arrest for Bemba - less than 24 hours later on 23 May he was arrested at his Belgian home.
Bemba has been arrested for his and his troops’ involvement in the murder, rape, and looting of civilians person and property between 25 October 2002 and 15 March 2003 in the Central Africa Republic (CAR). At the time, his political organisation, the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), had sent its militiamen to support the then-CAR President, Ange Patasse who was facing the rebellion of the current president, General Francois Bozize.
Whilst in the CAR, Bemba’s MLC troops created chaos on route to the conflict zone. However, the fight was a lost one from the start - as most of the fighting troops were child soldiers, they stood very little chance against the Chadian mercenaries that Bozize eventually brought into the war. Following his successful coup, Bozize quickly organised a flawed election that was won without little surprise. Now in a “legitimate” position of power, Bozize approached the ICC to investigate the war crimes committed in the CAR by the former regime, including the assistance gained from Bemba and the MLC.
As the son of one of the richest men during the Mobutu reign (Jeannot Bemba), Jean Pierre Bemba was educated in Belgium, and upon his return to the DRC became a highly successful businessman resting on close government connections with the former regime. However, in 1997, when Laurent Desire Kabila took over the country’s presidency with the military backing of Kampala and Kigali, Bemba went into hiding starting his own political/military organisation, the MLC, the following year.
Based in his family fiefdom, the diamond and timber rich Equatorial Province, the MLC was then backed by Kampala who was in need of a proxy in the war with Rwanda over the control of the Eastern Congo natural resources. In this situation, Bemba embodied the typical strongman turned warlord - he had foreign military and financial connections with Uganda and Libya; he was involved in natural resources smuggling; and he controlled a significant part of the Congolese territory. During this time, Bemba sent his troops from the Equatorial Province to the Eastern Congo where, despite having very little military success, they were instrumental in causing havoc.
By the turn of the century, Bemba was considered one of the most powerful Congolese warlords, and his party was subsequently invited to the Sun City negotiations held in South Africa. With the blessing of those in attendance, Bemba was appointed one of the four vice presidents of the transitional government created by the Pretoria agreement.
However, in the 2003 - 2006 transition period, Bemba was considered to be the main competitor against Joseph Kabila based on his origins in the Mobutu camp. Representing the western constituencies of the DRC, he came in second in the presidential race and was elected as a senator in January 2007. Despite accepting the election results, he refused to integrate his militiamen into the national army leading to a violent confrontation with the presidential guard on 22 and 23 March 2007 in the middle of the capital. The clashes claimed over 500 victims, but Bemba escaped from the fighting by taking protection in the South African Ambassador’s residence and a deal was made for his departure under UN protection.
Following his departure from the DRC, he moved between houses in Portugal and Belgium, denouncing Kabila’s regime and claiming to be the leader of the opposition. Despite managing to keep his seat in the Senate, Bemba refused to return to the DRC until gaining a security guarantee for his safe return. In his last free days, Bemba was reportedly preparing to return to the DRC and make a political come-back - it is thought that this imminent return prompted the fast ICC reaction and lead to the charges of war crimes in the CAR in his capacity as leader of the MLC.
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