Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Christian Tshiwewe Songesha (born 1968) is a

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

in the

Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: Forces armées de la république démocratique du Congo ARDC is the state organisation responsible for defending the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The FARDC was rebuilt pa ...

(FARDC). Effective 4 October 2022, he is the

Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo This is a list of Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Ce ...

, the title given to the commander of the armed forces of that country. Before his present position, he was the commander of the Republican Guard that is "responsible for the security of the Head of State and other strategic security installations". General Tshiwewe replaced Lieutenant General Célestin Mbala, who was the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo from 14 July 2018 until 4 October 2022.

Biography

He was born in the city of

Lubumbashi Lubumbashi (former names: ( French), (Dutch)) is the second-largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, located in the country's southeasternmost part, along the border with Zambia. The capital and principal city of the Haut-Katanga ...

, in present-day

Haut-Katanga Province Haut-Katanga (French for "Upper Katanga") is one of the 21 new provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. Haut-Katanga, Haut-Lomami, Lualaba, and Tanganyika provinces are the result of the dismemberm ...

, on 27 October 1968. In 1998, following the ouster of

Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...

Laurent Kabila Laurent may refer to: *Laurent (name), a French masculine given name and a surname **Saint Laurence (aka: Saint ''Laurent''), the martyr Laurent **Pierre Alphonse Laurent, mathematician **Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent, amateur astronomer, discoverer ...

, Christian Tshiwewe was among the first infantry officers sent to train in

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

. He followed that with a staff command course referred to as "Mura", in

Likasi Likasi (formerly official names: Jadotville ( French) and Jadotstad (Dutch)) is a city in Haut-Katanga Province, in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Demographics Likasi has a population of around 635,000 (2015). During the 1990 ...

, in the Haut-Katanga Province. He received anti-terrorism training in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, by

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i instructors. He attended the ''Brigade Commander Course'' at the higher military center in Kinshasa and also studied at the ''College of Advanced Military Studies and Defense Strategies'' in Kinshasa. He served as commander of the ''10th Mura Brigade'', based in Kinshasa for the four years, starting in 2003. In 2007, he was appointed commander of the ''13th Regiment'' of the Republican Guard, based in Lubumbashi, serving in that role for another four years. He then returned to Kinshasa and was promoted to Deputy Commander of the Republican Guard responsible for intelligence and operations. In 2020, he became the commander of the Republican Guard. President

Félix Tshisekedi Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo (; born 13 June 1963) is a Congolese politician who has been the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 24 January 2019. He is the leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) ...

promoted him to the rank of

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

and then later to Lieutenant General.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Tshiwewe, Christian Songesha 1968 births Living people Democratic Republic of the Congo military personnel 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo people

Biography

See also

References