Faustin Munene (born 21 March 1951,

Idiofa Idiofa is a town in Kwilu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Location Idiofa is the administrative center for Idiofa Territory. Idiofa lies at an altitude of 1820 ft (554 m), east of the larger city of Kikwit, and west of the L ...

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

) is a Congolese military officer and politician known for his opposition to

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 ...

, leader of Zaïre, and later

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Joseph Kabila of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. He held a number of senior military posts under Laurent-Désiré Kabila after the fall of Mobutu, including commander of the '' Force Aérienne Congolaise'', the DRC air force, and Deputy Minister of the Interior. Since 2010, he has been living in exile in the neighboring

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

, having fled there since being accused by the DRC authorities of plotting a coup.

Biography

Born in the town of

, in what became the Bandundu Province, of

, Munene took part in the early rebellions in the 1960s under

Pierre Mulele Pierre Mulele (11 August 1929 – 3 or 9 October 1968) was a Congolese rebel active in the Simba rebellion of 1964. Mulele had also been minister of education in Patrice Lumumba's cabinet. With the assassination of Lumumba in January 1961 and ...

against the

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

. Munene later escaped to

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

, where he joined the

Angolan Army The Angolan Army () is the land component of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA). History On August 1, 1974, a few months after a military coup d'état had overthrown the Lisbon regime and proclaimed its intention of granting independence to Angola, ...

and married a local woman by the name of Catarina Manuel Jorge. He later became a member of the

AFDL The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFLC; french: Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaïre; AFDL) was a coalition of Rwandan, Ugandan, Burundian, and Congolese dissidents, disgrun ...

under Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Reaching the rank of

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

, he served as the Chief of Staff of the

Air Force of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Congolese Air Force (french: Force Aérienne Congolaise, or FAC) is the air force branch of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa). From 1971 to 1997, it was known as the Zairian Air Force (, or FAZA). Hi ...

and later Deputy Minister of the Interior and Public Safety from 1997 to 1998. He retired from the

Armed Forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

in 2006.Faustin Munene: Biographie et historique
. Dezakom.blogspot.com. Published 29 September 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2017. His residence was attacked by unidentified men in October 2009. In September 2010, Munene was sentenced to life imprisonment by a military court in the DRC for attempting to overthrow the government of President Joseph Kabila and start a rebellion in Bas-Congo. He then disappeared and was found to have fled to

Brazzaville Brazzaville (, kg, Kintamo, Nkuna, Kintambo, Ntamo, Mavula, Tandala, Mfwa, Mfua; Teke: ''M'fa'', ''Mfaa'', ''Mfa'', ''Mfoa''Roman Adrian Cybriwsky, ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture'', ABC-CLI ...

, capital of the neighboring

. His presence there became a source of tension between Congo-Brazzaville and Congo-Kinshasa, but the former refused to extradite the general to the DRC. Since fleeing to exile in the neighboring Congo, Munene has been accused of being the leader of the rebel group Army of Popular Resistance, which opposes the DRC central government under Kabila.Riguad, Christopher (27 August 2015)
RDC: l'ARP de Munene "n'écarte pas l'option des armes pour 2016"
. Afrikarabia.com. Retrieved 15 December 2017.

References