Jean Bamanisa Saïdi (born 7 April 1964) is a Congolese businessman and politician who was governor of the former

Orientale Province Orientale Province ( French: ''Province orientale'', "Eastern province") is one of the former provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its predecessors the Congo Free State and the Belgian Congo. It went through a series of boundary ...

from 2013 to 2015 and governor of Ituri Province from 2019 to 2021.

Early years

Jean Bamanisa is the son of Alex Barlovatz, a doctor from

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, and Violette Nyakato, who came from the

Ituri Ituri is one of the 21 new provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. Ituri, Bas-Uele, Haut-Uele, and Tshopo provinces are the result of the dismemberment of the former Orientale province. Ituri was ...

region. Barlovatz moved to Kisangani in the 1930s, where he had a successful general medical practice. Bamanisa was born in 1964 in Kisangani. He went to university in Kisangani, then moved to

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 ...

. He established a building maintenance company named BAJE in 1987, and later created a subsidiary named PETRO BAJE that distributes petroleum products. He married Caroline Bemba, sister of the opposition leader

Jean-Pierre Bemba Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo (born 4 November 1962) is a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was one of four Vice-Presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, vice-presidents in the transitional government of the Democrat ...

Political career

In the early 2000s Bamanisa entered politics. He was elected a member of the national assembly for Kisangani in 2006. He was friendly with President Joseph Kabila despite his ties by marriage to the opposition leader. In the 2012 election for governor of Orientale Province he won by 48 votes to 45. In 2013 his Barnet Group concluded a $230m agreement with the South African company PPC Ltd. to build a cement factory in Orientale. Bamanisa became governor of Ituri Province on 21 May 2019. On 20 November 2019 the provincial deputies voted out Bamanisa Saidi and his government with a motion of no confidence, accusing him of mismanagement of the province and lack of respect to the deputies. On 7 February 2020 he was rehabilitated by the Constitutional Court. On 30 May 2020 he called for international troops to help restore peace. Over 300 people had been killed by fighters of the CODECO (Cooperative for the Development of Congo) militia group in the province in the last three months. MONUSCO, The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC, was no longer intervening, but only acting as observers.

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Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bamanisa Saidi, Jean 1964 births Living people Governors of Orientale Province Governors of provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo people of European descent 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo people