Léonard She Okitundu Lundula (born 8 March 1946) is a
Congolese diplomat who has served as the
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and one of the Vice Prime Ministers 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 ...
since December 2016 until March 2019. He has formerly held a number of other government offices in the DRC and
Zaïre
Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...
, being the Foreign Minister before (2000–2003), a
Senator, and also chief of staff of
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 ...
Joseph Kabila
Joseph Kabila Kabange ( , ; born 4 June 1971) is a Congolese politician who served as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between January 2001 and January 2019. He took office ten days after the assassination of his father, Pres ...
's administration.
Biography
The son of Dovell Okitundu and Kitenge Avoki, Okitundu was a lawyer by training and worked for Caritas Development in
Switzerland for quite a long while, until 1997.
Okitundu replaced
Abdoulaye Yerodia Ndombasi
Abdoulaye Yerodia Ndombasi (; 5 January 1933 – 19 February 2019) was a Congolese politician who served in the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2000 and as Vice-President from 2003 to ...
in 2000 as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the DRC, having previously been minister of human rights since March 15, 1999.
In December 2001, he visited
Japan for a ministerial meeting of the
Tokyo International Conference on African Development is a conference held regularly with the objective "to promote high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and development partners." Japan is a co-host of these conferences. Other co-organizers of TICAD are the United Nations Office of t ...
. From 2003 to 2006, Okitundu was chief of staff of President Joseph Kabila.
On a visit to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
during the
2006 general election in October 2006, he was attacked by men who were suspected of being opponents of Kabila outside the
Foreign Office and was admitted to
Central Middlesex Hospital
Central Middlesex Hospital is in the centre of the Park Royal business estate, on the border of two London boroughs, Brent and Ealing. It is managed by the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust.
History
The hospital was establish ...
.
[Audrey Gillan, Hugh Muir, and David Pallister (12 October 2006)]
Beaten, stripped and humiliated online - an African minister's welcome to the UK
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''. Retrieved 13 December 2017. He is also a member of the
Senate of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Senate is the upper house of the Parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The senate was established in 1960, abolished in 1967 and re-established in 2003.
During the transition period in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ( ...
.
In December 2016, Okitundu replaced
Raymond Tshibanda
Raymond Tshibanda N'Tungammulong (born 20 November 1950) is a Congolese diplomat and politician serving as the President of the Liberal Christian Democrats Union, a political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He also served as the D ...
as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation as President Kabila reshuffled the cabinet in a deal with the Congolese opposition, postponing the
general election that was supposed to occur that month. The next month, he represented the DRC at the Africa–
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
summit. In February Okitundu met with
Christos Stylianides
Christos Stylianides ( el, Χρήστος Στυλιανίδης, born 26 June 1958) is a Greek Cypriot politician who serves as Greece's . He has previously served as the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management from 20 ...
, the
. He met with Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov in March 2017 and discussed a number of issues, including
Democratic Republic of the Congo–Russia relations and regional issues. That July he met with Russian Ambassador to the DRC Igor Evdokimov and they discussed the two countries' cooperation within the framework of international organizations, as well as economic relations. In November 2017, Okitundu traveled to several countries, meeting with
Didier Reynders
Didier Reynders (; born 6 August 1958) is a Belgian politician and a member of the Mouvement Réformateur (MR) serving as European Commissioner for Justice since 2019. He held various positions in public institutions before becoming a member of ...
, his
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
counterpart, at an
African Union–
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
summit in
Ivory Coast, where they discussed the opening of
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
's new embassy in
Kinshasa and increasing
Belgium–Democratic Republic of the Congo relations. He also met with
Sushma Swaraj
Sushma Swaraj () (''née'' Sharma; 14 February 1952 – 6 August 2019) was an Indian lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as the Minister of External Affairs of India in the first Narendra Modi government from 2014 to 2019. She is only ...
,
Minister of External Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...
of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, where they spoke of increasing
bilateral relations between the two countries.
He stepped down as foreign minister on 7 March 2019.
RDC : Alexis Tambwe Mwamba nommé vice-Premier ministre, ministre des Affaires étrangères intérimaire
. Published 7 March 2019.
Sources
References
Books
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okitundu, Leonard She
1946 births
Living people
Democratic Republic of the Congo diplomats
Foreign Ministers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Government ministers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Members of the Senate (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo people