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Marble Palace, Kinshasa
The Marble Palace (French: ''Palais de Marbre'') is a palace and historic building in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, situated atop a hill in the Ngaliema Commune within the residential neighborhood of Ma Campagne, located a few miles from Mont-Fleury. The complex serves as a guest residence during specific official visits and is accessible to the general public, housing an exhibition that chronicles the history of Laurent-Désiré Kabila's assassination. History The inception of the Palais de Marbre dates back to 1970 when Governor Albert Ndele Bamu of the National Bank of the Congo initiated its construction. Originally conceived as an "official residence" for himself within the Binza hills of Ngaliema commune, the design process was entrusted to Eugène Palumbo and Fernand Tala N'Gai's design team, renowned for their work on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs complex and the Supreme Court. The resulting structure adopted a hypermodern, circular design that inco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ngaliema
Ngaliema is a municipality ('' commune'') in the Lukunga District of Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Location Ngaliema is situated in the west of Kinshasa. It stretches south towards Mont Ngaliema and along the main road linking Kinshasa and the city of Matadi in Bas-Congo. The boundary between Ngaliema and the Mont Ngafula commune is defined by the Lukunga River. Buildings In addition to the communities of Binza Ozone, Binza Météo, Binza Delvaux and Binza I.P.N., the area also accommodates: * The Marble Palace: built as a Presidential guests' residence under Mobutu Sese Seko, it was the official residence of President Laurent-Désiré Kabila. It is in his private office at the Marble palace that Kabila was assassinated, allegedly by one of his bodyguards. * The Cité de l'Union Africaine (African Union village) compound: built when Kinshasa was the host of a summit of heads of states of the Organisation of African Unity The Orga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mobutu Sese Seko
Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa za Banga ( ; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997), often shortened to Mobutu Sese Seko or Mobutu and also known by his initials MSS, was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the first and only president of Zaire from 1971 to 1997. Previously, Mobutu served as the second president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1965 to 1971. He also served as the fifth chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity from 1967 to 1968. During the Congo Crisis, Mobutu, serving as Chief of Staff of the Army and supported by Belgium and the United States, deposed the democratically elected government of left-wing nationalist Patrice Lumumba in 1960. Mobutu installed a government that arranged for Lumumba's execution in 1961, and continued to lead the country's armed forces until he took power directly in a second coup in 1965. To consolidate his power, he established the Popular Movement of the Revolution as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Politics Of The Democratic Republic Of The Congo
Politics of the Democratic Republic of Congo take place in the framework of a republic in transition from a civil war to a semi-presidential republic. On 18 and 19 December 2005, a nationwide referendum was carried out on a draft constitution, which set the stage for elections in 2006. The voting process, though technically difficult due to the lack of infrastructure, was facilitated and organized by the Congolese Independent Electoral Commission with support from the UN mission to the Congo (MONUC). Early UN reports indicate that the voting was for the most part peaceful, but spurred violence in many parts of the war-torn east and the Kasais. Since 1996, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been a battleground, starting with neighboring states invading Zaire, which ended the 32-year rule of Joseph Mobutu and saw Laurent-Désiré Kabila becoming the new president. These conflicts originated from the 1994 Rwanda genocide and subsequent destabilization of the DRC's eastern region. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buildings And Structures In Kinshasa
A building or edifice is an enclosed structure with a roof, walls and windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, and have been adapted throughout history for numerous factors, from building materials available, to weather conditions, land prices, ground conditions, specific uses, prestige, and aesthetic reasons. To better understand the concept, see ''Nonbuilding structure'' for contrast. Buildings serve several societal needs – occupancy, primarily as shelter from weather, security, living space, privacy, to store belongings, and to comfortably live and work. A building as a shelter represents a physical separation of the human habitat (a place of comfort and safety) from the ''outside'' (a place that may be harsh and harmful at times). buildings have been objects or canvasses of much artistic expression. In recent years, interest in sustainable planning and building practi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maquis Of Fizi
The Maquis of Fizi was a breakaway state in the Maquis movement in what comprises parts of the modern territory of Fizi that broke off from Zaïre and existed from 1967 until 1986. Besides the contemporary Territory of Fizi, at its peak it also went as far as Kabambara in the west and Mwenga in the north. The territory was created after the failures of the Simba rebellion as a revolutionary redoubt by Laurent-Désiré Kabila with a contingent of a couple thousand men. Although it was completely unrecognized internationally, it enjoyed some aid and assistance from Maoist China Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China and later the People's Re ... as it adopted policies similar to Maoist doctrine. It dissolved in 1986 when its weapon supplies ran thin, informants and spies caused chaos in governm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lubumbashi
Lubumbashi ( , ; former ; former ) is the second-largest Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 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 Province, Lubumbashi is the center of mining in the region, acting as a hub for many of the country's largest mining companies. No definite population figures are available, but the population of the city's urban area is estimated to be around 2,584,000 in 2021. History Élisabethville under Belgian rule The Belgian government established the modern-day government in the city of ''Élisabethville'' (sometimes Elizabethville, both in French, or Elisabethstad in Dutch) in 1910, named in honour of Elisabeth of Bavaria (1876–1965), Queen Elisabeth, consort to King Albert I of the Belgians. By that time, the government had taken over the colony from King Leopold II, and renamed it as the Belgian Cong ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Émery Lumumba ( ; born Isaïe Tasumbu Tawosa; 2 July 192517 January 1961) was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then known as the Republic of the Congo) from June until September 1960, following the May 1960 election. He was the leader of the Congolese National Movement (MNC) from 1958 until his assassination in 1961. Ideologically an African nationalist and pan-Africanist, he played a significant role in the transformation of the Congo from a colony of Belgium into an independent republic. Shortly after Congolese independence in June 1960, a mutiny broke out in the army, marking the beginning of the Congo Crisis. After a coup, Lumumba attempted to escape to Stanleyville to join his supporters who had established a new anti- Mobutu state called the Free Republic of the Congo. Lumumba was captured en route by state authorities under Joseph-Désiré Mobutu (Sese Seko), s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In colloquial usage, the term can also refer to any person who suffers a significant consequence in protest or support of a cause. In the martyrdom narrative of the remembering community, this refusal to comply with the presented demands results in the punishment or execution of an individual by an oppressor. Accordingly, the status of the 'martyr' can be considered a posthumous title as a reward for those who are considered worthy of the concept of martyrdom by the living, regardless of any attempts by the deceased to control how they will be remembered in advance. Insofar, the martyr is a relational figure of a society's boundary work that is produced by collective memory. Originally applied only to those who suffered for their religious b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a Universal suffrage, fully representative democratic election. Presidency of Nelson Mandela, His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by fostering racial Conflict resolution, reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialism, socialist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997. A Xhosa people, Xhosa, Mandela was born into the Thembu people, Thembu royal family in Mvezo, South Africa. He studied law at the University of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand before working as a lawyer in Johannesburg. There he became involved in anti-colonial and Afr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurent-Désiré Kabila
Laurent-Désiré Kabila (; 27 November 1939 – 16 January 2001) usually known as Laurent Kabila or Kabila the Father (American English, US: ), was a Congolese rebel and politician who served as the third president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1997 until Assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, his assassination in 2001. Kabila initially gained prominence as an opponent of Mobutu Sese Seko during the Congo Crisis (1960–1965). He took part in the Simba rebellion and led the Communist-aligned Maquis of Fizi, Fizi rebel Secession, breakaway state in eastern Congo from 1967 to 1988 before disappearing from public. In the 1990s, Kabila re-emerged as leader of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (ADFL), a Rwandan and Ugandan-sponsored rebel group that invaded Zaire and overthrew Mobutu during the First Congo War from 1996 to 1997. Following the war, Kabila became the new president of the country, whose name was changed back to the Democratic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), national security advisor from 1969 to 1975, serving under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Born in Germany, Kissinger emigrated to the United States in 1938 as a Emigration of Jews from Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe, Jewish refugee fleeing Nazi persecution. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. After the war, he attended Harvard University, where he excelled academically. He later became a professor of government at the university and earned an international reputation as an expert on nuclear weapons and foreign policy. He acted as a consultant to government agencies, think tanks, and the presidential campaigns of Nelson Rockefeller and Nixon before being appointed as national security advisor and later secretary o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Security Advisor (United States)
The assistant to the president for national security affairs (APNSA), commonly referred to as the national security advisor (NSA),The National Security Advisor and Staff: p. 1. is a senior aide in the Executive Office of the President, based at the West Wing of the White House. The national security advisor serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all national security issues. The national security advisor participates in meetings of the United States National Security Council, National Security Council (NSC) and usually chairs meetings of the principals committee of the NSC with the United States Secretary of State, secretary of state and United States Secretary of Defense, secretary of defense (those meetings not attended by the president). The NSA also sits on the Homeland Security Council (HSC). The national security advisor is supported by NSC staff who produce classified research and briefings for the national security advisor to review and pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
