| "Perhaps his greatest influence was Mobutu himself, who employed him at the age of 30 as his personal assistant in the early 1990s. Another person central to his rising star was Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. He supplied Mr Bemba with troops, equipment and training when he launched his rebel group, the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), in 1998." Congo contender: Jean-Pierre Bemba | ||||
He is the only challenger to incumbent President Joseph Kabila in the second round of presidential elections on Sunday. Although he has managed
to gain support from some of DR Congo's historic political figures in recent months, he has also been abandoned by his closest allies - one of whom blamed Mr Bemba's "oversized ego" for their change of heart. Mr Bemba's campaign team, however, likes to stress that their man is a son of the country - a "Mwana Mboka". This is an implicit reference to the fact that Mr Kabila grew in neighbouring Tanzania - thus implying that he is not really Congolese at all. Mr Bemba himself spent his childhood between the Belgium and Congolese capitals - Brussels and Kinshasa - and the small remote town of Gbadolite in northern DR Congo known as "Versailles in the Jungle". This was the home and last refuge of the late Congolese leader Mobutu Sese Seko. Influences Mr Bemba's father, the successful businessman Bemba Saolona, was very close to the former dictator.
But for him business was his first and only allegiance. In an old documentary, recently shown in Kinshasa, he was filmed between sets of tennis saying that as businessmen were vital to DR Congo he would be prepared to work with whoever was in power. This is exactly what happened when Laurent Kabila's troops overthrew Mobutu and marched into Kinshasa in May 1997: Saolona was briefly appointed a finance minister in the new regime. Father and son, however, have not always seen eye-to-eye. Mr Bemba, who lost his mother at a very young age and has had difficult relations with his father and stepmothers, explicitly criticised his father's acquaintance
with Laurent Kabila in his book The Choice of Freedom. A great admirer of controversial French businessman Bernard Tapie and former Italian President Silvio Berlusconi, the young Bemba sought other father figures. Perhaps his greatest influence was Mobutu himself, who employed him at the age of 30 as his personal assistant in the early 1990s. Another person central to his rising star was Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. He supplied Mr Bemba with troops, equipment and training when he launched his rebel group, the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), in 1998. In only a few months, the MLC managed to capture northern DR Congo. The military pressure he put on the late Laurent Kabila's regime eventually led to a peace deal that set the basis of a powersharing government and paved the way
to the current electoral process. Business A characteristic Mr Bemba shares with his father is the knack to make money.
He holds an MBA from a prestigious business school in Brussels and kept his economic activities running throughout the war: looking after family-owned coffee plantations and wood factories. Former allies claim most of Mr Bemba's fortune comes from gifts from African leaders such as Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi. Whatever the source, by the end of the war, the rebel-turned-politician had accrued enough
wealth to buy a helicopter and several planes, which he sometimes likes to pilot himself, and has since invested in DR Congo's aviation business. After he laid down his arms in 2003, Mr Bemba was sworn in as a vice-president in charge of finance in the interim administration. Politically, he trailed with 20% of the vote to Mr Kabila's 45% in the first presidential round in July. However, he could still spring a surprise and rally enough support in western and central areas, where the Swahili-speaking president is generally perceived as a foreigner, to pip Mr Kabila at the post. But if he falls short, Mr Bemba will be losing more than the presidency - he will be losing his immunity. It could be regained if his party makes him a senator, but during the months between the announcement of the official results and the swearing-in of the new senate next year, Mr Bemba has no guarantees against possible judicial prosecutions. In Belgium,
he has already received a one-year jail sentence for human trafficking after he employed a maid there illegally. Moreover, the Paris-based International Federation of Human rights has filed war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court of looting, rape and killings allegedly committed by Mr Bemba's troops during a coup attempt three years ago in neighbouring Central African Republic. And if he needs a safe haven at some point, he may be drawn to spend some time in his wife Liliane Texeira's home country, Brazil, which has been known in the past to give a helping hand to other rich men on the run. | ||||
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