Скачать или смотреть Biography of Félix Tshisekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo was born in Kinshasa on the 13th of June, 1963 to his mother, Marthe, and his father, Étienne Tshisekedi, who served as Prime Minister of Zaire in the 1990s. It was his father who created the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) in the early 1980s. He publicly opposed Mobutu, which made the latter put him under house arrest.  Mobutu forced Tshisekedi to join his father in house arrest in central Kasaï, their village. This made Tshisekedi put his studies on hold. In 1985, Mobutu authorized their entire family to leave Kasaï. Tshisekedi traveled to Brussels, Belgium, where he worked at odd jobs and became an active UDPS militant. He became the UDPS National Secretary for external relations in late 2008, and in November 2011, he won a seat in the National Assembly, representing the city, Mbuji Mayi in Kasai-Oriental province. To the surprise of many, Tshisekedi did not take the seat, complaining that the election was fraudulent. His mandate was invalidated for not showing up. In May 2013, Tshisekedi turned down another position. It was an offer to be a secretary at the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI). He turned down the offer because CENI's article 17 excludes membership for those who are members of a political formation.