Antoine Gizenga
| Antoine Gizenga | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
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In office 30 December 2006 – 10 October 2008 |
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| President | Joseph Kabila |
| Preceded by | Likulia Bolongo |
| Succeeded by | Adolphe Muzito |
| Deputy Prime Minister of Congo-Léopoldville | |
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In office 24 June 1960 – 14 September 1960 |
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| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Jean Bolikango |
| Prime Minister of Congo-Stanleyville | |
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In office 12 December 1960 – 5 August 1961 |
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| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| President of Congo-Stanleyville | |
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In office 31 March 1961 – 5 August 1961 |
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| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 October 1925 |
| Political party |
PALU PSA |
Antoine Gizenga (born 5 October 1925) is a Congolese (DRC) politician who was Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 30 December 2006 to 10 October 2008. He is the Secretary-General of the Unified Lumumbist Party (Parti Lumumbiste Unifié, PALU).
Antoine Gizenga was born on 5 October 1925 in Mbanza, in western Kwilu Province of the Belgian Congo. He attended a Catholic missionary primary school and received his secondary education at the Kinzambi and Mayidi seminaries. He became an ordained Catholic priest in 1947 and led a parish out of his home in Kwilu. He left his position for personal reasons and took several clerical and accounting jobs. After briefly serving in law enforcement for the colonial government, Gizenga became a teacher at a secondary Catholic school. He soon thereafter married Anne Mbuba, with whom he later had four children.
Inspired by the nationalist and Pan-Africanist ideas of Patrice Lumumba, the cofounder of the Mouvement National Congolais, Gizenga helped to organize the Parti Solidaire Africain (which was openly left leaning). He later became leader of the party. Following independence and free elections in 1960, Gizenga became Lumumba's deputy prime minister of the new Republic of the Congo.
In September, President Joseph Kasa-Vubu dismissed Lumumba and Gizenga from their positions for the former's decision to involve the Soviet Union in the Congo Crisis. Lumumba protested, and the government went into a deadlock over the issue. A coup launched shortly thereafter by Colonel Joseph Mobutu politically incapacitated both Lumumba and the President, though Mobutu soon developed a working relationship with the latter. Gizenga objected to the new government and left for Stanleyville on 13 November to form his own. On 12 December, he declared his government, the Free Republic of the Congo, to be the legitimate ruling authority in the Congo. Lumumba had attempted to join him, but was arrested and eventually executed in the State of Katanga in January 1961. Gizenga's government persisted for half the year and garnered diplomatic recognition from the Soviet Union, China, and Egypt, though it received no logistical support.
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