Joseph Kasa-Vubu

Uncommon card · No. 155976

Joseph Kasa-Vubu, alternatively Joseph Kasavubu, (c. 1915 – 24 March 1969) was a Congolese politician who served as the first President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the Republic of the Congo until 1964) from 1960 until 1965. A member of the Kongo ethnic group, Kasa-Vubu became the leader of the Bakongo Association (ABAKO) party in the 1950s and soon became a leading proponent of Congo's independence from Belgian colonial rule. He forged an unlikely coalition between his regionalist and conservative ABAKO party and Patrice Lumumba's left-wing nationalist Congolese National Movement (MNC) party, offering support in the government. In the agreement, he received support from the Lumumbists in the Senate and the National Assembly, and was elected president of the Republic in 1960 with Lumumba as prime minister. Shortly after the country's gaining of independence from Belgium on 30 June 1960, the country immediately faced a series of secessionist movements, leading to the establishment...

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