NAIROBI, 23 Aug 2006 (IRIN) - Bemba, 44, is a serving vice-president in charge of finance in the Democractic Republic of Congo's transitional government, and one of two contenders in the second round of presidential elections scheduled for 29 October. He is the leader of the Mouvement de libération du Congo (MLC), a former rebel group that became a political party after the 2002 peace agreement.

In the first round of the DRC's 30 July elections, Bemba did well in parts of the west of the country. In Equateur Province in the northwest - his stronghold during the 1998 to 2002 war - he won almost 100 percent of the vote at some polling stations. He also made a surprisingly strong showing farther southwest, particularly in Bas-Congo Province and the DRC's capital, Kinshasa.

Bemba seems to be harnessing Congolese nationalist sentiment. "He's tough and will stand up to foreigners who think they can control Congo like a puppet," said one supporter in Kinshasa a day before voting. He and other Bemba supporters said they had only decided to vote for Bemba a couple of weeks earlier, based upon the content of his speeches and the thrust of his presidential campaign.

Bemba's detractors portray him as a war criminal. In January 2005, the International Criminal Court (ICC) received a request from one of the DRC's neighbours, the Central African Republic (CAR), requesting an investigation into killings and rape in the CAR in 2003, when some of Bemba's troops crossed into the country and supported the now-deposed president, Ange-Felix Patasse.

The ICC has not yet said whether it will proceed with the investigation.

Bemba made his debut in politics in 1997 as financial adviser to President Mobutu Seso Seko. The son of a prominent businessman from Equateur Province, he set up the MLC in 1998 with Uganda's backing. As MLC leader, he controlled much of the north and northwest of the DRC during the rebellion against the then president, Laurent Kabila.

Before engaging in politics, Bemba was a businessman, with a master's degree in commerce from ICHEC business school in Brussels. He first managed some of his father's companies, including an aviation company known as Scibe Airlift. He also set up his own telephone company, Comcel, which later went bankrupt.

Bemba ventured into radio and television broadcasting, and still owns Canal Congo TV, Canal Kin TV and Radio Liberté. Bemba's links with Mobutu are not limited to the fact that they both come from Equateur province; one of Bemba's sisters is married to Mobutu's son, Zanga, who also ran for president in the first round of the DRC's July elections.


Bemba, 44, is a serving vice-president in charge of finance in the Democractic Republic of Congo's transitional government, and one of two contenders in the second round of presidential elections scheduled for 29 October. He is the leader of the Mouvement de libération du Congo (MLC), a former rebel group that became a political party after the 2002 peace agreement.

In the first round of the DRC's 30 July elections, Bemba did well in parts of the west of the country. In Equateur Province in the northwest - his stronghold during the 1998 to 2002 war - he won almost 100 percent of the vote at some polling stations. He also made a surprisingly strong showing farther southwest, particularly in Bas-Congo Province and the DRC's capital, Kinshasa.

Bemba seems to be harnessing Congolese nationalist sentiment. "He's tough and will stand up to foreigners who think they can control Congo like a puppet," said one supporter in Kinshasa a day before voting. He and other Bemba supporters said they had only decided to vote for Bemba a couple of weeks earlier, based upon the content of his speeches and the thrust of his presidential campaign.

Bemba's detractors portray him as a war criminal. In January 2005, the International Criminal Court (ICC) received a request from one of the DRC's neighbours, the Central African Republic (CAR), requesting an investigation into killings and rape in the CAR in 2003, when some of Bemba's troops crossed into the country and supported the now-deposed president, Ange-Felix Patasse.

The ICC has not yet said whether it will proceed with the investigation.

Bemba made his debut in politics in 1997 as financial adviser to President Mobutu Seso Seko. The son of a prominent businessman from Equateur Province, he set up the MLC in 1998 with Uganda's backing. As MLC leader, he controlled much of the north and northwest of the DRC during the rebellion against the then president, Laurent Kabila.

Before engaging in politics, Bemba was a businessman, with a master's degree in commerce from ICHEC business school in Brussels. He first managed some of his father's companies, including an aviation company known as Scibe Airlift. He also set up his own telephone company, Comcel, which later went bankrupt.

Bemba ventured into radio and television broadcasting, and still owns Canal Congo TV, Canal Kin TV and Radio Liberté. Bemba's links with Mobutu are not limited to the fact that they both come from Equateur province; one of Bemba's sisters is married to Mobutu's son, Zanga, who also ran for president in the first round of the DRC's July elections.