John Numbi
Brigadier John Numbi is, as of January 2010[ref], the Inspector General of the National Police of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
History
Numbi is of the same Lubakat group as former President Laurent-Désiré Kabila and was part of the gendarme in Katanga (formerly Shaba). Politically active, he was an organizer of the youth militia of the Union of Federalists and Independent Republicans (JUFERI), which was used by former governor Gabriel Kyungu wa Kumwanza against Luba supporters of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress in the late 1990s. In 2000, he held the rank of Brigadier General and was the commander for military Region 4 (Katanga).[1]
In November 2006, the Congolese military's offensive against the armed National Congress for the Defence of the People (NCDP) had stalled. Numbi, then commander of the Congolese air force, was sent in Goma to negotiate with NCDP commander Laurent Nkunda. The talks were moved on 31 December to Kigali, where they were facilitated by senior Rwandan officers, including Chief of Staff Gen. James Kabarebe. In early January, an agreement was reached, the terms of which included that Nkunda's forces would be subject to mixage with government units in North Kivu, and eventually deployed outside the province.[2] On 14 February 2007, in reaction to increasing international criticism of the use of child soldiers, Numbi was among a group of senior officers who issued a notice to commanders of mixed brigades that they would be held responsible for the illegal presence of children in their units.[3]
On 26 February 2008, Numbi met with Interior Minister Denis Kalume and President Joseph Kabila to discuss Bundu Dia Kongo (BDK), an unarmed religious movement agitating for greater political independence in Bas Kongo. Two days later, 600 police officers armed with machine guns and grenades were deployed from Kinshasa to repress the group. This action was criticized by MONUC, the United Nations group in the DRC, as an excessive use of force.[4] In 2009, Numbi and Kabarebe of Rwanda managed Operation Umoja Wetu, a joint operation against Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda forces operating in eastern Congo.[5][6]
Historian Gérard Prunier in a 2009 publication states that Numbi, along with Augustin Katumba Mwanke, Samba Kaputo, Kalume and Marcellin Cishambo, are the "old palace guard" who "are the ones actually running things" in the Congolese government. Prunier further asserts that this group has "a vested interest in 'personally fruitful' stagnation."[7]
References
- ^ "Appendix D: Who's Who in the Congolese Armed Forces (FAC)" (PDF). Scramble for the Congo: Anatomy of an Ugly War. Nairobi/Brussels: International Crisis Group. 20 December 2000. p. 120. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
- ^ "Renewed Crisis in North Kivu". Human Rights Watch. October 2007. p. 16. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
- ^ Human Rights Watch (2007), p. 54
- ^ Van Woudenberg, Anneke (2008). ""We will crush you": the restriction of political space in the Democratic Republic of the Congo". Human Rights Watch. p. 76. ISBN 1564324052.
- ^ "Final report prepared in accordance with paragraph 8 of Security Council resolution 1857 (2008)" (PDF). United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 9 November 2009. p. 30. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
- ^ For a more detailed account of Numbi's involvement in the 2009 offensives, see Snow, Keith Harmon (6 January 2010). "Belgian Paratroopers to Crush Rising Congo Rebellion? Part IV". The African Executive. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Prunier, Gérard (2009). Africa's World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 315. ISBN 978-0-19-537420-9.