Joseph Kasa-Vubu

Joseph Kasa-Vubu
Kasa-Vubu at the Belgo-Congolese Round Table Conference, January 1960
1st President of the Republic of the Congo[note 1]
In office 27 June 1960 – 24 November 1965
Prime Minister	Patrice Lumumba Joseph Iléo Justin Marie Bomboko Joseph Iléo Cyrille Adoula Moise Tshombe Évariste Kimba
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Joseph-Désiré Mobutu
Personal details
Born	c. 1915 (1915) Kuma-Dizi, Mayombe, Belgian Congo
Died	24 March 1969 (aged 53–54) Boma, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Political party	ABAKO
Spouse	Hortense Ngoma Masunda (m. 1941) (died 1996)
Children	Justine Kasa-Vubu, among others

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 Alliance des Bakongo (ABAKO) party in the 1950s and soon became a leading proponent of Congo's independence from Belgian colonial rule. He then became the country's first president in a coalition with Patrice Lumumba as prime minister. Less than a week after the country's independence in 1960, their government was confronted by the Congo Crisis, a series of secession movements and rebellions. During this time, Kasa-Vubu, a centrist, clashed with the leftist Lumumba when the latter ordered assistance from the Soviet Union, leading to a political deadlock. Kasa-Vubu then dissolved Lumumba's government, accusing it of having communist sympathies. Following Lumumba's execution in 1961, Kasa-Vubu presided over a series of weak governments while confronting subsequent rebellions by Lumumba's supporters. In 1965, he was overthrown in another coup by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu and died four years later.
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