VZCZCXRO1045
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #0586 1511027
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 311027Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6199
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
UNCLAS KINSHASA 000586
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PINR CG
SUBJECT: GDRC REPLACES ITS "PHANTOM MINISTER" OF TRADE
REF: KINSHASA 185
1. (U) The GDRC announced May 28 the nomination of Denys
Mbuyu Manga as Minister of Trade. A political independent
from Katanga province, he has been director of the National
School of Finance since 1991. Mbuyu Manga also served as
chief of staff to the Minister of Mines in 1967, and later as
director of human resources and Brussels representative for
the DRC's gold mining parastatal OKIMO.
2. (U) Mbuyu Manga replaces Andre Kasongo Ilunga, the
so-called "phantom minister" who, in fact, never existed. As
reported reftel, Ilunga was a fictitious nominee put forward
by Honorius Kisimba Ngoy, president of the Katangan-based
party UNAFEC, in an apparent attempt to gain the position for
himself. The GDRC's initial announcement of the "phantom
minister" in February embarrassed the new government (which
apparently accepted Ilunga sight unseen), and ultimately led
to Ngoy's dismissal as UNAFEC's president.
3. (SBU) Biographical information:
Denys Mbuyu Manga, 67, was born November 20, 1939, in the
Kabalo, Katanga province. He holds a degree in administration
from the National School of Administration in Kinshasa and a
law degree from the Free University of Brussels. Mbuyu Manga
held several government positions in the post-independence
era with the Ministry of Civil Service (1965), the Ministry
of Mines (1967) and the DRC gold mining parastatal OKIMO --
including as its representative in Brussels. After leaving
government service, he was a professor of law and political
and social sciences at the University of Lubumbashi. In 1991,
he was named director of the National School of Finance, a
vocational training school supervised by the Ministry of
Finance. Mbuyu Manga is an independent.
MEECE