Dieudonné Kayembe

Dieudonne Kayembe Mbandakulu Tshisuma (born 9 April 1945) was the Chief of General Staff of the

.

Dieudonne Kayembe was born on 9 April 1945 at

officer academy, in France. After he finished that training, he was admitted to a branch school, specifically the Cavalry School at Saumur, still in France.

Since that time pursuing a military career, Kayembe entered, later on, after passing the entrance exam, the

, in the United States. Following his training in that school he received his staff officer’s brevet.

Career

After the arrival in power of Laurent Kabila in May 1997, then-Colonel Kayembe was named deputy director of the Defence Minister’s office, and promoted to Brigadier General.

He was named successively Vice-Minister of Defence and (then ?) of Reconstruction. Chief of Staff of the HQ of the Congolese Armed Forces in 2002, he later assumed the functions of Director-General of the Military Detection of Unpatriotic Activities (DEMIAP), the Congolese military intelligence service.

On 12 June 2007 he was raised in grade to Lieutenant General and named eighteenth Chief of Staff of the

by President Joseph Kabila, supreme commander of the armed forces.

He was replaced in 2008 by General

.

An announcement of his retirement was made by Ordonnance 13/082 of 13 July 2013.^[1]

References and links

• Fr-Wikipedia
• Story on appointment & photo
• http://www.ssrnetwork.net/practitioners_course/dr_congo_.php - course with Lt Gen Mbandakulu's involvement

Citations and notes

Military offices
Preceded by Kisempia Sungilanga 1	Chief of Staff of the FARDC 2007 – 2008	Succeeded by Didier Etumba Longomba
Notes and references
1. [1] République Démocratique du Congo : L’armée doit arrêter l’utilisation d’enfants soldats