The most well-known of these middlemen is Dan Gertler the businessman who became former President Joseph Kabila's go-to man for oil and mining deals...

Gertler has long been accused of paying bribes to ex-President Joseph Kabila and other Congolese politicians to secure cut-price mining rights but the amounts disclosed in a recent Swiss court case far exceed previous estimates...

Thanks to his closeness to former President Joseph Kabila he became a gatekeeper to Congo-K's copper and cobalt mines its most important source of national wealth...

President Félix Tshisekedi who is fighting for power with ex-President Joseph Kabila strikes an ambiguous attitude towards Gertler a key ally of the former president (AC Vol 62 No 3 Félix tips the scales)...

Its four vice-prime ministers each from a different faction of the ruling coalition have different political godfathers to serve including the President's main rival his predecessor Joseph Kabila (AC Vol 62 No 3 Félix tips the scales)...

Four of them hold vice-prime minister positions: President Félix Tshisekedi's Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social (UDPS); the Ensemble party of Moïse Katumbi governor of the mining hub of Katanga for eight years; ex-rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba's Mouvement de Libération du Congo (MLC); and former President Joseph Kabila's Parti du Peuple pour la Reconstruction et la Démocratie (PPRD)...

The details provided show that official 1 must have been then-President Joseph Kabila and official 2 his right-hand man Katumba Mwanke...

These concerns are being raised as President Félix Tshisekedi appears to have wrested control of the National Assembly in Kinshasa away from his predecessor Joseph Kabila a close business ally of Gertler's (AC Vol 62 No 3 Félix tips the scales)...

Congo Aconde was set up in 2018 and built monuments in Congo-Kinshasa including one of former President Laurent Kabila (Joseph Kabila's father)...

The SDR windfall coupled with decade-high copper prices will strengthen President Félix Tshisekedi's hand as he breaks away from a partnership with predecessor Joseph Kabila though there is no guarantee that ordinary Congolese will benefit from the cash injection...

The last person to hold the post Jeannine Mabunda a staunch ally of former President Joseph Kabila was voted out by the MPs in December...