Léon Kengo wa Dondo

Léon Kengo wa Dondo, born with the surname Lubicz in 1935 in Libenge in what was then the Belgian Congo, is a Congolese politician and jurist who rose to become one of the most powerful figures of Mobutu Sese Seko's regime in Zaire. He first served as procureur général of the Kinshasa Court of Appeal and then of the Supreme Court, before an ambassadorship to Belgium and several terms in the office of First State Commissioner, a post equivalent to prime minister, in 1982 to 1986, 1988 to 1990 and 1994 to 1997. He is known as a technocratic reformer and an advocate of free-market economics and economic globalization. In December 1996 he led a crisis cabinet against Laurent Kabila's rebellion and resigned in 1997 as Mobutu's government collapsed. He later returned to politics and presided over the Senate of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2007 to 2019.