On January 23, M23 rebels launched an offensive on Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, reigniting a conflict that has plagued the Great Lakes region and drawn in neighboring African countries since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Now, on the brink of another multinational Congo War, the region and the world wait to see what comes next.
Join us for a timely discussion with a former UN representative from the region on the latest in the crisis, how we got to this point, and paths to peace in Congo and the Great Lakes Region. We’ll also explore the global implications of the flaring-up of this decades long conflict.
Featuring H.E Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, former Permanent Representative of the Democratic Republic of Congo to the UN (2022-2023) and scholar activist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
The Details:
When: Thursday, April 24th | 6:00pm ET – 7:00pm ET
Where: Virtual | Zoom Webinar
Tickets: No charge, Suggested $20 Donation | RSVP for zoom link
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About the Speaker
Professor Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a Congolese scholar-activist and diplomat. He previously served as the Permanent Representative of the Democratic Republic of Congo to the United Nations from 2022 until 2023.
Before his posting he had been a professor in the Department of African, African American and Diaspora Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, since 2007. He was concurrently interim Executive Director of the African Governance Institute in Dakar, Senegal, from 2009 to 2010, as well as Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) between 2005 and 2007, and Director of the Oslo Governance Centre from 2002 to 2005.
In 1991, having lived in exile for 17 years, Professor Nzongola returned to his homeland -- then called Zaire -- and participated in the Congolese Sovereign National Conference the following year as one of its seven scholars of international renown. Professor Nzongola was also diplomatic advisor to Prime Minister Etienne Tshisekedi from 1992 to 1993 and First Vice-President of the National Election Commission in 1996.
He holds a doctoral degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a master's degree in diplomacy and international commerce from the University of Kentucky and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Davidson College. He is the author of The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People's History, (2002).
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