Ernest Wamba dia Wamba Ernest Wamba dia Wamba ( born 1942 ) is a senator in the Democratic Republic of the Congo . He was the vice president of the Senate Permanent Commission on Legal and Administrative Matters in the transitional government . Previously , he was commander of the Kisangani faction of the rebel Rally for Congolese Democracy during the Second Congo War . He is also a prominent academic and political theorist . Early life . Wamba dia Wamba was born in Sundi - Lutete , Bas - Congo Province . He was raised in Swedish mission school s and grew into adulthood in the period when the prophet ism of Simon Kimbangu and the political agitation for independence by the Association of the Bakongo People ( ABAKO ) was reaching its peak . When ABAKO split , he favored the faction of Daniel Kanza . Upon graduation from secondary school , he was one of three students awarded scholarships by the African - American Institute to study in the United States . He went to Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo , where Wamba wrote his honors dissertation on the philosophers Maurice Merleau - Ponty and Jean - Paul Sartre . He later went on to graduate studies at Claremont before teaching at Brandeis University , where he was associated with Peter F . Drucker . He went on to teach at Harvard University in Cambridge , MA . During his period in the U . S . , Wamba dia Wamba married an African - American woman and was involved in the Civil Rights Movement through the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee . Once the period of decolonization began in Africa , he joined the supporting committees of various US - based pan - African ist liberation movements . In 1980 , he accepted a position as Professor of History at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania . While visiting his parents ' village in 1981 , he was arrested by the government of Mobutu Sese - Seko for possessing a paper he had authored that was deemed ' subversive ' , and was detained for one year . He continued his role as a prominent figure in both academia and political circles in Africa . He is the former President of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa ( CODESRIA ) as well as the founder and president of the Philosophy Club at the University of Dar es Salaam . He is an expert in the Palaver and other indigenous forms of African democracy . He participated in the Sovereign National Conference , held from 1990 through 1992 in Zaire . In 1997 he co - authored with Jacques Depelchin , the African Declaration Against Genocide . In December 1997 , Prof . Wamba was named a recipient of the Prince Claus Award for Culture and Development . The announcement of the award cited his " scholarly contribution to the development of African philosophy and for sparking off the philosophical debate on social and political themes in Africa . " At this time he also worked closely with Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere to end the Burundi Civil War . The Second Congo War and the peace after . At the beginning of the Second Congo War against the government of Laurent - Désiré Kabila , he was unanimously elected head of the rebel Rally for Congolese Democracy , which was backed by Uganda and Rwanda and based in the town of Goma . However , the RCD gradually tore in two from November 1998 until 16 May 1999 , as it became clear that Rwanda and its supporters goals were limited to replacement of Kabila . Several attempts were made on Wamba ' s life during this period , coinciding with attempts to destroy his political power in the RCD . On 16 May 1999 , Émile Ilunga was named the new head of the RCD after maneuvering by Rwanda , and Wamba fled to the Ugandan - controlled town of Kisangani . The faction of the RCD he maintained control of was variously known as the Movement for Liberation ( RCD - ML ) , RCD - Kisangani , or RCD - Wamba . The main faction is sometimes referred to as RCD - Goma . The two factions shortly engaged in fierce battles in Kisangani , following which Wamba retreated to Bunia in the Ituri region of the northeastern DRC . Wamba was faced with an internal revolt by Mbusa Nyamwisi , leading to another split that left Wamba . His organization remained known as the RCD - Kisangani ( RCD - K ) , but the Nyamwisi - led group was known as the RCD - ML . In 2001 , Wamba denounced a Ugandan proposal to unite the RCD - K , RCD - ML and Movement for the Liberation of Congo ( MLC ) as an unwelcome foreign imposition . The further disintegration of the RCD - K to the point it was without any significant military force may have been the result of Ugandan withdrawal of its support . This action , which took place as the Ituri conflict continued escalating , was seen by some members of the Lendu ethnic group as a support against what they saw as the pro - Hema bias of Uganda . Following the Inter - Congolese Dialogue that ended the war , Wamba became a prominent member of the new government . He has spoken extensively on what is needed for the DRC to make a successful transition to a functioning democracy . He continues to be politically involved and to write and is a noted political theorist widely respected for , in particular , his innovative use of the work of the African born Parisian philosopher Alain Badiou who he has introduced into contemporary African political thought . African scholars like Jacques Depelchin , Michael Neocosmos and Raj Patel have taken up Wamba ' s use of Badiou ' s work . A May 2008 article authored by Jacques Depelchin warned that there were new threats to assassinate Wamba . Articles . Interview with Ernest Wamba dia Wamba ( 2009 ) Published in Ota Benga Alliance ' Balkanisation and crisis in eastern Congo Ernest Wamba dia Wamba speaks to Pambazuka News ' ( 2008 ) Published in Pambazuka News ' Democracy Today : The case of the Democratic Republic of Congo ' ( 2007 ) Published in Pambazuka News ' Congo ' ( 2004 ) Published in Zmag