Joseph Kabila Kabange (known commonly as Joseph Kabila), is the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He took office in January 2001, ten days after the murder of his father and DRC president Laurent-Désiré Kabila. On November 27, 2006, Joseph Kabila was confirmed as President following the July 2006 general election.

Kabila was born in the small village, in the Fizi territory of the South Kivu province, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is the son of Laurent-Désiré Kabila and Sifa Mahanya. There are however some doubts as to the correctness of this official story. He started elementary school in the public school system, in Fizi, South Kivu, and never finished in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. He then went on to attend primary school in Mbeya, Tanzania.

Following high school, Joseph Kabila followed a military curriculum in Tanzania, then at Makerere University in Uganda. In October 1996, his step father launched the campaign in DR Congo to oust the Mobutu regime. Young Joseph, aged 25 was the commander of the famous army of "kadogos" and played a key role in major battles on the road to Kinshasa. The liberation army received logistical and military support from regional armies from Angola, Zimbabwe and Rwanda. Following the AFDL's victory, and Laurent Kabila's rise to the presidency, Joseph Kabila went on to get further training at the PLA National Defense University, in Beijing, China.