Étienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba (born 14 December 1932) is a Congolese politician and the National President of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), a political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was Prime Minister of the country (then Zaire) on three brief occasions during the 1990s: in 1991, 1992–1993, and 1997.
Tshisekedi was born in Luluabourg (now Kananga), Kasai-Occidental in 1932. He obtained a diploma in 1961 at the Lovanium University School of Law in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa). He served in Mobutu's government in various positions throughout the late 1960s and 1970s but in 1979 began to protest its descent into dictatorship and corruption. In 1980 he was removed from government and thrown in prison for his criticism. Ever since he has been thrown in and out of prison numerous times by both Mobutu's government and Laurent Kabila's. In 1989, several cases of his detention were recognized to be unlawful by UN Human Rights Committee.
On February 15, 1982 he co-founded the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), which he continues to lead. The party remains popular with its main goal being a non-violent change to democratic rule.
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