Lucien Bahuma



Major General Jean-Lucien Bahuma Ambamba (1957—2014), known as Lucien Bahuma, was a Congolese military officer. Bahuma, described as an "exceptional soldier" by Le Potentiel, commanded the Congolese army (FARDC) in the Province of North Kivu and South Kivu during the M23 rebellion.

Bahuma began his military career under the regime of Mobutu Sese Seko, attending military academies in the Congo and France. During the Second Congo War, he commanded the military wing of the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC) and was later re-integrated into the Congolese army.

Bahuma was appointed to the command of the 8th Military Region, covering Kivu, by President Joseph Kabila following the fall of Goma to M23 rebels in 2012. The fall of Goma in November 2012 was widely perceived as an embarrassment for the FARDC and the United Nations' MONUSCO peacekeeping force and led to calls for reform. After taking command, Bahuma reformed the FARDC in the region, cutting down on corruption. He was personally credited for much of the FARDC's subsequent success in the Kivu region by international observers.

During a diplomatic mission to Uganda in August 2014, Bahuma suffered a heart attack. Taken to a hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, he died on 30 August aged 57. His death was viewed by some as suspicious, following the assassination of another leading FARDC officer in Kivu, Colonel Mamadou Ndala, eight months previously. Bahuma received posthumous tributes from a number of leading Congolese politicians and was posthumously awarded the "Héros nationaux Kabila-Lumumba" medal by President Kabila.