Joseph Midiburo

Joseph Midiburo was born in 1930 in Bwisha, Rutshuru Territory, Belgian Congo.[1] He could speak Kinyarwanda.[2] He underwent four years of secondary education and took correspondence courses on accounting.[3] Midiburo founded the Rassemblement de l'Est du Congo (RECO/REKO) party, which later merged with the Centre du Regroupement Africain (CEREA).[4] He subsequently became a vice president of the party.[5] He served on the Executive College of the Goma territory.[3]

Midiburo was elected to the first Congolese Chamber of Deputies in May 1960 on a CEREA ticket from the North Kivu constituency.[6] On 21 June he was elected 74 votes to 55 to become the Second Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies.[7] In October he was made a member of a commission assembled by deposed Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba tasked with managing his relations with the United Nations Operation in the Congo.[8] He briefly served in the Stanleyville government from late 1960 until he returned to the capital, Léopoldville, in mid-1961.[6] Midiburo was elected First Vice-President of the Chamber on 24 July 1961.[1][9] In October 1962 he was arrested by Cyrille Adoula's government on charges of subversion, but he was released several weeks later.[4] He was elected President of the Chamber on 3 March 1963.[10] In April 1963 Parliament resolved to create a joint committee to prepare revisions for the constitution. Though the presiding officers of both houses nominally chaired the committee together, Midiburo was left responsible for leading the panel.[11] He served as President of the Chamber until September 1965.[10] He took part in organising the Conference Nationale Souveraine of the early 1990s.[1]

Midiburo died on 13 June 2008 while receiving medical care in Kinshasa in the presence of his son, Adolphe.[1]