(Jewish Group) A Holocaust refugee's son is one of the most powerful politicians in Congo
Like many powerful politicians in Africa, Moise Katumbi goes by multiple titles. He is widely seen as the leader of the opposition of his native Democratic Republic of Congo, and he’s the president of its TP Mazembe soccer team, which is one of Africa’s finest.
Now Katumbi is also closer than he’s ever been to becoming the first African ruler descended from a Holocaust refugee.
Katumbi’s father, Nissim Soriano, was a Greek Jew who fled the island of Rhodes from the Nazis and settled in Congo in the 1930s, when it was still a Belgian colony. Soriano built a fishing business empire and married the daughter of a local chief, Mwata Kazembe XIV Chinyanta Nakula, with whom he had two children.
Katumbi, who has said several times that he wants to become president, forged a crucial political union last month with former rival Jean-Pierre Bemba. The union helped Katumbi, a former regional governor, become the second-strongest politician behind only President Felix Tshisekedi.
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