Ambassador Faida Mitifu Of The Democratic Republic of the Congo To Speak At WETATi International Women's Conference
Faida Mitifu, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of the Congo will be one of the speakers at the WETATi International Women's Conference. She will participate in the African-Caribbean Female Ambassadors forum and receive an award at the banquet and cultural extravaganza. The conference will take place on March29-30, in Linthicum, Maryland.
No stranger to the Washington diplomatic circuit, Mitifu has become a fixture since her appointment in 1999 by the late President Laurent Kabila.
She is one of the longest serving diplomats in Washington and unarguably the longest serving female diplomat in the city. With a biochemistry degree from the National University of Zaire and a masters in French from Auburn University in Alabama, she bagged a doctorate degree in Romance languages from the University of Georgia.
Fluent in English, Lingala, Swahili, French and Shi, she taught briefly at the University of Georgia and at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia. While teaching, she came to a realization that her students were ignorant about the continent of Africa. As a result, she has been very active in the Teach Africa Program, a program that encourages the broader teaching of of the African Continent in high schools.
An expert on Conflict Resolution, democracy, political participation and governance, she has worked tirelessly to bring peace to the Congo, testifying several times before Congress. She is a strong advocate for African trade with other continents, worked closely with the World Bank to promote development in Africa, solidified US-Congo relationship and worked to enhance women's involvement in political and economic issues.
In the mid 1990s, she was a member of the All North American Conference on Zaire, an organization of Congolese intellectuals who sought the removal of President Mobutu Sese Seko.
Quite, polite, humble and unassuming, Mitifu is a charismatic figure and has a sunny and outgoing personality. “She is a quintessential diplomat and intellectual. A diplomat's diplomat”, said Dr. Leonard Madu, President of the Nashville based African Caribbean Institute and Chamber of Commerce. “She radiates charm, confidence, sensitivity, and assurance.
She symbolizes all the positive attributes of a strong and capable African woman”. Known for her efficiency and sensitivity to others, Mitifu responds to all phone calls and letters to her office promptly and rarely goes back on her commitments.
Her life in a way, mirrors that of her country in several ways. She was born in 1959 in the Eastern Congolese city of Bukavu, where most of the heinous atrocities against women have been committed. Bukavu has been the epicenter of the “African World War” which has claimed over 4 million lives in the Congo since 1998. Her doctoral dissertation titled “The representation of femininity in Zairian Novels”, mirrors what she is doing today-representing feminity in Congo's male dominated diplomatic corps.
Mitifu still hopes to play a role in rebuilding the economy of a country rich in minerals-diamonds, cobalt, cooper, nickel, uranium, zinc, tin, columbite, gold, coltan, tungsten-but shattered and battered by war and violence.