Statuesque Congo fan ‘Lumumba’ stands above all others at Africa Cup

CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) — One fan is standing tall above all others at the Africa Cup of Nations.

He has even brought a pedestal to make sure.

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Michel Nkuka Mboladinga, a DR Congo fan impersonating late Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, strikes a pose during the Africa Cup of Nations group D soccer match between Botswana and DR Congo in Rabat, Morocco, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)

Michel Nkuka Mboladinga, a DR Congo fan impersonating late Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, strikes a pose during the Africa Cup of Nations group D soccer match between Botswana and DR Congo in Rabat, Morocco, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)

Michel Nkuka Mboladinga, a DR Congo fan impersonating late Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, strikes a pose during the Africa Cup of Nations group D soccer match between Botswana and DR Congo in Rabat, Morocco, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)

Michel Nkuka Mboladinga, a DR Congo fan impersonating late Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, strikes a pose during the Africa Cup of Nations group D soccer match between Botswana and DR Congo in Rabat, Morocco, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)

A DR Congo fans cheer prior to the Africa Cup of Nations group D soccer match between Botswana and DR Congo in Rabat, Morocco, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)

Congo supporter Michel Nkuka Mboladinga has become a social media star for posing as a statue of the country’s assassinated independence hero Patrice Lumumba during games.

Lumumba Vea, as the sharply dressed supporter is known for his resemblance to the slain leader, raises his right arm and stays perfectly still, adopting the position of the Lumumba memorial statue in Kinshasa, and holds the pose for the entirety of games.

“I remain still to give strength to the team, to give energy to the players,” Nkuka Mboladinga told The Associated Press during an interview in his hotel room in Casablanca this week.

He said it was his last before the team plays Algeria in Rabat on Tuesday. Nkuka Mboladinga was clearly exhausted from relentless media attention after Congo’s first three games in the tournament, and exasperated after it seemed every media outlet had spelled his name wrong.

But he was grateful for the attention and pleased to bring Lumumba’s support to the team.

“He’s the one who gave us the freedom to express ourselves,” Nkuka Mboladinga said of the Congolese leader. “He sacrificed his life for us, to give us liberty. So he’s a hero for us, Lumumba is a spirit for us, he’s a model for us.”

Lumumba is widely hailed as the nationalist activist who helped end Belgium’s colonial rule over Congo in 1960. He became the new independent country’s first prime minister and was seen as one of Africa’s most promising new leaders, but he was killed within a year during a struggle against a Belgian-backed secessionist movement in the mineral-rich Katanga region.

Questions have persisted over how complicit Belgium and the United States may have been in his death. A Belgian parliamentary probe later determined the government was “morally responsible” for Lumumba’s death. A U.S. Senate committee found in 1975 that the CIA had hatched a separate, failed plan to kill the Congolese leader.

For many in Congo, Lumumba remains a symbol of the positive developments the country could have achieved after its independence. Instead, it became mired in decades of dictatorship that drained its vast mineral riches.

“He’s like family,” Nkuka Mboladinga said of the visionary leader.

Nkuka Mboladinga rehearses before each match by staying still for 45 to 50 minutes at a time. With Congo through to the knockout round, he also faces the prospect of having to stay in statue mode through extra time and penalties, when the fans around him are anything but.

“It’s difficult,” he acknowledged about staying still while supporters dance around and behind him. “Everyone plays their part, they play their role and I am in mine.”

He hasn’t met the players yet but has heard they appreciate his efforts.

“The players know me, but I haven’t spoken with them personally. They’re very happy with what I’m doing,” he said.

AP at the Africa Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-cup-of-nations

Two people were killed in Ukrainian drone strikes in Russian border regions, local officials said Sunday, ahead of peace talks to end the nearly 4-year-old war in Paris this week.

Belgorod regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said one person died and two others, including a young child, were wounded when a Ukrainian drone struck a car.

Another person was killed in a drone strike on a village in the Kursk region, regional Gov. Alexander Khinshtein said Sunday.

In Ukraine, three people were wounded in the Kharkiv region in drone strikes overnight into Sunday, the country’s State Emergency Service said.

Meanwhile, the death toll from a Russian missile attack on the city of Kharkiv on Friday increased to five when body parts were found under the rubble of a building, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said Sunday.

The latest attacks came after national security advisers from Europe and other allies visited Kyiv on Saturday to discuss security guarantees and economic support, as a U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the war in Ukraine intensifies.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, preparing to travel to Paris for a meeting with partners, said Saturday that work on the peace proposals could now accelerate as Ukraine has shared all documents under discussion with the 18 national security advisers, including those on security guarantees.

He said representatives from Ukraine’s General Staff and military sector would meet on Monday in Paris, followed by a meeting Tuesday of European leaders, where he said he hoped documents on security guarantees would be finalized. He said there also would be meetings with U.S. representatives in Paris.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine