Quick Facts
Biography
Brigadier general James Aloizi Mwakibolwa is a Tanzanian military officer who commanded the Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) of the United Nations' MONUSCO peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 2013 and 2014, a period which coicided with the M23 rebellion. Mwakibolwa was credited with making an important contribution to the defeat of the M23 rebels in Kivu Province.
Mwakibolwa served in the Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) for over 30 years. Before receiving the command of the FIB, Mwakibolwa served as commander of the Military Assessment Team of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) in October 2012 to assess the military situation in the Eastern Congo.
The FIB, of which Mwakibolwa was the first commander, is a military formation which forms part of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). During Mwakibolwa tenure, MONUSCO was under the command of Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz. The FIB was authorized by the United Nations Security Council on 28 March 2013 through United Nations Security Council Resolution 2098. It was the first United Nations peacekeeping formation specifically tasked to carry out targeted offensive operations to neutralize armed groups that threaten State authority and civilian security. After the end of his mandate in April 2014, Mwakibolwa returned to Tanzania with his contingent of Tanzanian soldiers.