
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele is a senior associate with the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Previously, he was a senior fellow and director of the Africa Program. He is also a lecturer in African studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Prior to CSIS, he was the Africa senior adviser at the International Republican Institute. Previously, he served as the course coordinator for central and southern Africa at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute. He was also a Peter J. Duignan distinguished visiting fellow and a national fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Dizolele has testified for both chambers of the U.S. Congress, as well as at the UN Security Council. He has served as an international election monitor and delegate in several countries, including Nigeria, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he was also embedded with UN peacekeepers in Ituri and South Kivu as a reporter. Dizolele’s analyses have been published in the Journal of Democracy, New York Times, Newsweek International, International Herald Tribune, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, New Republic, Forbes, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and other outlets. A frequent commentator on African affairs, he has been a guest analyst on PBS’s NewsHour and Foreign Exchange; NPR’s Tell Me More, On Point, and the Diane Rehm Show; BBC’s World News Update; and Al Jazeera’s The Stream, NewsHour, and Inside Story. Dizolele holds an international MBA and an MPP from the University of Chicago. He is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and is fluent in French, Norwegian, Spanish, Swahili, Kikongo, and Lingala and proficient in Danish and Swedish. He is the author of the forthcoming biography, Mobutu: The Rise and Fall of the Leopard King (Random House).
Areas of Expertise
In the News 8 of 70 results
Trump heralds US-brokered peace deal between DRC, Rwanda
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele cited in ABC News — June 27, 2025
Trump to address white refugee tensions in meeting with South African president
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele cited in Washington Examiner — May 21, 2025
Trump confronts South African president with unfounded ‘white genocide’ claims
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele appearance on PBS — May 21, 2025
Kuki igisirikare cya DR Congo kitabasha kurengera uburasirazuba bw'igihugu?
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele in BBC — March 27, 2025
S. Africa Seeks To Balance Pride With Interests As US Ties Sour
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele in AFP — March 26, 2025
Conflict escalates between Rwandan-backed rebels and Congolese authorities
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele in CBS — March 24, 2025
Motivations, ambitions of Congo’s M23 rebels unclear, analysts say
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele in Voice of America — February 21, 2025
Why is Rwanda supporting the M23 rebels fighting in DR Congo? | DW News
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele in Deutsche Welle — January 28, 2025
All Mvemba Phezo Dizolele Content
Filter by
Critical Minerals, Fragile Peace: The DRC-Rwanda Deal and the Cost of Ignoring Root Causes
Podcast Episode by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — June 27, 2025

Critical Minerals, Fragile Peace: The DRC-Rwanda Deal and the Cost of Ignoring Root Causes
Commentary by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — June 27, 2025
Bridging Africa’s Health Financing Crisis
Podcast Episode by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele and Dr. Jean Kaseya — June 26, 2025

Africa’s Complicated Democratic Landscape
Report by Cameron Hudson, Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, and Khasai Makhulo — June 17, 2025
Peter Obi on Leadership with Integrity
Podcast Episode by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — June 5, 2025

Why Citizens Should Shape the Future of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Podcast Episode by Albert Zeufack, Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, James Robinson, and Jonathan Weigel — May 23, 2025

Why Citizens Should Shape the Future of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Commentary by Albert Zeufack, Ruxandra Burdescu, Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, James Robinson, and Jonathan Weigel — May 23, 2025
Solving Africa’s Housing Deficit
Podcast Episode by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — May 22, 2025

The Congo, the Cold War, and Capitol Hill
Podcast Episode by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — May 8, 2025

Navigating Africa's Environmental Dilemma
Podcast Episode by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — April 24, 2025
