Jean-Michel Nlandu is a geopolitical analyst specializing in security and political risk in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the wider Great Lakes region. He is the son of Marie-Thérèse Nlandu Mpolo Nene, a former presidential candidate and Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience, and the great-nephew of Edmond Nzeza Nlandu, a founder of ABAKO, the independence movement that produced the first president of an independent Congo. He co-founded the Free François Beya Kasonga Collective, a multidisciplinary platform whose campaign contributed to the release and acquittal of the former Chairman of the Congolese National Security Council. His work has appeared in African Arguments, Vanguard Africa and The Africa Report. He has also commented on Al Jazeera.