-Caveat Lector- > http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/17/world/17CONG.html?pagewanted=all > > January 17, 2001 > > Congo Leader Reportedly Dead After Being Shot by Bodyguard > > By NORIMITSU ONISHI > > BIDJAN, Ivory Coast, Jan. 16 - President Laurent Kabila of Congo, who > deposed one of Africa's great dictators but then brought his country > into even worse disarray, was shot and killed today, diplomats and > associates said. > > The president was shot by one of his bodyguards, according to John E. > Aycoth, a lobbyist and public relations consultant in Washington who > acts as Mr. Kabila's spokesman in the United States. He said he had > talked to top Congolese officials, who told him that the president was > dead. > > The killing was also reported by Louis Michel, foreign minister of > Belgium, Congo's former colonial ruler, who said he was told of Mr. > Kabila's death by "two trustworthy sources." > > The circumstances of the shooting were not immediately known, but one > report said that it had involved a dispute between Mr. Kabila and some > of his generals. > > The Congolese government gave no details of the incident, but > announced that it had sealed borders, closed the airport and imposed a > night curfew. A televised address by President Kabila's personal chief > of staff, Col. Edy Kapend, suggested the seriousness of the events. > Soldiers surrounded the presidential palace, according to reports from > the capital, Kinshasa, though the city itself appeared calm. There was > no indication who was in charge. > > Ordering senior commanders to bring their units under control, Colonel > Kapend said: "No shots may be fired, for whatever reason, without > prior order. The population must not be thrown into panic and the > troops must not grow agitated." > > The government's minister of interior, Gaetan Kakudji, one of Mr. > Kabila's closest allies, went on state television to say that the > president himself had ordered the curfew, suggesting that he was still > alive. > > But in Washington, a senior administration official said the United > States has received several reports from credible sources that Mr. > Kabila had been assassinated. "Our operating assumption is that he is > dead," the official said. > > Mr. Kabila's death would dramatically alter the dynamics of a two- > and-a-half-year war that has drawn in half a dozen African nations and > destabilized all of Central Africa. > > Mr. Kabila, who deposed the longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in > 1997, had long been considered the main obstacle to any diplomatic > resolution to the current conflict, and had become increasingly > isolated in his four years in office. > > It was not clear tonight who might have led the shooting of Mr. > Kabila, though his standing in the military had fallen recently. > > After months of stalemate during which the warring parties had seemed > satisfied with carving up Congo and feasting on its natural resources, > Mr. Kabila's forces suffered a serious defeat late last year in > Katanga, the mineral-rich province in the southeast. > > Shots were heard this afternoon near the presidential palace, where > fighting also had occurred, according to the United Nations in New > York, citing Kamel Morjane, the United Nation's special envoy to > Congo, who was in Kinshasa. > > While Mr. Kabila had promised to deliver the Congolese from the years > of Mr. Mobutu's dictatorship, he immediately banned all political > parties after coming to power. And he never followed through on his > promise to hold elections in April 1999, instead running the country > himself, with the help of a strong military. > > Mr. Kabila steadily lost popularity in the capital. He traveled only > at night, because during the day pedestrians would lift their shirts > to show their bellies at his passing motorcade as a sign that they > were hungry. > > Yet Mr. Kabila had made no effort to end the crippling war, which has > displaced up to two million people within the country and pushed a > quarter of a million more into neighboring countries. In fact, he > appeared to do whatever he could to disrupt diplomatic progress. > > After a peace accord was signed 18 months ago, Mr. Kabila ignored its > contents. At every turn, he blocked the United Nations from even > beginning the process of deploying troops in the Congo. The United > Nations, which currently has about 500 civilian and military officials > in Congo, has been authorized to deploy 5,000 peacekeepers. But it has > not done so mainly because of Mr. Kabila. > > Susan E. Rice, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, > said that Mr. Kabila's death, if confirmed, would create "a > significant change in the landscape." > > The United States will soon warn Congo's neighbors not to try to > profit from the death of Mr. Kabila, she said. "We would urge all > belligerents not to try to take advantage of this to further their own > interests," Ms. Rice said in an interview in Washington. She pressed > rebels and their foreign allies to "work collectively to be a part of > the solution that advances democracy and stability in Congo and in the > region." > > Mr. Kabila's taking of power in 1997 was greeted with considerable > optimism. Even Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright praised him > during a visit to Kinshasa in December 1997. > > Two of America's closest African allies, Rwanda and Uganda, chose Mr. > Kabila, an obscure rebel, to head a rebellion against Mr. Mobutu. The > two had suffered from the insecurity created by a weakening Congo, > especially in its eastern region, away from the capital. The Tutsi-led > government of Rwanda wanted to eliminate hardcore Hutu militias who > had taken a leading role in the 1994 Rwandan mass killings and were > hiding in eastern Congo. > > But soon after Mr. Kabila came to power, he turned against his former > patrons, who were greatly resented in Congo. Almost as quickly, the > Rwandans and Ugandans backed another rebellion, this time to oust Mr. > Kabila, in August 1998. The conflict soon drew in Angola, Zimbabwe and > Namibia on Mr. Kabila's side, each of those countries plunging into > the war in Congo for its own reasons. > > During the past two and a half years, though, the overriding reason > for their presence in Congo was to loot its resources. Angolan and > Zimbabwean officers were rewarded with diamonds for their support. > Meanwhile, in the territories that Rwanda and Uganda controlled, they > mined for diamonds and grabbed Congo's timber. In the northern diamond > center, Kisangani, Rwandans and Ugandans fought against each other for > control of mineral resources, killing hundreds of ordinary Congolese > in the process. > > In Kinshasa, Mr. Kabila ruled even more harshly than the dictator from > whom he said he had freed the Congolese. Unlike Mr. Mobutu, who had > skillfully co-opted his political opponents, Mr. Kabila simply ignored > the quiet ones and clamped down on the troublemakers, creating > adversaries at home. > > According to the accord signed 18 months ago, Mr. Kabila was supposed > to meet with other Congolese leaders in a sort of national conference, > but he never bothered to conceal his lack of interest. He even closed > down the Kinshasa office of an appointed mediator, Ketumile Masire, a > former president of Botswana. > > Mr. Kabila, who spent three decades in the bush as a small-time > guerrilla fighter, showed little interest in negotiation. But ever the > survivor, he was adept at finding military allies, sometimes the > unlikeliest ones. When the Rwandan Tutsi supported him, he helped them > massacre Hutu hiding in eastern Congo, including the Interahamwe > militias, who had organized the 1994 genocide. After the Rwandan Tutsi > turned against him, Mr. Kabila in turn backed the Interahamwe. > > After months of inactivity - with the peace accord still in effect, on > paper - Mr. Kabila turned again to a military solution last October. > His troops began an initially successful attack on Rwandan-held > territory in southeastern Congo, but were eventually pushed back and > ended up with a net loss. In recent weeks, both sides were said to be > preparing for another battle. > <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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