Confronted with atrocious accounts of rape committed by members of the Congo military, Congolese President Joseph Kabila at first was silent -- then found his voice, saying "It's shocking. These kinds of acts are simply unforgivable." The father of a young girl, Kabila was commenting after watching an exclusive CNN report from last week in which women, children and a doctor described an array of sex crimes by the Congolese military -- some of whom used knives to rape their victims.
Kabila, a former military man, appeared shaken after the report. He watched it and watched it again, shifting uncomfortably in his seat each time he heard a victim's horrific story, shaking his head and narrowing his eyes. Locals say soldiers from one ethnic group are systematically raping and mutilating women from another group, with the intention, they say of destroying their child-bearing capabilities. Kabila was quick to acknowledge that more than 300 former soldiers have been convicted and jailed for sexual crimes, but admitted that is not enough. "We clearly need to do more for our citizens," he said. "But just imagine for a moment a country as large as all of Western Europe with few roads and little infrastructure. It's a difficult terrain to police and Congo doesn't have an effective policing system. But after the election, all this will change. If elected, I will make this one of my first priorities."
Kabila is the transitional president, appointed to the job after the assassination of his father in January 2001. He hopes to be the first democratically elected leader since Congo gained independence in 1960. A U.N. report earlier this month found that physical violence against civilians by members of the security forces is "reported wherever army and police are deployed." The report went on to say that rapes and other sexual violence against women and girls are occurring throughout the country, with the "main perpetrators being army and police officers." How can such crimes be happening with such impunity under his presidency? "It's shameful that soldiers anywhere are allowed to do such things," he said. "That's why I want to be president. I want to change this. I want to make security one of my first priorities so that these and other acts come to an end once and for all."
Five years ago, Kabila was catapulted to power after his father, then-President Laurent Desire Kabila, was assassinated in an attempted coup. Joseph Kabila was then 29 years old and the army chief of staff, having spent half his life in the military. He saw a peace deal signed more than three years ago attempt to halt a bloody war that began in 1998 and drew in no less than six other African countries in what Africa analysts dubbed the continent's First World War. That conflict killed an estimated 3.9 million people, and despite the accord, fighting and lawlessness abounds. Now, at 34, Kabila is running for election at the end of July. The West hopes the first democratic elections in more than 40 years will bring an end to the nation's infighting. Kabila is considered the favorite among a field of 33 candidates. "This election is extremely important for the Congolese people," he said. "It's been a long time coming, and we need this to get back into the fold of the community of nations."
Kabila spoke to CNN in the town of Lubumbashi in the country's south, a province as large as Texas and mineral-rich in everything from copper to cobalt to uranium. He appeared relaxed and at ease at first, dressed in a pin-striped suit, sky-blue shirt and striped tie. But that changed when he was shown the report on victims of sexual violence in Bukavu. "I've spent most of my life in the military," he said. "This isn't the way soldiers are supposed to behave. If elected, I will do everything I can to rectify this problem and help make our people feel safe again."
In its 2006 report on human rights in the Congo, Amnesty International said that "slow progress was (being) made in building security, justice and respect for human rights after nearly a decade of war." However, the group also noted that "Despite systematic violations of human rights, hardly any suspected perpetrators were brought to justice."
Source: CNN
Showing posts with label Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Show all posts
Thursday, June 1, 2006
Wednesday, June 9, 2004
UN links Rautenbach to DRC
Billy Rautenbach, the former head of Hyundai South Africa and the fugitive millionaire "somewhere in Africa", has been named in a secret report by the United Nations as a "prominent roleplayer" in corruption activities in Africa - particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This information was given exclusively to Beeld on Wednesday amid allegations in court documents that the DRC government and its officials owned various assets were being seized in South Africa and other countries.
A UN report, completed about four years ago, uncovered Rautenbach's corrupt activities in various African countries. At the time, copies of the report were distributed to a number of African heads of state, but nothing came of this. The existence of this report came to light amid efforts by Frans Rootman, a Pretoria investigator, to seize assets after winning a US$20m claim in September in Pretoria against the DRC government. By Wednesday, the DRC had not paid one cent towards the settlement, which included legal costs.
Chris Schoeman, who is representing Rootman in the asset-seizure process, on Wednesday registered an asset-seizure claim in the Belgium high court for DRC-owned property in this country. Millions of rands are also held in a DRC bank account in Belgium. Two of Rootman's attorneys, John Mendelsohn of Johannesburg and Gerhard Painter of Pretoria, confirmed the existence of the UN report on Wednesday. Mendelsohn said, however, the DRC refused to give them a copy of the report as it "contained state secrets".
Rautenbach, considered by the UN to be a prominent roleplayer in corruption, was appointed head of the state-controlled Gecamines by the late president, Laurent-Désiré Kabila. But, in the wake of this report, Kabila appointed Rootman to investigate the theft of large amounts of cobalt from Gecamines. In his investigations, Rootman also found Rautenbach to be a key figure in the disappearance of the cobalt.
Willie Hofmeyr of the SA national prosecutions authority said an international warrant of arrest had already been issued against Rautenbach. He said the UN was also working on an extradition. Sources close to Rautenbach said he was in Harare "where he has President Robert Mugabe and other ministers in his pocket". They also said it was common knowledge that Rautenbach had involved the late Kabila's government in his schemes.
Source: News 24
A UN report, completed about four years ago, uncovered Rautenbach's corrupt activities in various African countries. At the time, copies of the report were distributed to a number of African heads of state, but nothing came of this. The existence of this report came to light amid efforts by Frans Rootman, a Pretoria investigator, to seize assets after winning a US$20m claim in September in Pretoria against the DRC government. By Wednesday, the DRC had not paid one cent towards the settlement, which included legal costs.
Chris Schoeman, who is representing Rootman in the asset-seizure process, on Wednesday registered an asset-seizure claim in the Belgium high court for DRC-owned property in this country. Millions of rands are also held in a DRC bank account in Belgium. Two of Rootman's attorneys, John Mendelsohn of Johannesburg and Gerhard Painter of Pretoria, confirmed the existence of the UN report on Wednesday. Mendelsohn said, however, the DRC refused to give them a copy of the report as it "contained state secrets".
Rautenbach, considered by the UN to be a prominent roleplayer in corruption, was appointed head of the state-controlled Gecamines by the late president, Laurent-Désiré Kabila. But, in the wake of this report, Kabila appointed Rootman to investigate the theft of large amounts of cobalt from Gecamines. In his investigations, Rootman also found Rautenbach to be a key figure in the disappearance of the cobalt.
Willie Hofmeyr of the SA national prosecutions authority said an international warrant of arrest had already been issued against Rautenbach. He said the UN was also working on an extradition. Sources close to Rautenbach said he was in Harare "where he has President Robert Mugabe and other ministers in his pocket". They also said it was common knowledge that Rautenbach had involved the late Kabila's government in his schemes.
Source: News 24
Friday, January 19, 2001
A Nervous Congo Admits That Its President Is Dead
The Congo government finally announced today that President Laurent Kabila had died, two days after it was reported that he had been shot by a bodyguard. But it is not clear that the battle-worn and impoverished Congo is ready to accept his 31-year-old son as his successor. A Belgian businessman who lives in Kinshasa said the decision to name the son, Maj. Gen. Joseph Kabila, to lead the government seemed to increase tension here, a sentiment reflected on the streets. ''This is a government we have -- it's not a monarchy,'' said Moise Muamba, an 18-year-old student. ''They can't do what they did.''
The announcement on national television this evening that the president is dead gave no details of how he died. Most reports have said that he was shot by a bodyguard, apparently during an argument with some of his generals, and that he died while being flown to seek medical aid in Zimbabwe, which stood as his country's main ally, along with Angola. The government announcement said he had died today in a Zimbabwe hospital. In its announcement, the government also signaled its intention to continue the president's hard-line position toward a 29-month war against rebels that has thrown all of Central Africa into disorder.
Using the same language employed during Laurent Kabila's rule, the communications minister, Dominique Sakombi Inongo, said on state television that Mr. Kabila had left a testament to the army to ''flush the aggressors out of the national territory.'' The government has consistently described the war as an invasion from outside Congo and has refused to negotiate with the Congolese rebels, who are backed by Rwanda and Uganda. As the official announcement was being made, Congo rebels said their positions in the north were being bombed by government troops. The head of Congo Liberation Front, Jean-Pierre Bemba, reported the strikes to the news agency Agence France-Presse.
In the capital tonight, the streets were quiet, with a curfew still in place. People milling outside just before the start of the curfew reacted calmly to the death of Mr. Kabila, who marched into Kinshasa four years ago as the heroic victor over one of Africa's great dictators, Mobutu Sese Seko, but whose own dictatorial style had made him increasingly unpopular. ''There haven't been any positive things, so why should he be mourned?'' said Papy Masundi, 22, a trader who was sitting on a sidewalk and sharing a bottle of beer with four friends. One of his friends, Francis Basayi, 27, an apprentice taxi driver, said Mr. Kabila's death might now bring peace in Congo. ''If he wanted peace,'' Mr. Basayi said, ''peace would have come two years ago. He said he'd come to liberate us. But after all this time, we didn't see any change. The price of gasoline keeps climbing, and so does the price of food. Before I was doing a little well, but look at me now.''
Kinshasa was deserted Wednesday, a day after the shooting in the presidential palace, as people stayed home out of fear. But today taxis and buses started running again, and people returned to work all across Kinshasa, a sprawling city of five million that is like a carcass of houses, roads and sewers built by Belgian colonialists and abandoned by Congo's rulers. Ferry service on the great Congo River between here and Brazzaville, in the Congo Republic, remained closed. The government reopened the main airport, but most carriers stayed away because of insecurity. On one of the few planes that flew in and out of Kinshasa, many European and Lebanese women and children could be seen leaving the capital. Lebanese men, who fearlessly sustain businesses in the most unstable of African cities, typically send their wives and children away during crises -- and the men depart only when things fall apart completely.
After announcing the president's death tonight, state television showed images that tried to portray his son as having already taken control. It showed General Kabila receiving the ambassadors from Belgium, France, Britain, China and Russia, and an American Embassy representative, Barry Walkley. General Kabila, who has no political experience but who will be supported by his father's small inner circle, made no announcement of his own today. Little is known of him, other than that he received his military training in China after his father took over in 1997. Called back to this country after the outbreak of the current war in August 1998, Joseph Kabila was quickly given the rank of general. He is said to have been born in eastern Congo, near the borders with Rwanda and Uganda. His father was a small-time guerrilla fighter for three decades, most of them spent in the eastern region, before the Rwandans and Ugandans plucked him out of obscurity in 1997 to head a rebellion against Mr. Mobutu.
In Kinshasa, people were said to be unhappy about the son's ascension, not only because of its monarchical tinge, but for a far darker reason: His mother, people in Kinshasa say, is a Tutsi. The Tutsi ethnic group, which controls the governments in Burundi and Rwanda, are hated in this part of the country. It was Rwandan Tutsi -- the main victims of the 1994 massacre led by Hutu extremists -- who backed Laurent Kabila against Mr. Mobutu. But once Mr. Kabila arrived here in Kinshasa, he quickly turned against his former Tutsi patrons. Though he had helped the Tutsi exact revenge on Hutu extremists, Mr. Kabila did an about-face to side with these same Hutu. Many of the Congolese rebels who are backed by Rwanda are ethnic Tutsi. Called the Banyamulenge, they have lived in Congolese territory for generations but have never been accepted by other Congolese. After the outbreak of war in August 1998, Mr. Kabila often seized on Congolese hatred of Tutsi to rally his forces.
In Kinshasa, Mr. Kabila never brooked much freedom, and that legacy survived his death. Even as his government denied for two days that Mr. Kabila had been killed, the residents of Kinshasa heard the news on shortwave radio from France, Britain and the United States. People interviewed this evening, before the official announcement was made, were wary of speaking of his death. Most seemed afraid even of mentioning his name. ''It's difficult -- no one knows what's happening,'' said Christian Unshemvula, 29, who speaks English with an American accent and said he had studied at San Jose State University. ''I just want things to improve in this country, on the economic and political levels.'' Asked what effects Mr. Kabila's death might have on Congo's future, Mr. Unshemvula said: ''I'm not a politician. I don't know.''
The Kabila regime clamped down severely on its critics, and many of those interviewed today took the government line, which often seemed surreal. ''Since he's come into power, we've had peace,'' Alain Tshimwanga, 26, said of Laurent Kabila. ''Since he's been here, we've had no disruption.''
State television gave no details of Mr. Kabila's funeral. But the government of Belgium, the former colonial ruler, which was the first to announce Mr. Kabila's death on Tuesday night, said his body would be flown first to Lubumbashi, his hometown, and then here to Kinshasa. His funeral is expected to take place on Tuesday.
Source: New York Times
The announcement on national television this evening that the president is dead gave no details of how he died. Most reports have said that he was shot by a bodyguard, apparently during an argument with some of his generals, and that he died while being flown to seek medical aid in Zimbabwe, which stood as his country's main ally, along with Angola. The government announcement said he had died today in a Zimbabwe hospital. In its announcement, the government also signaled its intention to continue the president's hard-line position toward a 29-month war against rebels that has thrown all of Central Africa into disorder.
Using the same language employed during Laurent Kabila's rule, the communications minister, Dominique Sakombi Inongo, said on state television that Mr. Kabila had left a testament to the army to ''flush the aggressors out of the national territory.'' The government has consistently described the war as an invasion from outside Congo and has refused to negotiate with the Congolese rebels, who are backed by Rwanda and Uganda. As the official announcement was being made, Congo rebels said their positions in the north were being bombed by government troops. The head of Congo Liberation Front, Jean-Pierre Bemba, reported the strikes to the news agency Agence France-Presse.
In the capital tonight, the streets were quiet, with a curfew still in place. People milling outside just before the start of the curfew reacted calmly to the death of Mr. Kabila, who marched into Kinshasa four years ago as the heroic victor over one of Africa's great dictators, Mobutu Sese Seko, but whose own dictatorial style had made him increasingly unpopular. ''There haven't been any positive things, so why should he be mourned?'' said Papy Masundi, 22, a trader who was sitting on a sidewalk and sharing a bottle of beer with four friends. One of his friends, Francis Basayi, 27, an apprentice taxi driver, said Mr. Kabila's death might now bring peace in Congo. ''If he wanted peace,'' Mr. Basayi said, ''peace would have come two years ago. He said he'd come to liberate us. But after all this time, we didn't see any change. The price of gasoline keeps climbing, and so does the price of food. Before I was doing a little well, but look at me now.''
Kinshasa was deserted Wednesday, a day after the shooting in the presidential palace, as people stayed home out of fear. But today taxis and buses started running again, and people returned to work all across Kinshasa, a sprawling city of five million that is like a carcass of houses, roads and sewers built by Belgian colonialists and abandoned by Congo's rulers. Ferry service on the great Congo River between here and Brazzaville, in the Congo Republic, remained closed. The government reopened the main airport, but most carriers stayed away because of insecurity. On one of the few planes that flew in and out of Kinshasa, many European and Lebanese women and children could be seen leaving the capital. Lebanese men, who fearlessly sustain businesses in the most unstable of African cities, typically send their wives and children away during crises -- and the men depart only when things fall apart completely.
After announcing the president's death tonight, state television showed images that tried to portray his son as having already taken control. It showed General Kabila receiving the ambassadors from Belgium, France, Britain, China and Russia, and an American Embassy representative, Barry Walkley. General Kabila, who has no political experience but who will be supported by his father's small inner circle, made no announcement of his own today. Little is known of him, other than that he received his military training in China after his father took over in 1997. Called back to this country after the outbreak of the current war in August 1998, Joseph Kabila was quickly given the rank of general. He is said to have been born in eastern Congo, near the borders with Rwanda and Uganda. His father was a small-time guerrilla fighter for three decades, most of them spent in the eastern region, before the Rwandans and Ugandans plucked him out of obscurity in 1997 to head a rebellion against Mr. Mobutu.
In Kinshasa, people were said to be unhappy about the son's ascension, not only because of its monarchical tinge, but for a far darker reason: His mother, people in Kinshasa say, is a Tutsi. The Tutsi ethnic group, which controls the governments in Burundi and Rwanda, are hated in this part of the country. It was Rwandan Tutsi -- the main victims of the 1994 massacre led by Hutu extremists -- who backed Laurent Kabila against Mr. Mobutu. But once Mr. Kabila arrived here in Kinshasa, he quickly turned against his former Tutsi patrons. Though he had helped the Tutsi exact revenge on Hutu extremists, Mr. Kabila did an about-face to side with these same Hutu. Many of the Congolese rebels who are backed by Rwanda are ethnic Tutsi. Called the Banyamulenge, they have lived in Congolese territory for generations but have never been accepted by other Congolese. After the outbreak of war in August 1998, Mr. Kabila often seized on Congolese hatred of Tutsi to rally his forces.
In Kinshasa, Mr. Kabila never brooked much freedom, and that legacy survived his death. Even as his government denied for two days that Mr. Kabila had been killed, the residents of Kinshasa heard the news on shortwave radio from France, Britain and the United States. People interviewed this evening, before the official announcement was made, were wary of speaking of his death. Most seemed afraid even of mentioning his name. ''It's difficult -- no one knows what's happening,'' said Christian Unshemvula, 29, who speaks English with an American accent and said he had studied at San Jose State University. ''I just want things to improve in this country, on the economic and political levels.'' Asked what effects Mr. Kabila's death might have on Congo's future, Mr. Unshemvula said: ''I'm not a politician. I don't know.''
The Kabila regime clamped down severely on its critics, and many of those interviewed today took the government line, which often seemed surreal. ''Since he's come into power, we've had peace,'' Alain Tshimwanga, 26, said of Laurent Kabila. ''Since he's been here, we've had no disruption.''
State television gave no details of Mr. Kabila's funeral. But the government of Belgium, the former colonial ruler, which was the first to announce Mr. Kabila's death on Tuesday night, said his body would be flown first to Lubumbashi, his hometown, and then here to Kinshasa. His funeral is expected to take place on Tuesday.
Source: New York Times
Killing Casts a Shadow Over Meeting
Opening a summit meeting that the Congolese leader Laurent Kabila was to have attended, heads of state from across Africa spent a moment today mourning Mr. Kabila -- even as his aides back in Congo were continuing to insist that he was not dead. ''I invite you to observe a minute of silence in memory of our dear brother, Laurent Kabila,'' President Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo, the presiding official, told delegates assembled for a two-day summit meeting of mostly French-speaking African countries.
Like most of the world, the leaders gathered here in this West African capital appeared to assume that Mr. Kabila had indeed been fatally shot hours before he would have left for the meeting. Yet as they began the proceedings, what little was being said was guarded, as participants awaited Congolese confirmation that what Le Messager, the Cameroon newspaper, had on Wednesday as its headline -- ''Kabila Assassine'' -- was indeed the truth. ''Our happiness,'' Secretary General Kofi Annan of the United Nations said in a speech, ''is tempered by the uncertainty of the fate of President Laurent Desire Kabila.'' Only later today, nearly two days after the palace shooting reportedly happened, did the Congolese government announce that Mr. Kabila was in fact dead, and even then it said that he had died only today after clinging to life for nearly 36 hours in a Zimbabwe hospital.
Uncertainty over Mr. Kabila's situation, however, provided a surreal start to the summit meeting. Wednesday night one arriving leader after another left his plane and marched nearly underneath a visage of the slain president, whose portrait was hanging with those of other leaders across a balcony overlooking the tarmac. But this morning, as the leaders began arriving at the conference center, Mr. Kabila was missing from a similar row of portraits inside the entrance. His absence, Mr. Annan said, would be felt as the meeting's participants took up globalization, this year's theme. Although the war-retarded economy of Congo is a long way from being integrated into the world's economy, its troubles are hurting the wider region. Conflict, as an obstacle to globalization, was to be a central issue in this meeting in which Congo and its president were to have had starring roles.
Whether this meeting could have helped resolve the civil war in Congo is another question. Few of the key figures in the conflict, which has involved six countries along with several rebel movements, were expected to attend. Indeed, aside from President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who stopped in briefly today before the formal opening of the meeting, only Namibia's president, Sam Nujoma, was here.
With many of the leading actors absent, the United Nations secretary general took the opportunity to assure them and the world of the United Nations' commitment to Congo and to implore the warring parties to practice restraint. ''I want to reaffirm the world's determination to play a key role in finding a peaceful solution to the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo,'' Mr. Annan said. ''I would like to call on all of the neighboring countries and all of the countries involved in that process not to complicate the situation, but instead to help the affected population of the Congo find peaceful solutions.''
Source: New York Times
Like most of the world, the leaders gathered here in this West African capital appeared to assume that Mr. Kabila had indeed been fatally shot hours before he would have left for the meeting. Yet as they began the proceedings, what little was being said was guarded, as participants awaited Congolese confirmation that what Le Messager, the Cameroon newspaper, had on Wednesday as its headline -- ''Kabila Assassine'' -- was indeed the truth. ''Our happiness,'' Secretary General Kofi Annan of the United Nations said in a speech, ''is tempered by the uncertainty of the fate of President Laurent Desire Kabila.'' Only later today, nearly two days after the palace shooting reportedly happened, did the Congolese government announce that Mr. Kabila was in fact dead, and even then it said that he had died only today after clinging to life for nearly 36 hours in a Zimbabwe hospital.
Uncertainty over Mr. Kabila's situation, however, provided a surreal start to the summit meeting. Wednesday night one arriving leader after another left his plane and marched nearly underneath a visage of the slain president, whose portrait was hanging with those of other leaders across a balcony overlooking the tarmac. But this morning, as the leaders began arriving at the conference center, Mr. Kabila was missing from a similar row of portraits inside the entrance. His absence, Mr. Annan said, would be felt as the meeting's participants took up globalization, this year's theme. Although the war-retarded economy of Congo is a long way from being integrated into the world's economy, its troubles are hurting the wider region. Conflict, as an obstacle to globalization, was to be a central issue in this meeting in which Congo and its president were to have had starring roles.
Whether this meeting could have helped resolve the civil war in Congo is another question. Few of the key figures in the conflict, which has involved six countries along with several rebel movements, were expected to attend. Indeed, aside from President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who stopped in briefly today before the formal opening of the meeting, only Namibia's president, Sam Nujoma, was here.
With many of the leading actors absent, the United Nations secretary general took the opportunity to assure them and the world of the United Nations' commitment to Congo and to implore the warring parties to practice restraint. ''I want to reaffirm the world's determination to play a key role in finding a peaceful solution to the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo,'' Mr. Annan said. ''I would like to call on all of the neighboring countries and all of the countries involved in that process not to complicate the situation, but instead to help the affected population of the Congo find peaceful solutions.''
Source: New York Times
Saturday, May 17, 1997
MOBUTU GIVES UP, LEAVING KINSHASA AND CEDING POWER
Ending nearly 32 years of rule in Africa's third-largest country, President Mobutu Sese Seko yielded power on Friday. He quietly slipped out of this besieged capital aboard a flight to his northern hometown, which diplomats described as a brief stopover en route to permanent exile. By early evening, there were unconfirmed reports here that Mr. Mobutu, 66, had already left his hometown, Gbadolite, presumably for Morocco, where the President maintains one of many luxurious palaces. Moroccan officials acknowledged that Mr. Mobutu's plane had been given landing rights, but would not confirm whether Mr. Mobutu was on his way there.
Mr. Mobutu's departure came as rebels who have fought a stunningly successful seven-month war against the Government drew within five miles of Kinshasa's international airport at the city's edge, Western diplomats said, and readied themselves to take over control of the capital. Mr. Mobutu, who had resisted entreaties to hand over power, finally did so after his top generals warned him in a series of nighttime meetings that they could neither defend him or the city of Kinshasa any longer.
Diplomats said on Friday that Zaire's generals were trying to make contact with leaders of the rebellion to arrange their peaceful entry into the city so as to avoid destructive fighting or a repeat of the devastating pillaging the capital has already seen twice this decade. Late Friday, however, reports reached here from the de facto rebel capital, Lubumbashi, that the rebel foreign minister, Bizima Karaha, had demanded the unconditional surrender of Zaire's military before hostilities are called off. In the first possible sign of an unraveling of the remnants of Zaire's Army, Zairian security officials reported Friday night that Gen. Mahele Lioko, the Deputy Prime Minister and Chief of Staff, had been killed by officers opposed to talks with the rebels. Diplomats said they could only confirm that General Mahele had been detained at a military camp at the edge of town, where gunfire was heard Friday evening.
Zairian security officers said that on hearing the news, the Prime Minister, Gen. Likulia Bolongo, took refuge in the French Embassy. Late Friday evening, General Likulia's family was seen arriving at the Inter-Continental Hotel. Early this morning, a Western military analyst said that a rebel company traveling along the railroad tracks had entered central Kinshasa. ''Things are coming to a climax very quickly,'' he said. ''The situation is very dangerous now, but I expect it will all be over shortly.'' Mr. Mobutu delivered no message to a nation he has dominated almost since independence from Belgium in 1960. Instead, the first word that people here heard of the news came in foreign radio broadcasts.
Reading a Government statement before a hastily gathered assembly of journalists in Kinshasa on Friday afternoon, the Information Minister, Kin Kiey Mulumba, said that Mr. Mobutu acknowledged that negotiations with the rebels had failed. As a result, he said, the President had ''ceased to intervene in the conduct of the affairs of state.'' Mr. Mulumba said that Mr. Mobutu had not formally resigned from office and could not directly hand over power to the rebel leader, Laurent Kabila, because the country's laws forbade such a transition. People close to Mr. Mobutu said that the deliberate ambiguity allowed a famously vainglorious leader to depart believing that he had fulfilled an oft-repeated vow that he would never be known as the former President, but only as the late President. Given the advanced prostate cancer that has visibly weakened him in recent weeks, many foreign diplomats say that they expect Mr. Mobutu's health will soon fail him.
Mr. Mulumba added that the Government would continue discussions with the rebels over new political arrangements for the country, and said that the Constitution empowered the newly elected head of the National Assembly, Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo, to lead future negotiations. Even as Mr. Mobutu sought to put a good face on his departure, his army commanders made it clear Friday that they had no intention of fighting the rebels any longer. 'It is not military means that we lack,'' said a Defense Ministry official. ''But General Mahele does not want to sacrifice a whole people because of a battle for the power of a single man. That's finished.'' Besides being Chief of Staff and Deputy Prime Minister, General Mahele also served as Defense Minister. He was one of three top officers, including the Prime Minister, General Likulia , who visited Mr. Mobutu on Thursday evening to inform him that they could no longer defend the city or protect him. Western diplomats said the officers, also including Gen. Nzimbi Ngbale, the commander of Mr. Mobutu's feared Presidential Guard, then urged the President to leave the country. Zairian security sources said Friday night that General Nzimbi had crossed the Congo River to the Republic of Congo.
A member of Mr. Mobutu's entourage said the President sent the three generals away in fury when they first approached him about ending the war effort and leaving the country. A second meeting was held at midnight, this associate of the President said. Mr. Mobutu then said he needed time to reflect. At 4 A.M. Friday, Mr. Mobutu again summoned his generals and told them of his decision to leave the country. ''He left Kinshasa a very angry man,'' the presidential associate said. ''A man who could still not believe it was all over, and felt abandoned.'' On Friday, Western diplomats said that Zaire's top generals had already begun to make contact with the rebellion and were preparing ''to open the city'' to Mr. Kabila's forces.
News of Mr. Mobutu's departure spread slowly in Kinshasa on Friday, and for the most part life in the capital was virtually normal through most of the day. By late afternoon, however, there were isolated reports of soldiers firing off their weapons, intimidating people and stealing vehicles. In many districts of this city of five million people, neighborhood welcoming committees freely rehearsed songs and put the finishing touches on banners to greet the rebels. Meanwhile, the elite that had sprouted around Mr. Mobutu made haste to the exits. All day, private speedboats carrying the rich and until now powerful jetted across the Congo River to Brazzaville, the capital of Congo. Many carried with them whatever precious possessions they could, anticipating they may never return.
The end of Mr. Mobutu's rule opened a period of deep uncertainty for Zaire, first in a transition period that will now begin, and eventually, it is almost universally assumed here, under the rule of Mr. Kabila. Mr. Kabila has proved himself a deft political operator who succeeded in riding a localized ethnic rebellion in the country's eastern border region all the way to national power, but little is known of his intentions or abilities as a head of state. Diplomats who have met him recently say that the 56-year-old rebel leader, who has fought against Mr. Mobutu intermittently since the country's early independence period, speaks almost nostalgically of the kind of collectivized agricultural ventures and huge state projects that were in vogue in his Marxist youth.
More troubling, Western diplomats say, has been Mr. Kabila's human-rights record at the head of rebel forces that massacred Rwandan Hutu refugees. Similarly, Mr. Kabila has made a long string of contradictory public statements about the future of democracy in Zaire, ranging from warnings that opposition parties will be suspended to pledges that a consensus government will be formed with other anti-Mobutu parties. ''Kabila is like a jack-in-the-box on the question of democracy and elections,'' said a senior Western diplomat here. ''Now that he has arrived, we are all waiting to see which Kabila is going to pop out.'' The form that future negotiations with the rebels will take is equally in doubt. Mr. Kabila has repeatedly said that he will not accord any role to Archbishop Monsengwo, the head of the National Assembly, and will refuse to work with any politicians who have been allies of Mr. Mobutu.
Before the South African-led talks between Mr. Mobutu and Mr. Kabila broke down, diplomats had hoped to get both sides to accept a South African proposal for the formation of a new Government, led by Mr. Kabila, but allowing for broad representation of other political parties. Mr. Mobutu's quiet departure reflected the pain of a man who since early adulthood has known little but undisputed rule. Some diplomats and members of the President's entourage said that in recent weeks the Zairian leader had been angling for a ''dignified way'' out of power that would avoid the humiliation Mr. Kabila has publicly thirsted to give his enemy of three decades. The idea of an exit with dignity was tarnished by the news on Friday that a Swiss court had already placed a lien on one of the President's mansions, in Savigny, after a request by the public prosecutor of the rebel-held city of Lubumbashi.
Mr. Mobutu escaped Zaire with his family intact -- his wife, her twin sister, who is also his concubine, and their children -- but for the remainder of his life he will almost certainly be hounded by efforts by Zaire and private creditors to reclaim whatever is left of the estimated $5 billion fortune that he once accumulated. With help from neighboring countries, the insurgency of Laurent Kabila took only seven months to seize control of virtually the entire country and oust the longtime Zairian dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko.
Timeline
Dec. 4, 1996 A month after the town of Goma became the rebels' first significant conquest, the area of rebel control has spread to other towns along Zaire's eastern border.
March 15, 1997 Kisangani, a key city at the head of navigation on the Congo River, falls to the rebels. Tens of thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees are captured by the rebels, many of whom have scores to settle with the refugees. April 9, 1997 The rebels capture Lubumbashi, the country's second city, consolidating their control over Zaire's diamond, cobalt and copper mines. The Mobutu Government is deprived of its major source of income.
May 7, 1997 Driving toward Kinshasa, the rebel offensive takes Kenge, 120 miles from the capital. Thoughout the campaign, Government forces put up little resistance, fleeing rather than fighting.
May 16, 1997 With rebel forces in control of the entire country except for Kinshasa and Mobutu's hometown, Gbadolite, Mobutu flees the capital and gives up power.
Source: New York Times
Mr. Mobutu's departure came as rebels who have fought a stunningly successful seven-month war against the Government drew within five miles of Kinshasa's international airport at the city's edge, Western diplomats said, and readied themselves to take over control of the capital. Mr. Mobutu, who had resisted entreaties to hand over power, finally did so after his top generals warned him in a series of nighttime meetings that they could neither defend him or the city of Kinshasa any longer.
Diplomats said on Friday that Zaire's generals were trying to make contact with leaders of the rebellion to arrange their peaceful entry into the city so as to avoid destructive fighting or a repeat of the devastating pillaging the capital has already seen twice this decade. Late Friday, however, reports reached here from the de facto rebel capital, Lubumbashi, that the rebel foreign minister, Bizima Karaha, had demanded the unconditional surrender of Zaire's military before hostilities are called off. In the first possible sign of an unraveling of the remnants of Zaire's Army, Zairian security officials reported Friday night that Gen. Mahele Lioko, the Deputy Prime Minister and Chief of Staff, had been killed by officers opposed to talks with the rebels. Diplomats said they could only confirm that General Mahele had been detained at a military camp at the edge of town, where gunfire was heard Friday evening.
Zairian security officers said that on hearing the news, the Prime Minister, Gen. Likulia Bolongo, took refuge in the French Embassy. Late Friday evening, General Likulia's family was seen arriving at the Inter-Continental Hotel. Early this morning, a Western military analyst said that a rebel company traveling along the railroad tracks had entered central Kinshasa. ''Things are coming to a climax very quickly,'' he said. ''The situation is very dangerous now, but I expect it will all be over shortly.'' Mr. Mobutu delivered no message to a nation he has dominated almost since independence from Belgium in 1960. Instead, the first word that people here heard of the news came in foreign radio broadcasts.
Reading a Government statement before a hastily gathered assembly of journalists in Kinshasa on Friday afternoon, the Information Minister, Kin Kiey Mulumba, said that Mr. Mobutu acknowledged that negotiations with the rebels had failed. As a result, he said, the President had ''ceased to intervene in the conduct of the affairs of state.'' Mr. Mulumba said that Mr. Mobutu had not formally resigned from office and could not directly hand over power to the rebel leader, Laurent Kabila, because the country's laws forbade such a transition. People close to Mr. Mobutu said that the deliberate ambiguity allowed a famously vainglorious leader to depart believing that he had fulfilled an oft-repeated vow that he would never be known as the former President, but only as the late President. Given the advanced prostate cancer that has visibly weakened him in recent weeks, many foreign diplomats say that they expect Mr. Mobutu's health will soon fail him.
Mr. Mulumba added that the Government would continue discussions with the rebels over new political arrangements for the country, and said that the Constitution empowered the newly elected head of the National Assembly, Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo, to lead future negotiations. Even as Mr. Mobutu sought to put a good face on his departure, his army commanders made it clear Friday that they had no intention of fighting the rebels any longer. 'It is not military means that we lack,'' said a Defense Ministry official. ''But General Mahele does not want to sacrifice a whole people because of a battle for the power of a single man. That's finished.'' Besides being Chief of Staff and Deputy Prime Minister, General Mahele also served as Defense Minister. He was one of three top officers, including the Prime Minister, General Likulia , who visited Mr. Mobutu on Thursday evening to inform him that they could no longer defend the city or protect him. Western diplomats said the officers, also including Gen. Nzimbi Ngbale, the commander of Mr. Mobutu's feared Presidential Guard, then urged the President to leave the country. Zairian security sources said Friday night that General Nzimbi had crossed the Congo River to the Republic of Congo.
A member of Mr. Mobutu's entourage said the President sent the three generals away in fury when they first approached him about ending the war effort and leaving the country. A second meeting was held at midnight, this associate of the President said. Mr. Mobutu then said he needed time to reflect. At 4 A.M. Friday, Mr. Mobutu again summoned his generals and told them of his decision to leave the country. ''He left Kinshasa a very angry man,'' the presidential associate said. ''A man who could still not believe it was all over, and felt abandoned.'' On Friday, Western diplomats said that Zaire's top generals had already begun to make contact with the rebellion and were preparing ''to open the city'' to Mr. Kabila's forces.
News of Mr. Mobutu's departure spread slowly in Kinshasa on Friday, and for the most part life in the capital was virtually normal through most of the day. By late afternoon, however, there were isolated reports of soldiers firing off their weapons, intimidating people and stealing vehicles. In many districts of this city of five million people, neighborhood welcoming committees freely rehearsed songs and put the finishing touches on banners to greet the rebels. Meanwhile, the elite that had sprouted around Mr. Mobutu made haste to the exits. All day, private speedboats carrying the rich and until now powerful jetted across the Congo River to Brazzaville, the capital of Congo. Many carried with them whatever precious possessions they could, anticipating they may never return.
The end of Mr. Mobutu's rule opened a period of deep uncertainty for Zaire, first in a transition period that will now begin, and eventually, it is almost universally assumed here, under the rule of Mr. Kabila. Mr. Kabila has proved himself a deft political operator who succeeded in riding a localized ethnic rebellion in the country's eastern border region all the way to national power, but little is known of his intentions or abilities as a head of state. Diplomats who have met him recently say that the 56-year-old rebel leader, who has fought against Mr. Mobutu intermittently since the country's early independence period, speaks almost nostalgically of the kind of collectivized agricultural ventures and huge state projects that were in vogue in his Marxist youth.
More troubling, Western diplomats say, has been Mr. Kabila's human-rights record at the head of rebel forces that massacred Rwandan Hutu refugees. Similarly, Mr. Kabila has made a long string of contradictory public statements about the future of democracy in Zaire, ranging from warnings that opposition parties will be suspended to pledges that a consensus government will be formed with other anti-Mobutu parties. ''Kabila is like a jack-in-the-box on the question of democracy and elections,'' said a senior Western diplomat here. ''Now that he has arrived, we are all waiting to see which Kabila is going to pop out.'' The form that future negotiations with the rebels will take is equally in doubt. Mr. Kabila has repeatedly said that he will not accord any role to Archbishop Monsengwo, the head of the National Assembly, and will refuse to work with any politicians who have been allies of Mr. Mobutu.
Before the South African-led talks between Mr. Mobutu and Mr. Kabila broke down, diplomats had hoped to get both sides to accept a South African proposal for the formation of a new Government, led by Mr. Kabila, but allowing for broad representation of other political parties. Mr. Mobutu's quiet departure reflected the pain of a man who since early adulthood has known little but undisputed rule. Some diplomats and members of the President's entourage said that in recent weeks the Zairian leader had been angling for a ''dignified way'' out of power that would avoid the humiliation Mr. Kabila has publicly thirsted to give his enemy of three decades. The idea of an exit with dignity was tarnished by the news on Friday that a Swiss court had already placed a lien on one of the President's mansions, in Savigny, after a request by the public prosecutor of the rebel-held city of Lubumbashi.
Mr. Mobutu escaped Zaire with his family intact -- his wife, her twin sister, who is also his concubine, and their children -- but for the remainder of his life he will almost certainly be hounded by efforts by Zaire and private creditors to reclaim whatever is left of the estimated $5 billion fortune that he once accumulated. With help from neighboring countries, the insurgency of Laurent Kabila took only seven months to seize control of virtually the entire country and oust the longtime Zairian dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko.
Timeline
Dec. 4, 1996 A month after the town of Goma became the rebels' first significant conquest, the area of rebel control has spread to other towns along Zaire's eastern border.
March 15, 1997 Kisangani, a key city at the head of navigation on the Congo River, falls to the rebels. Tens of thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees are captured by the rebels, many of whom have scores to settle with the refugees. April 9, 1997 The rebels capture Lubumbashi, the country's second city, consolidating their control over Zaire's diamond, cobalt and copper mines. The Mobutu Government is deprived of its major source of income.
May 7, 1997 Driving toward Kinshasa, the rebel offensive takes Kenge, 120 miles from the capital. Thoughout the campaign, Government forces put up little resistance, fleeing rather than fighting.
May 16, 1997 With rebel forces in control of the entire country except for Kinshasa and Mobutu's hometown, Gbadolite, Mobutu flees the capital and gives up power.
Source: New York Times
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