2001: The death of Laurent Desire Kabila

Photo: AP

The late DRC president Laurent Desire Kabila

It
took the DRC government two days to officially announce Kabila's death,
after first stating that he was wounded but still alive. Kabila's body
was flown back to the DRC from Zimbabwe, where he was taken after the
shooting, and he was buried with full military honours in Kinshasa on 23
January.

Now, all eyes are on his 31 year-old son Joseph Kabila
who takes on the mantle of president and supreme commander of the armed
forces. In his first address to the nation after his inauguration on 26
January, the younger Kabila appeared to adopt a more conciliatory tone
than his father. While sticking to the line that the "aggressors"
(Rwanda and Uganda) must be removed from Congolese territory, he
nevertheless pledged to find ways of implementing the stalled Lusaka
peace process, aimed at ending the ongoing conflict in DRC.

The
war pitches Uganda- and Rwanda-backed rebels based in the east and
northwest against DRC troops, supported by Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia.
The rebels have rejected Kabila as president, and stated that his
inaugural speech "contained nothing new". Diplomats are scrambling to
harness the slight ray of hope hanging over DRC politics. Otherwise the
country risks descending into greater chaos than before, which the
young, inexperienced leader will be hard-pressed to contain. Kabila
himself has already embarked on a tour to Europe and the US.