Laurent-Desire Kabila

Laurent-Désiré Kabila , 1939-2001, Congolese political and rebel leader. He studied at universities in France and Tanzania. returning home in 1960. He supported Patrice Lumumba , established (1967) a Marxist party, and led a group of rebels that opposed Joseph Mobutu (later Mobutu Sese Seko ). Spending most of the 1980s in Tanzania, Kabila resurfaced in Zaïre in the 1990s, again becoming the leader of a rebel army. In 1997, while Mobutu was in Europe, Kabila led his forces (which were supported by Uganda and Rwanda) into Kinshasa and 12 days later was sworn in as president; he soon changed the country's name back to Congo. In 1998 he established two national assemblies, but any movement toward democracy soon ended when he banned all political opposition and proceeded to establish a repressive regime. In mid-1998 a rebellion broke out among Tutsis in E Congo, supported by Kabila's former allies Uganda and Rwanda. A ceasefire was reached in 1999, but the rebellion grew and sporadic fighting continued. In 2001 Kabila was assassinated, apparently by one of his bodyguards, and his son, Joseph Kabila , succeeded him as president.

Kabila, Laurent-Désiré (b. 1 Jan 1958; d. 16 Jan 2001). President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, 1997–2001 Born in Moba, Shaba province, he went to France to study philosophy. He returned to Congo in 1960, but after the military coup of 1961 became a leading figure of the underground movement. He opposed the Mobutu regime from the beginning, but was unsuccessful at rallying sufficient resources in finance and manpower to succeed. In 1996, finally, he founded a broad coalition moment named the Alliance for the Liberation of Congo-Zaïre. His forces were increasingly successful against the ailing Mobutu, and in 1997 he took the capital, Kinshasa. He proclaimed himself President on 29 May 1997. Hopes that Kabila would create democratic rule and end the corruption of his predecessors, however, were soon dashed, as he amassed more and more powers. His consequent failure to integrate different groups into his government led to the continuation of the civil war. He was murdered by a bodyguard, and succeeded by his son, Joseph.

Congo, Democratic Republic of (Zaïre) Founded in 1885 as a personal possession of the Belgian King Leopold II as the Congo Free State, on the basis of treaties signed between his agents and over 400 local chiefs in the area. Leopold's insistence that the cost of the economic development of the area should be borne by the colony itself led to the ruthless exploitation of the territory by European firms, who were allowed to force the local population to work for them. Responding to the international public outcry when this became known, the Belgian state annexed the territory in 1908 and took over from the personal government of the King to create the Belgian Congo.

Harsh rule by the colonial government persisted, remaining ‘paternalist’ even after World War II: indigenous people were trained for subservient positions, and the growth of educated, articulate local elites was prevented. Despite the ban on political organizations, independence movements began to form in 1955, such as the Mouvement National Congolais (Congolese National Movement) under Patrice Lumumba. To the surprise of many Belgians, these gained unstoppable momentum from the autonomy status granted to the states of neighbouring French Equatorial Africa, particularly the Congo, in 1958.

Overwhelmed by colonial and international pressures, the Belgian government agreed to independence on 30 June 1960, when the Democratic Republic of Congo was proclaimed (Zaïre from 1971). Without a developed social or national elite, with inexperienced leadership, and with few developed ties between over 400 different peoples, the country immediately sank into chaos. Ethnic tensions made the democratic formation of a national party impossible. The withdrawal of skilled labour, which had been entirely foreign, caused economic chaos, while the army, devoid of indigenous high-ranking officers, was in disarray. At the request of the government, the UN sent in troops to restore order. Matters were complicated by the declaration of independence on 11 July 1960 (Congo Crisis) by the prosperous region of Katanga, whose economy provided 60 per cent of the state's income.

The Civil War was eventually overcome in 1965, when Mobutu declared himself President and transformed the country into an authoritarian, single-party state. His policy of fostering nationalism created a hostile climate for foreign investment, which caused tremendous problems in an economy dependent on foreign technology for the exploitation of its vast mineral resources. By 1995 its economy had still not progressed beyond its levels of output in 1958, before independence. Gross National Product declined by an annual average of 9 per cent, 1988–93. By contrast, there had developed a small, wealthy elite of some 5,000 people who controlled the political and military machine, led by Mobutu.

The increasingly fragile dictator was unable to prevent the spread of the civil war from 1996, as his government troops were faced by a well-organized opposition. Its leader, Kabila, took the capital in May 1997 and declared himself President. Kabila re-named the country the Democratic Republic of Congo. The civil war continued, and was supported by numerous African nations fighting for their own share in Congo's mineral wealth. Troops from Namibia, Zimbabwe and Angola sided with the government, while forces from Ruanda, Burundi and Uganda helped the rebel forces control the country's eastern half. Meanwhile, the rebel forces were themselves split into different factions, with opposition against Kabila providing the single common element. What was described as ‘Africa's First World War’ ( M. Albright) claimed an estimated 2.5 million lives between 1998 and 2003.

Kabila was assassinated in early 2001, and was succeeded by his son, Laurent. Following a peace deal brokered by Mbeki, Laurent Kabila formed an interim government in June 2003, which included leaders from the rebel factions. Fighting continued in the east, and in June 2003, an international European and African force led by France and sanctioned by the UN arrived in the north eastern town of Bunia.