Kabila vulnerable after turning away from the West
Artisenal miners dig in an open-pit mine outside the southern Congo copper town of Lubumbashi. Kabila has the task of improving the lives of the Congolese people, whose have been distracted by the war, for close to four decades. Photo/REUTERS
The persistent rebellion in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo calls into question Joseph Kabila’s presidency and who wants him out.
It appears that the forces that were behind the assassination of his father, Laurent Desire Kabila, are regrouping after realising that he is asserting himself.
Kabila was pushed into the leadership of Africa’s third largest country in 2001 at the age of 31 following the assassination of his father, who owed his ascent to power to Uganda and Rwanda.
But it is the same forces — who perceived him as a transitional president — that have kept Kabila busy.
He has always maintained that Rwanda and Uganda, who have maintained a presence in the eastern Congo, either directly or by proxy, have to leave to allow an inter-Congolese dialogue.
But now, his main headache is his attempt to distance himself from the West, which was instrumental in his elevation to power.
Kabila has progressively moved towards China, thereby alienating the West, especially former colonial power Belgium.
DRC experts point out that Kabila is simply responding to the strong public feeling that Congo has always been a victim of the West, which habitually installs puppets there to do its bidding in as far as the country’s vast resources are concerned.
These sentiments stem from murder of the independence hero Patrice Lumumba, who was seen to be fighting for the resources of the country to be used to benefit the Congolese people; and the excesses of Mobutu Sese Seko, who was seen as a puppet of the West.
Having maintain a low profile for some years, Kabila now does not want to be seen as a pawn of the West, and wants to satisfy the wishes of his constituents.
The assassination of his father did not help matters since his death was seen as having come from his refusal to co-operate with some mineral barons out to fleece the country of its resources.
Joseph Kabila’s handlers feel that while the Lusaka agreement signed in July 1999 forced him to incorporate rebel leaders such as Jean Pierre Bemba into his government, it is now time for him to rule freely after winning the first democratic general election in 40 years.
This, however, has not been easy. Besides its vast size, DRC has always attracted immense interest from the neighbouring countries and the West. Kabila is also under pressure to restore the dignity of the Congo and its military, after years of battering by Uganda and Rwanda.
Born to a Tutsi woman while his father was in exile, he communicates more easily in the English and Kiswahili languages, which are spoken in much of East Africa than in the French and Lingala languages that are spoken in Kinshasa. He cuts an unassuming figure compared to his extrovert father.
In one of his first trips to the US after taking power in 2001, Kabila in an interview expressed strong feelings against the undue interference by Uganda and Rwanda in DRC and appealed to his neighbours to recognise the country’s sovereignty.
Still, he has to battle against forces who contend that Congo is too vast and too rich to remain as a single entity and would rather it were divided for peace to return.
The armies that are occupying eastern Congo have as their goal the ending of his rule, with other observers arguing that the rebellion will not end as long as he is seen as continuing his father’s policies.
Besides, Kabila has the task of improving the lives of the Congolese people, whose have been distracted by the war, for close to four decades.
