Congo Places President's Son in Charge

K I N S H A S A, Congo, Jan. 17, 2001 -- Congolese officials temporarily placed President Laurent Kabila's son in charge of the government today, a day after numerous foreign officials said the ruler of this troubled nation was shot and killed during a coup attempt.

Communications Minister Dominique Sakombi Inongo, who made theannouncement on state-run television after an emergency Cabinetmeeting, insisted Kabila was injured but alive.

The news came as Congolese officials appeared to be strugglingto fill a power vacuum in the already unstable, naturalresource-rich Central African country, where a 2 ½-year civil warhas turned into a regional conflict involving troops from a host ofAfrican nations.

As dawn broke over the capital today, tanksand soldier-filled trucks patrolled quiet and empty streets ashelicopters cruised overhead.

The younger Kabila, Joseph, is already head of the armed forcesand was reported to have been injured in the coup attempt.State-run television broadcast footage of him sitting alonesilently, though it was not immediately clear when the images wererecorded.

Reports of His Death Have Been Widely Disputed

Presidential spokesman Lambert Kaboye earlier said in atelephone interview that the elder Kabila was evacuated overnight to anundisclosed country, where he was receiving intensive treatment. Hedeclined to elaborate.

A lobbyist and public relations consultant who acts as Kabila'sspokesman in the United States, however, said the president hadbeen fatally shot.

"He's died," John Aycoth said Tuesday by telephone fromDurham, N.C., citing top-level Congolese officials.

Officials from Angola, Congo's close ally, also said Kabila hadbeen killed.

In Zimbabwe, another ally, top-ranking government officials toldthe state-run news agency today that Kabila died en route tothe capital, Harare, where he had been evacuated for his safety.The government was waiting for instructions on what to do with thebody, according to the unidentified officials.

A member of Kabila's security entourage said late Tuesday oncondition of anonymity that a bodyguard had shot the president inthe back and right leg during 30 minutes of intense gunfire at thepresident's Kinshasa residence.

French and Belgian Foreign Ministry officials quoted localsources as saying they believed Kabila died of his injuriesfollowing the gunfire. Belgium is Congo's former colonial ruler andretains close ties with the nation, formerly named Zaire.

Belgian Foreign Affairs Minister Louis Michel said in a radiointerview this morning that he had received reports thatKabila was killed following a disagreement with some of hisgenerals.

"The latest information we have seems to suggest there weredifferences between the president and a certain number of generalsthat went badly," Michel said. He said it was unclear whether itwas a general or a bodyguard who fired at Kabila.

A Tense SituationIn Belgium, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said the country ispreparing to evacuate its nationals from Congo if necessary. Hesaid Belgium would send two C-130 military cargo planes toLibreville, Gabon.

A number of Kabila's bodyguards were arrested and the homes ofothers were being searched today in the wake of the shooting,the wife of one of the bodyguards said on condition of anonymity.

Kabila came to power in May 1997 following a Uganda- andRwanda-sponsored rebellion against former dictator Mobutu SeseSeko. Kabila's hold over the army has grown increasingly tenuous inrecent months, with some troops reportedly threatening to revoltover pay demands. Young recruits make as little as $10 a month.

After the shooting, state television broadcast an appeal forcalm by presidential aide Eddy Kapend. Local journalists witnessedKapend being escorted by Angolan soldiers, who in recent monthshave played a dominant role in Kabila's alliance of Congolese andforeign troops.

The conflicting reports on Kabila's death came hours afterwitnesses described gunfire around his home. A presidentialhelicopter later landed at Kinshasa's main hospital, a governmentofficial who witnessed the event said, adding there wereunconfirmed reports that the aircraft was carrying Joseph Kabila,who had apparently been injured.

The Life of a Rebel

The elder Kabila has been fighting a civil war since August1998, when rebel forces backed by his former allies, Rwanda andUganda, turned against him. In the war's early stages, the rebelsreached the outskirts of Kinshasa before being turned back byKabila's army, which is now supported by Angola, Namibia andZimbabwe.

Speaking from Brussels, Kin-Kiey Mulumba, a spokesman for one ofthe main rebel movements, insisted Kabila was dead. The shootingproved that the Congolese people wanted a change, he said, denyingthat rebels had anything to do with it.

"Something big happened in our country this afternoon. Peoplewant change," he said Tuesday.

The world community initially welcomed Kabila, who many hopedwould be an improvement over Mobutu's decades-long rule, which lefthis nation desperately broke and with an infrastructure that barelyfunctioned.

But Kabila quickly alienated himself, inviting close friends andrelatives into the government, angering investors and obstructing aU.N. investigation of reports that his rebel army had slaughteredthousands of Hutu refugees.