>The assassination of Congo president Laurent Kabila was greeted with
>ill-disguised glee amongst Western commentators. It was not always thus.
>US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright described Kabila as a 'beacon
>of hope' and a 'strong new leader' when he took power from the ageing
>dictator Mobutu in 1997. Then Kabila was supported by the State
>Department's favorite regional dictators Paul Kagame of Rwanda, and
>Yoweri Museveni of Uganda - the three lionised as a new generation of
>African leaders. But since then Kabila, Museveni and Kagame fell out,
>and the Rwandan army that had taken him to power, took arms against him,
>plunging the country into war.
Thanks for a well-written analysis of the imperial scramble for Congo.
In the following article, the New York Times accuses Zimbabwe of meddling in the Congolese affairs, while remaining silent over Washington's role as the backer of Kagame & Museveni:
***** The New York Times January 20, 2001, Saturday, Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section A; Page 6; Column 4; Foreign Desk HEADLINE: Zimbabwe Says It Stands By Congo in Conflict BYLINE: By RACHEL L. SWARNS DATELINE: HARARE, Zimbabwe, Jan. 19
Behind the red-brick walls of the military barracks, Zimbabwe's presidential guard marched the gleaming white coffin of President Laurent Kabila of Congo into a tiny chapel crowded with Congolese dignitaries and cabinet ministers today.
But when the coffin was opened, the first man to view the body of the assassinated leader was President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
Mr. Mugabe bowed solemnly over the body and assailed this week's killing of Mr. Kabila, a man he described as "a comrade in arms, a friend, a brother, a revolutionary colleague."
As hundreds of mourners wept at their first glimpse of the fallen president, Mr. Mugabe pledged his country's continued military support for the shaken Congolese government, which has been devastated by two and a half years of war.
It was a gesture of respect and remorse, but it was also a striking indication of the powerful role that Mr. Mugabe is playing in Congo and will continue to play even as the country shifts to a new government.
Mr. Kabila's son, Joseph, is officially in charge now. But government officials and Western diplomats say Zimbabwe is quietly keeping a close hold on the levers of power and will remain a crucial force in determining the course of the transition in that vast, troubled country.
That reality was clear today as Mr. Mugabe met with a delegation of more than 20 Congolese ministers and senior officials. It is no secret that Congo's government would have fallen long ago to rebels and foreign armies who invaded the country were it not for Zimbabwe's 12,000 soldiers fighting along with Mr. Kabila's troops. This week's crisis has only made Congo's military, economic and political dependence on Zimbabwe even more evident.
When Mr. Kabila was shot by a bodyguard at the presidential palace in the capital, Kinshasa, on Tuesday, it was to Zimbabwe that his officials rushed his body early on Wednesday morning. It is still unclear whether he died in flight, as some reports have said. When African leaders attending a conference in Cameroon discussed the Congo situation, it was Mr. Mugabe who then met with the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, to discuss the attack and the prospects for peace.
Congo's national airline, which has no operating passenger aircraft, relies entirely on Air Zimbabwe's Boeing 737 and 767 jets to carry people between its major cities and to Europe, Air Zimbabwe officials said today. And the economies of the two countries have become increasingly intertwined as the Congolese government has given Zimbabwe's government significant interests in its diamond and copper mines and timber fields to help cover the costs of the war.
Government officials here take pains to emphasize that they respect Congo's sovereignty and defer to its leaders' independence. It is certainly true that Mr. Kabila, who sometimes frustrated even his allies with his reluctance to accept aspects of the peace negotiations, did not always agree with Mr. Mugabe. As for the economic links, Zimbabwean officials insist that their business ventures in Congo have yet to bear much fruit.
But as the crisis in Congo unfolded this week and it became increasingly clear that the two countries were coordinating behind the scenes, some Zimbabwean officials were also startlingly candid about the enormous power they wield.
"Up to now, they are still asking for our assistance," Defense Minister Moven Mahachi said of the Congolese authorities in an interview two days after Mr. Kabila was shot. "If Zimbabwe pulled out today there would be chaos. Lives would be lost."
George Charamba, a spokesman for Mr. Mugabe, said the president continued to play a crucial role in coordinating a regional response to the war, which has drawn in half a dozen African nations and destabilized all of Central Africa. "Zimbabwe does play some considerable role in determining the way forward," he said.
Sir Ketumile Masire, the former president of Botswana who is overseeing the peace talks, was not surprised to learn that Mr. Kabila's body had ended up in Zimbabwe, given the two leaders' strong personal ties. "President Mugabe has always supported President Kabila," Mr. Masire said in an interview. "And in times like this you run to your friends."
State television here finally broadcast videotape of Mr. Kabila's body tonight. In the evening news, soldiers saluted the dead leader, who was dressed in a cream-colored suit, while women curtsied before his coffin.
Abdoulaye Yerodia Ndombasi, the leader of the Congolese delegation, said it was fitting that Mr. Kabila was lying in the country that had supported him in his battle against rebels supported by Rwanda and Uganda. Angola and Namibia also support Mr. Kabila's government, but the two countries have only 1,000 to 2,000 soldiers each in Congo.
"The last breath of the president came out here in Harare, showing the link of brotherhood between President Kabila and his comrade and brother President Mugabe, and between the Congolese armed forces and the Zimbabwean armed forces," Mr. Yerodia Ndombasi said, his voice breaking as he offered the official version of Mr. Kabila's death.
Relatives of Mr. Kabila also wept. Mr. Kabila's son, Joseph, is believed to have remained in Kinshasa, where his father will be buried on Tuesday after his body is returned from Zimbabwe on Saturday. But analysts say there is little doubt that he, too, has been in touch with Zimbabwean officials.
"They're the most important force, in military and economic terms," said Erik Kennes, a researcher at the Africa Institute in Brussels, who is writing a biography of Mr. Kabila. "The whole survival of the regime depends on them." *****
Imperialism today presents itself as if it were a neutral & well-intentioned arbiter of a "local" conflict among "natives." Silly liberals get suckered into believing this imperial pose of "being above the fray," hence their calls for "peace-keepers," etc.
Yoshie