The era of President Laurent-Desire Kabila (1997–2001)

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Rebellion in Zaire–Former Cuban Comrades Cast Doubts on Kabila's Rebel Image
He was Che Guevara's Worst Headache. By Jean Damu, Pacific News Service, 23 April 1997. Laurent Kabila is often identified in terms of his history of fighting with popular opposition movements for more than 30 years. But interviews with some of those where close to the situation at the time suggest that picture is seriously flawed.
Kabila: The Last of Lumumba's Forge
By Dihur Godefroid Tchamlesso, Prensa Latino (Havana), 10 May 1997. This highly favorable reflection on Kabila is by Kabila's once aide and the Dar-es-Salaam representative of the 1964-1965 guerrilla movement in charge of the military security and the training of cadres abroad.
Will Kabila be a dictator?
A position paper by S. N. Sangmpam, 15 May 1997. Argues that common sense and compassion for the suffering masses of Zaire dictates that we support Kabila and AFDL.
A Volatile Mixture: Behind Washington's Maneuvers in Zaire
By Deirdre Griswold, Workers World, 22 May 1997. Until now, U.S. capitalism's attitude toward Laurent Kabila, nominal leader of the rebel forces seeking the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko, has been not just friendly but downright eager. However, his move to nationalize a railroad in mineral-rich eastern Zaire is being criticized in the big-business press here.
Mobutu Out: What's Next for Congo's Workers and Peasants?
By Monica Moorehead, Workers World, 29 May 1997. The Congolese people are rejoicing because Mobutu Sese Seko, the former president of Zaire, finally fled the country on May 16 in utter humiliation and has requested asylum in Morocco. Laurent Kabila, the leader of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo/Zaire, which carried out a seven-month military campaign against Mobutu, declared himself the new president and renamed Zaire the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Behind the Threat of U.S.-UN Sanctions against the Congo
By Monica Moorehead, Workers World, 2 October 1997. The UN wants to investigate human rights abuses, but President Kabila won't give it a free hand. The demand is linked to sactions, the preferred way for U.S. imperialism to attack countries that refuse to do its bidding. How the UN was used by the U.S. and other imperialists in the 1960s to crush genuine independence.
Torture/Medical concern/Fear of torture; Prisoners of conscience
Amnesty International Urgent Action Bulletin, 27 November 1997. Eleven leaders of a political movement known as the Forces du futur, Forces of the Future, arrested while meeting in Kinshasa. Hundreds of people, including members of political opposition groups, arrested since the AFDL took power on 17 May 1997.
Fear of ill-treatment/Fear for safety
Amnesty International Urgent Action Bulletin, 17 February 1998. The arrest of Etienne Tshisekedi, leader of the Union pour la Democratie et le Progres social (UDPS), Union for Democracy and Social Progress, by the Congolese Armed Forces. He is accused of violating the ban on political activity imposed by President Laurent Kabila.
Congo-Belgian Relations Dip Further
By Raf Casert, AP, 5 April 1998. Evidence that Belgium seeks to undermine Kabila because capitalists were blocked from exploiting Congos's right natural resources. Belgium's foreign minister unhappy that three Belgian diplomats were detained for trying to transport weapons out of Belgium's consulate in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi.
Laurant-Désiré Kabila's Profile
Panafrican News Agency, 17 January 2001. The pressumed assassinated military leader and president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo had ruled his country only for three years (since 1997), but he managed to remain in the news all through for most of that period: first, as a leader the west could count on, and then as a dictator, seriously criticised both by the government of the U.S and those of European Union.