Uganda, Rwanda and Congolese rebels have all described as evil-minded, senseless and ridiculous a new report in which the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) accused them of involvement in the assassination of the former Congolese President, Laurent Desire Kabila, in January. The report, released on Wednesday in the capital Kinshasa, said international intelligence agencies were also implicated but did not specify which.
The DRC Communications Minister, Kikaya bin Karubi, said ninety people still imprisoned in connection with the shooting of Kabila will testify in upcoming trials. Revealing the evidence at this stage, he said, could jeopardize the whole case
For his part, John Nagenda, a senior advisor to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, expressed contempt for the Kinshasa report. "Even when we were fighting the dreadful duo of (Milton) Obote and (Idi) Amin," said Nagenda, "we never believed in political killings. It is completely out." Nagenda also said the report is a ploy to divert attention from the real killers but he did not specify who those may be. While Uganda may not mourn Kabila's death, he argued, his government did not believe in political killings.
Meanwhile Rwanda's Foreign Minister Andre Bumaya also rejected Kinshasa's accusations. He said his country did not believe in assassinations as a means to tackle "political issues" and belittled the investigating team as lacking credibility. On the issue of Rwanda's role in the Congo, Bumayo said his country had "legitimate security concerns" there.
The DRC government report also pointed the finger at the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), based in the eastern Congolese town of Goma and backed by Rwanda. The RCD's head of internal security, Bizima Karaha, was singled out in the report. He was a one-time foreign minister of the late President Kabila before the two men became adversaries.
Karaha echoed Rwandan and Ugandan denials and described claims of his involvement in the killing of Laurent Kabila as "total rubbish". He also questioned the motives behind the report. "It simply shows you," he said, "that either they've got no clue at all about what happened, or they are determined to hide what really happened." He contended that Laurent Kabila's assassination was an inside job.
President Kabila was shot by one of his own bodyguards in mid-January. The bodyguard was himself shot by a Kabila aide currently jailed in Kinshasa. Following the assassination, Kabila's son took over. He was 29 years old. Joseph had served as chief of the army under his father and both men had led the rebellion which culminated in the overthrow of President Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997.
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In 1988, Uganda and Rwanda, Laurent Kabila's erstwhile backers, turned against him and threw their support behind a rebellion which continues to cripple the DRC under his son. But even then,Laurent Kabila wasn't short of backers. Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola rallied to his support when his regime looked teetering. And as recently as last week, the Namibian president, Sam Nujoma, led the charge again and accused Rwanda, Uganda and the Congolese rebels of genocide against two and a half million Congolese in eastern Congo.
