Congo-Kinshasa: Kabila Inaugurated Amid Tight Security

6 December 2006
allAfrica.com
By John Allen

Cape Town — Joseph Kabila was sworn in on Wednesday as the first democratically-elected leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo in four decades.

The ceremony in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, was attended by African heads of state including Jose Eduardo dos Santos of Angola, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Omar Bongo of Gabon.

But a correspondent for the SA Broadcasting Corporation reported that opposition leader, Jean-Pierre Bemba, did not attend the inauguration. In a live radio report monitored in Cape Town, the correspondent said Bemba had not yet publicly explained his stayaway.

On November 28, Bemba announced that he disagreed with the Supreme Court's decision to confirm Kabila's election, but in the interests of peace would accept the role of opposition leader.

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