DR CONGO: AFRICAN LEADERS ATTEND FUNERAL OF ASSASSINATED PRESIDENT LAURENT KABILA.
Record ID:
630972
DR CONGO: AFRICAN LEADERS ATTEND FUNERAL OF ASSASSINATED PRESIDENT LAURENT KABILA.
- Title: DR CONGO: AFRICAN LEADERS ATTEND FUNERAL OF ASSASSINATED PRESIDENT LAURENT KABILA.
- Date: 24th January 2001
- Summary: KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (JANUARY 23, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) GV/TV: EXTERIOR PEOPLE'S PALACE, POLICE AND ARMY BANDS MARCHING (2 SHOTS) LV/GV: VARIOUS OF MOURNERS ON STEPS OF PEOPLE'S PALACE, BANNER READING "LAURENT KABILA, SOLDIER OF THE PEOPLE, WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU" (2 SHOTS) GV: ARMY GUARDS ON STEPS GV: INTERIOR, COFFIN LYING IN STATE, DRAPED IN FLAG MV/PAN: LATE PRESIDENT LAURENT KABILA'S WIFE GETTING OUT OF CAR AND ENTERING PALACE LV: EXTERIOR - DIGNITARIES ARRIVING GV/PAN: KABILA'S BROTHER ARRIVING (DARK SUIT, GLASSES, ON SCREEN RIGHT) GV: DELEGATION FROM OLD SOLDIERS ASSOCIATION (UNACO - UNION NATIONALE DE ANCIENS COMBATANTS) ARRIVING LV/MV/PAN: PRESIDENT DESIGNATE, JOSEPH KABILA WALKING TOWARDS PEOPLE'S PALACE, UP STEPS AND INSIDE (2 SHOTS) GV/MV: EXTERIOR PEOPLES PALACE, VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WATCHING ARRIVALS, CHEERING (3 SHOTS) GV/PAN: ZIMBABWE PRESIDENT ROBERT MUGABE ARRIVING WITH HIS WIFE, WALKING UP STEPS MV/PAN: ZAMBIAN PRESIDENT FREDERICK CHILUBA WALKING UP STEPS MV/PAN: NAMIBIAN LEADER SAM NUJOMA ARRIVING SCU: SOLDIERS IN RED BERETS (2 SHOTS) MV: JOSEPH KABILA STANDING LOOKING AT LAURENT KABILA IN COFFIN, PAYING LAST RESPECTS TO FATHER CU/MV/LV: KABILA IN COFFIN/ WIDE (3 SHOTS) MV/CU: JOSEPH KABILA AND MUGABE LOOKING ON/ KABILA (2 SHOTS0 GV/MV/CU: VARIOUS OF MOURNERS LISTENING TO FUNERAL SERVICE (4 SHOTS) GV: FAMILY GATHER TO VIEW BODY OF MURDERED PRESIDENT LAURENT KABILA/ SOME CRYING CU: MOURNER'S FACES (2 SHOTS) GV/MV: COFFIN BEING CARRIED FROM PEOPLE'S PALACE (2 SHOTS)
- Embargoed: 8th February 2001 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
- Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
- Topics: Crime,International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAD2S83Z0SC6IKUO9HJLXR27B6G
- Story Text: Democratic Republic of Congo's assassinated president Laurent Kabila has been buried at the former Belgian colony's first parliament, by the side of the Congo River.
Kabila was shot by a bodyguard a week ago. He died despite being flown to Zimbabwe for emergency medical treatment.
Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday (January 23) promised a full inquiry into the killing of President Laurent Kabila as thousands of mourners and several African leaders attended his funeral in the capital, Kinshasa.
Security was tight, much of it entrusted to foreign troops from states that had backed Kabila in his fight against rebels in the east of his vast country.
Heavily armed soldiers from Zimbabwe were posted around the People's Palace, where the funeral took place, and nearby roads were blocked by armoured personnel carriers. Hundreds of troops from another war ally, Angola, had also been called in.
Kabila's son, Joseph, soon to be sworn in as his successor as head of state, led the mourners.
Kabila was shot in his office last Tuesday (January 16) by a bodyguard, who was then immediately shot himself before he could give any explanation. The authorities in Kinshasa say the soldier acted alone and no clear motive has emerged.
Kabila was flown to Zimbabwe for treatment after being shot and died there on Thursday (January 18), the Congolese government said.
Rwanda and Uganda, who helped bring Kabila to power in 1997 but then backed the rebels trying to oust him, have both denied involvement in the killing.
Joseph, who has met foreign diplomats but made no public statement since being appointed interim leader, made no speech.
Solemn music played inside the palace as the white coffin was opened at the start of the ceremony to reveal the face of Kabila, the rest of his head wrapped in white cloth.
When the service ended, the coffin, draped in the blue Congolese flag starred with gold, was borne from the People's Palace on the shoulders of six senior army officers to a waiting gun carriage to be taken to the Palace of the Nation.
The Palace of the Nation, where Kabila was laid to rest in a mausoleum, is linked for many Congolese to murdered independence prime minister and nationalist Patrice Lumumba, to whose political heritage Kabila laid claim.
The presidents of Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia, Malawi and Sudan were present along with Louis Michel, the foreign minister of former colonial power Belgium.
Kabila's closest ally, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, arrived to the biggest cheers for any foreign leader.
"Courage, courage," chanted the crowds outside the People's Palace as Mugabe arrived with a huge entourage.
Loud cheers also went up for President Jose Eduardo dos Santos of Angola and Sam Nujoma of Namibia, who, like Mugabe, sent troops to support him in a war against rebels backed by his former friends in Rwanda and Uganda.
Other leaders present were President Frederick Chiluba of Zambia, President Bakili Muluzi of Malawi and Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
There was no head of state from Western states, who welcomed Kabila's overthrow of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko but fell out with him over what they saw as his stubbornness preventing an end to the war, his failure to restore democracy, and human rights abuses.
South Africa sent Vice-President Jacob Zuma to represent President Thabo Mbeki, with whom Kabila's relations were sometimes strained.
Kabila came to power in 1997 after an eight-month bush war that ended the corrupt three-decade reign of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, whose ruthless plundering impoverished the mineral-rich country at Africa's heart.
But Kabila's early promise of change crumbled when he fell out with his Ugandan and Rwandan allies.
In an indication of the edginess in Kinshasa, where people have mixed feelings about the way Joseph Kabila was named to succeed his father, the Congolese armed forces urged people not to be alarmed by a 21-gun salute for the dead leader.
No date has yet been set for Joseph's swearing-in, although officials have been told to prepare for an unspecified ceremony on Wednesday that many believe could be the inauguration.
One of Joseph's first tasks will be to deal with the war that has raged on after the stillborn 1999 Lusaka Peace Accord.
Congo's government has said it will resume negotiations to end the war, while making clear its demand for a total withdrawal of Rwandan and Ugandan forces still stands.
Since Kabila's death, pressure has built up, particularly from allies, to end fighting which few of the countries involved can afford and which has left tens of thousands dead.
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