Botswana & Congo Kinshasa
Botswana leaders stay away from Kabila funeral

afrol.com / AENS, 23 January - None of Botswana's most senior leaders will attend assassinated Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) president Laurent Kabila's state funeral today. Kabila, who was reportedly killed by a bodyguard last week Tuesday, was flown from Zimbabwe to his home province of Lubumbashi and onwards to the DRC capital Kinshasa at the weekend in preparation for the State funeral.

Neither Botswana President Festus Mogae nor his deputy, Lt Gen Seretse Khama Ian Khama, will attend and have yet to indicate whether they will honour invitations to the inauguration of Kabila's son, Joseph, later in the week. 

Former Botswana president and facilitator for inter-Congolese dialogue, Sir Ketumile Masire, is also staying away from the funeral, his spokesman Daniel Sibongo said on Monday. Masire was appointed facilitator by the Organisation for African Unity (OAU) in December 1999 in a bid to bring warring factions in the DRC to the negotiating table.

Masire and Kabila's often stormy relationship have, however, resulted in limited negotiation and no real concessions from government. Kabila instead labelled Masire "a complicator" and accused him of bias against the DRC government. Masire in return told diplomats and the media that Kabila had barred him from visiting the DRC and was undermining OAU peace efforts.

Masire recently indicated a thaw in relations, however, and said it appeared Kabila was finally prepared to consider negotiations with rebel factions in the country. Details of Kabila's assassination are still sketchy, but DRC Communications Minister Dominique Sakombi said Kabila was shot three times by a bodyguards while meeting government officials on January 16.

Sakombi denied initial reports that Kabila was discussing a reshuffle of the military high command with a group of top generals. Sakombi also denied that Kabila died of his wounds almost immediately in Kinshasa, insisting that he was only pronounced "clinically dead" in Zimbabwe last week Thursday.

The regional East African newspaper claimed on Monday that Kabila had been "fine-tuning a major purge of top army officers" after recent heavy defeats suffered by the DRC army and its allies in Katanga province against Rwandan-backed rebels.

A group calling itself the 'Conseil national de la resistance pour la democratie' (CNRD) have meanwhile claimed responsibility for killing Kabila in a statement sent to the French news agency, AFP. The CNRD praised Kabila's assassin, identified only as Rachidi, as a hero and accused Kabila of witnessing the summary execution of 47 "young patriots" on January 15.

- It's the straw that broke the camel's back, the statement read. The CNRD is a former component of the Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaïre (AFDL) army which marched on Kinshasa in 1997 and brought Kabila to power. 

CNRD leader General Andre Kisase Ngandu clashed with Kabila ahead of the AFDL's arrival in Kinshasa, and disappeared in mysterious circumstances. The United Nations Information Network (IRIN) meanwhile reports that the situation in the DRC remains tense and "extremely unstable".

IRIN quotes local political observers saying the days following Kabila's funeral will be "very unpredictable". Kabila's son Joseph is due to be sworn in as the new president following his father's funeral.

By Lettie Gaelesiwe, African Eye News Service (AENS)

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