Laurent Kabila

A military court in Congo sentenced 26 people to death for their involvement in the assassination of President Laurent Kabila two years ago. Kabila was allegedly shot to death by a bodyguard in his palace in January 2001 and was replaced soon afterward by his son, Joseph. The bodyguard was shot dead at the scene. Among those sentenced to death was Col. Eddy Kapend, Laurent Kabila's closest personal aide, who was found guilty of having organized what was described by the court as a failed coup.

President Laurent Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo was shot in a 30-minute gun battle Tuesday at his residence, and some diplomats and sources in neighboring countries said he had been killed. Airports and borders were closed, and a curfew was imposed, but Congolese government officials in Kinshasa, the capital, did not confirm that the president was dead.

The death of Laurent Kabila, the autocratic president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, promises, if confirmed, even more chaos for his war-riven nation. At this point, only combined internal and external forces could put down Congo's civil war, drive out thousands of foreign troops and persuade the United Nations to send in peacekeepers, presuming there is a peace to keep.

Day or night, sober or drunk, Laurent Desire Kabila wasn't shy about calling his chief U.S. contact at the height of his war against Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. "He frequently called me at my house, sometimes in the middle of the night," recalled Peter Whaley, a now-retired diplomat who served as political officer at the U.S. Embassy in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, at the time of the 1996-97 conflict. "Once he called me, drunk as a skunk, and he said: 'Mr.

The apparent assassination of Congolese President Laurent Kabila has created a dangerous power vacuum that could lead to an escalation of the troubled country's civil conflict as the warring sides jostle for control, analysts and diplomats said Wednesday. Any intensification of the fighting would plunge the vast Central African nation into another chaotic phase in its tumultuous history, they warned.

Government officials finally confirmed Thursday that Congolese President Laurent Kabila is dead, ending two days of uncertainty over the leader's fate after he was gunned down in his palace. In an announcement on state television, Information Minister Dominique Sakombi told the nation that the president had died at 10 a.m. Thursday despite desperate attempts by doctors to save him. He didn't say where Kabila died.

The body of slain Congolese President Laurent Kabila was returned Saturday to the town that was once his power base, where family and comrades mourned ahead of a state funeral in the capital, Kinshasa. Kabila's son, Joseph, quickly installed by the government as the new president, did not attend the ceremony in Lubumbashi. He remained in Kinshasa, where the body will be flown today to lie in state before a funeral Tuesday.

Almost four years after his successful bush war toppled a much-hated dictator and propelled him to power, Congolese President Laurent Kabila was laid to rest Tuesday as authorities promised a full inquiry into his assassination. Thousands of mourners massed outside People's Palace, where Kabila had been lying in state in recent days, while a succession of foreign delegations bearing floral wreaths arrived to pay last respects.

Congo's President Joseph Kabila told the United Nations on Friday he was willing to begin a dialogue with his military and political enemies and urged them to reciprocate "without reservations." "We want to bring together all the Congolese while at the same time respecting differences among them," Kabila said, referring to military and civilian opponents. Addressing the U.N.

Laurent Kabila flew into this diamond-mining heartland Monday to survey the latest conquest by his rebel force in its seven-month battle to unseat President Mobutu Sese Seko. Kabila arrived in Mbuji-Mayi accompanied by foreign diamond-mining executives. "Laurent! Laurent!" a group of young men chanted at the airport. About 100 teenage boys yelled the rebel leader's middle name: "Desire! Desire!"