The Day Of The Assassin

The first shots rang out just after 1 p.m. Laurent-Desire Kabila, 61, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was in heated discussion with advisers inside the presidential palace in the capital of Kinshasa. Details of what happened next remain sketchy. One version is that a bodyguard drew the President aside and then shot him twice. Another is that a minister shot the President after Kabila ordered his arrest. In any event, shooting continued for about 30 minutes. Soon after, presidential chief of staff Eddy Kapend went on state television to appeal for calm and announce the temporary closure of the country's borders. As Kapend spoke, Kabila was being loaded onto a plane for Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. Kinshasa, a normally chaotic city of 5 million people, grew eerily calm. Within hours, reports from Belgium, the D.R.C.'s former colonial ruler, and the U.S. said Kabila had been killed.

His death was officially announced two days later after a farcical series of "yes, he's dead," "no, he's alive" declarations and denials--drawn out, most likely, as various government factions fought over who should succeed him. American officials say they think the shooting was the result of an internal power struggle, a by-product of the country's bloody civil war. Some African analysts finger the Angolans, who were frustrated with Kabila's leadership. There was a glimmer of hope in the news: Western diplomats think Kabila's death may encourage the warring factions to seek peace.

Much of that will depend on Kabila's eldest son, Major General Joseph Kabila, 31, who should be sworn in as President this week. A shy nonsmoker and teetotaler, Joseph is unpopular with many Congolese. He grew up in East Africa during his father's rebel days and reportedly prefers English and Kiswahili to French and Lingala, the most widely spoken Congolese language. Joseph takes charge of a country in name only. The war that began as a rebellion in the east of the country in August 1998 quickly became an African scramble for Africa. Rwanda and Uganda, which had supported Kabila pere in his campaign to end the reign of Mobutu Sese Seko, backed the rebellion after falling out with Kabila. Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe supported the Congolese President in return for the promise of lucrative oil and mining concessions. A peace accord signed 18 months ago by the main protagonists called for a cease-fire, but fighting has dragged on.

Caught in the war's grip are 51 million Congolese. The International Rescue Committee, a group based in New York City that helps people fleeing war and violence, estimates that in the 30 months since the war broke out, more than 2 million people have died as a result of fighting, most of them from preventable diseases and malnutrition. At least a third of the deaths have been children under five. Kabila's death last week may have got the most headlines, but it is not the country's first war-related casualty, and it is unlikely to be the last.