Laurent-Désiré Kabila

Lore & Background

The conspiracy to murder Kabila began in early January 2001, when a group of kadogos traveled to Brazzaville and prepared Operation Mbongo Zero. The scheme outlined how they would infiltrate important buildings in the capital, such as the Palais de Marbre. Mbongo means 'bull' in Swahili and 'money' in Lingala. After gaining access, the perpetrators would approach the president with a revolver and fire at him. Rashidi Mizele was reported to have said 'I will kill him'. On 16 January 2001, the assassin entered the president's office as Kabila was discussing with economics adviser Emile Mota about inviting French officials to a meeting. Mizele bent over Kabila, pulled out a revolver and shot the president four times in the abdomen. He escaped the palace with other conspirators amidst gunfire. Former Health Minister Leonard Mashako Mamba was next door and arrived immediately after the shots were fired. Mwenze Kongolo had been waiting for admission to the palace at 1:45 pm and heard gunshots. Other bodyguards rushed in and fired at Mizele, who was hit first in the leg, then twice more to make sure he was dead. After 15 minutes, Kabila was in a helicopter headed to a clinic in Gombe, Kinshasa. Curfew that day started at 6 pm, and after 8 hours, a motorcade set off from the clinic for the long drive to N'djili Airport, escorting the ambulance. Kabila was rushed in a helicopter to Harare, Zimbabwe for medical treatment, but was declared dead on 18 January 2001 at 10 am.

Reader's Guide

Kabila received a state funeral on 20 January 2001. His body, placed in a gold-plated white coffin covered with the DRC flag, was flown first to his hometown of Moba and then to Lubumbashi, where it was displayed for a day before being moved to Kinshasa. On 23 January, an ecumenical service of nearly three hours was held at the Palais du Peuple. During the prayers, religious leaders appealed for peace, unity, and love among Congolese people. In her funeral address, the representative of the Constituent Assembly–Transitional Parliament declared that honoring Kabila's memory required 'driving out of national territory the Rwandan, Burundian, and Ugandan aggressors', and demanding their 'immediate and unconditional withdrawal'. She proposed the construction of a monument inscribed with 'je ne trahirai jamais' ('I will never betray'). After the service, the coffin was carried out in a massive procession of several hundred vehicles and a crowd so large it overwhelmed protocol and security, accompanying it along a ten-kilometer route to the Palais de la Nation. At 15:35 GMT, Kabila was interred in the Mausolée de Laurent Désiré Kabila, located at the entrance of the Palais de la Nation on the site once occupied by a bust of King Leopold II of Belgium, while his composition 'l'hymne aux opprimés' ('the hymn to the oppressed') played, a 21-gun salute was fired, and three Congolese Air Force Dassault Mirage jets flew overhead. The ceremony was attended by several international leaders, among them Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos, Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, Namibian president Sam Nujoma, Zambian president Frederick Chiluba, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, Tanzania's vice president Ali Mohamed Shein, Kenya's deputy president George Saitoti, the Central African Republic's defense minister, Iran's foreign minister, Libya's Jamahiriya chief of staff Bashir Saleh, Algeria's deputy prime minister, Belgium's foreign minister Louis Michel, and Morocco's minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccan Expatriates.

Did You Know?

• The assassin, Rashidi Mizele (or Kasereka), was an 18-year-old bodyguard who had fought as a child soldier (kadogo) in the First Congo War under Kabila's command.
• The day before his assassination, Kabila had overseen the execution of 47 kadogos accused of plotting to kill him.
• The conspirators' scheme was called Operation Mbongo Zero; 'Mbongo' means 'bull' in Swahili and 'money' in Lingala.
• Kabila was shot four times in the abdomen by Mizele, who had bent over him and pulled out a revolver.
• Kabila was interred in the Mausolée de Laurent Désiré Kabila, located at the entrance of the Palais de la Nation on the site once occupied by a bust of King Leopold II of Belgium.