Joseph Kabila, son of President Laurent Kabila, was temporarily in charge of the Congolese government after his father was wounded in an assassination attempt back in 2001. Kabila was the former rebel leader who ousted long-term President Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997. After assuming power, Kabila adopted the name “Democratic Republic of Congo” (DRC) for the country formerly known as Zaire.
But, that was the Senior Kabila but now his son, Joseph Kabila, makes it to the Presidential seat by winning 58.05% of the vote compared to Mr Bemba’s 41.9%. However, the coalition had already rejected partial results showing Kabila winning. They said there had been “systematic cheating” in the vote count and questioned the credibility of the electoral commission, raising tensions in the city.
The result, giving Bemba 41.95 percent, still has to be confirmed by the Supreme Court.
The politics has always been dirty in the Africa’s third largest country The Republic of Congo. The younger Kabila inherited a nation on the verge of economic and political collapse, cut almost in half by civil war. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is at the center of a multi-nation conflict called by some, Africa’s World War. Rebels and troops from Uganda and Rwanda control the eastern part of the country and in the West; Zimbabwe, Angola, and Namibia have been supporting the Kabila regime.
Joseph Kabila is due to be formally declared President on December 10. The tasks facing the new president are immense, as he seeks to rebuild the vast state of the Congo after the wars and conflicts of the previous decade, which have caused the deaths of an estimated four million Congolese, and destroyed much of the infrastructure and organs of the state.
May be the priority for the newly appointed president would be to see the foreign armies of Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi move out of the country. It is only then the nation will move forward to a transition with elections, democratic elections that will be observed by the whole international community. If Congo remains stable, it will be in the interest of Africa.
Via: BBC
