DR Congo. Kabila shooting may lead to turbulent new phase

An emergency government meeting has been called in the Democratic Republic of the Congo amid reports that President Laurent Kabila has been shot dead. There has been no official announcement in Kinshasha but both the British Foreign office and the Belgium government have confirmed the news. The reported shooting on Tuesday afternoon, allegedly by one of his own body guards comes at a time of mounting discontent in the army, which has recently suffered setbacks in the civil war.

Kabila came to power in 1997 as leader of the rebellion against the dictator, Mobutu. Since 1998, DR Congo has been split in two. Uganda and Rwanda, former allies of Kabila supporting a group of rebel movements in the east, whilst Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia kept him in power. Kabila's `assasination' may lead to further political turbulence in this mineral rich but desperately poor country.