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Kabila`s son soon to be President, but Congo asks: who is he?
Like his father, Joseph Kabila is known for his secrets. How old is he? Where was he educated? Congo knows next to nothing about the son of Laurent Kabila, the late Congolese President who was killed earlier this week.
Like his father, Joseph Kabila is known for his secrets. How old is he? Where was he educated? Congo knows next to nothing about the son of Laurent Kabila, the late Congolese President who was killed earlier this week.
What they do know is that the younger Kabila, already the head of the military, was quickly chosen to take charge of the government in the interim after his father's killing, and officials say he will soon be sworn in as President.
But while this sprawling central African nation has been long accustomed to Kabila family's secrecy - late President's wife, for instance, was completely hidden away for years -public in Congo has yet to even hear Joseph Kabila's voice.
“We're being led by a man who we don't even know,” grumbled Jean-Richard Makulu, an Evangelist in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital.
A quiet man who neither drinks nor smokes - he is known for going to bars and sipping juice and eating apples – Joseph Kabila's quick rise to power paralleled his father's move from obscurity to rebel commander to President.
When Laurent Kabila was made the head of the Uganda and Rwanda-backed rebel army that swept out longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997, Joseph worked closely with the rebel army's Rwandan military commander, then-Lt Col James Kabarebe. Though he had no military background, he was given the command during the decisive battle in the eastern city of Kisangani, which the rebels captured on their long march to Kinshasa.
But while this sprawling central African nation has been long accustomed to Kabila family's secrecy - late President's wife, for instance, was completely hidden away for years -public in Congo has yet to even hear Joseph Kabila's voice.
“We're being led by a man who we don't even know,” grumbled Jean-Richard Makulu, an Evangelist in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital.
A quiet man who neither drinks nor smokes - he is known for going to bars and sipping juice and eating apples – Joseph Kabila's quick rise to power paralleled his father's move from obscurity to rebel commander to President.
When Laurent Kabila was made the head of the Uganda and Rwanda-backed rebel army that swept out longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997, Joseph worked closely with the rebel army's Rwandan military commander, then-Lt Col James Kabarebe. Though he had no military background, he was given the command during the decisive battle in the eastern city of Kisangani, which the rebels captured on their long march to Kinshasa.
Bureau Report