Kabila re-election, sadly, invokes ghosts of a bloody past with mayhem

At 40, he is nearly half the age of his main rival Etienne Tshisekedi, who took 32% of the vote mainly in the west of country.


President Kabila enjoys most of his support in the east, where he was born in a rebel camp in the mountain forests where his father was leading the struggle against former strongman Mobutu Sese Seko.


He was a low-profile military commander when his father Laurent-Desire Kabila was assassinated in 2001, and was handpicked by the presidential inner circle to lead DR Congo as it was being torn apart by half a dozen warring armies.


Many opposition activists accused him, without proof, of being a national of neighbouring Rwanda, which had twice invaded its much larger neighbour.


Mr Kabila spent his childhood in Tanzania and spoke better kiSwahili and English than the languages most spoken in Kinshasa - French and Lingala, which he had to learn on the job.


Winning DR Congo's first democratic elections in more than 40 years at the tender age of 35 gave him the legitimacy to stamp his authority on the country and move out of his father's shadow.


The spectre of a calamitous standoff looms, with two people declaring they are president, a recipe for unmitigated disaster. This time round, the blame for this new episode in Congo’s continuing sitcom, must rest squarely on the shoulders of Kabila and his shadowy handlers, whoever they are.


Not that there should have been too much optimism accompanying the arrival in power of Kabila Junior, after the mysterious assassination of his father, who had been himself installed in power by foreign troops. There was always bound to be some scepticism as to the real mettle of the man and what he could do to keep his continent of a country together and at peace.


But the world loves youth, and this particular young man was given the benefit of the doubt by many as he was considered a lungful of fresh air after the gloomy passage of Kabila Senior. It looks as if that early goodwill has been all but expended, and once again Congo’s rulers have gone back to being Congo’s rulers, or maybe they never ceased being.


One would have thought there were enough historical reference points to warn Kabila and his people of the dangers of sliding back into the past, not least in the presence of Etienne Tchisekedi, the other declared president, who has been part of the tragic cast since Patrice Lumumba’s betrayal and murder in 1960.