Kabila, Laurent Desiree

Head of government of the DR Congo 1997-2001
(1.01.1938 Ankoro/DR Congo - 16.01.2001 Kinshasa/DR Congo)
Kabila struggled for thirty years of his life to overthrow head of State Mobutu Sese Seko before he finally succeeded in May 1997 using an uprising of the Tutsi community. His first attempt he had started in 1964, and many more had followed over the years. Kabila originally founded the Peoples Revolutionary Army in a small enclave in the east of the country on the shores of Lake Tanganjika. In 1965 he was temporarily supported by the South American revolutionary by profession Ernesto Che Guevara, and finally he formed in the remote area of eastern Zaire in Uvira some sort of alternative government. He financed his activities and his living by smuggling ivory, diamonds and gold. After the takeover from Mobuto Kabila tried to solve the piling problems and bring peace to his civil war torn country with the help of peace keeping troops from Zimbabwe, Uganda and Rwanda. Unfortunately the peace keepers focussed more on the economic interests of their governments which resulted in fueling the war rather than bringing it to an end. Since also Kabila himself cancelled negotiations for cease fires on various occasions, the country remained stuck in hopeless grounds. In January 2001 Kabila was shot by a member of the presidential guard during a cabinet meeting.