Here Is The African President Who Was Killed By His Own Bodyguard, See What Angered The Bodyguard

Laurent Desire Kabila was born on 27 November 1939 into the Luba tribe in the Katanga Province in the Belgian Congo. In 1960 Kabila became a leader of a youth wing of an alliance with the country’s first post-independence prime minister, Patrice Lumumba.

A bloody civil war ensued between the Marxist prime minister and his chief opposition, Joseph Mobutu. As a result, Lumumba was subsequently deposed and killed by Mobutu on January 17 1961. In 1963 Kabila formed the People’s Revolutionary Party that was comprised of Lumumba’s old supporters who wanted to revolt.Laurent-Desire Kabila was gunned down in his office on January 16, 2001 by one of his bodyguards, who was then immediately killed.

The 22 convicted men were first handed death sentences, which were then commuted to jail terms by Tshisekedi.According to reports Kabila was shot by one of his bodyguards in front of army generals, following a dispute in which he had sacked them. It was later confirmed that the incident was not a coup attempt, but an argument that got out of hand.

His son Joseph Kabila took over the reins of power as DRC President. Joseph was very young at the time he became head of state, and many people had no confidence in him.Kabila became President of Zaire after the death of Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997. He wasted no time in making changes as he also renamed the country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Since their 1997 uprising against former president Mobutu, Kabila had thought that the kadogos had been completely obedient to him. He even assured a foreign businessman who was in town that “they will never do anything against me.”

They have supported me from the start. They are my offspring.On January 16, as the increasingly reclusive and paranoid Kabila was talking with an economics adviser about an impending summit with France that he felt would be his political salvation, Kabila’s young killer broke into the president’s office at the Marble Palace in Kinshasa.

As the young lieutenant, who was then in his early 20s, had been personally recruited by Kabila, Kabila knew Kasereka well.

How was Kabila killed by Kasereka?

Ahead of a scheduled summit with France that Kabila felt would be his political salvation, the increasingly reclusive and paranoid leader was discussing the summit with an economics adviser when his teenage assassin entered the president’s office at the Marble Palace in Kinshasa.

The president leaned in to speak with the teenager, presuming the assassin was hunched over Kabila.As gunfire echoed around the palace, the kadogo pulled out a handgun, shot the president four times, and then made off with the other conspirators.

Beyond the ethnic rivalries loomed the prospect of a split between Congo’s two main allies. Kapend, former member of the “Katanga Tigers” and thus an officer in the Angolan army, was seen as Angola’s man in the Congo. The danger was that Zimbabwe might side with the Luba-Katanga faction, splitting the pro-Kinshasa coalition.

In the first week of March, there were reports of shooting between Namibian and Angolan troops, the latter siding with Lunda deserters. Namibia is a minor player; a split between Angola and Zimbabwe could endanger the unfolding peace process.