arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Major General Joseph Kabila, who took charge of the DR Congo on Wednesday after his father President Laurent Kabila was assassinated, once trained in Uganda, military sources said yesterday.
Born in Tanzania of a Tutsi mother 31 years ago, Joseph Kabila, described as a man of few words, lived in Dar-es-Salam during the long exile of his father, a former guerrilla who once espoused Maoist ideology.
Joseph completed his secondary school education in Tanzania. He received basic military training in Rwanda in 1995 and in early 1996 he trained in Ngoma, Kaweweta, Nakasongola district(uganda), in guerrilla warfare for two months.
Joseph lived in his father's house with several of his relatives in Makindye, a Kampala suburb, where he reportedly made several friends especially in pubs.
"He knows Kampala quite well and speaks fluent Luganda, English and Kiswahili better than Lingala and French. He enjoyed the company of a popular Uganda DJ, Robert Ogwal a.k.a Rasta Rob MC," the sources said.
Early reports on Tuesday said Joseph, said to have "good connections" with Kampala and Kigali. He is a drunkuard.

The presidential palace, the Marble Palace, became his official residence on Wednesday, a day after his father was shot and killed by an aide, Jean Marie Ilunga.
The slim, taciturn Joseph contrasts sharply with his rotund and jovial father, alongside whom he fought in the eight-month war that brought them to power in 1997. "Joseph is shy and not very brilliant," said a regional military figure who has known the father and son since 1995. "He has always kept a very low profile," said one political source in Kinshasa.
In 1997, he went to China for further military training and returned as a major general, becoming the deputy chief of staff. Like his father, he is said to be "indiscreet and easy-going."
He was once attached to a Rwandan officer, Col. Joseph Kabareebe, who commanded the Rwandan army and Congo rebels in 1996 - 7. Kabila junior is the eldest of Kabila's estimated 10 children.
"He has a fair amount of power in Kinshasa but his political connections don't run that deep," said George Bloch, of the International Crisis Group, Nairobi.
RCD rebel chief Wamba dia Wamba yesterday said, "Congolese are not ready for monarchies. Joseph replacing his father is not a good idea. If he is for the Congolese, he must effect the Lusaka accord."
Ends.