Congolese capital quiet after announcement of Kabila's death

Radio reports from Kinshasa said there was no plundering in the centre of the city of more than five million people as security remained extremely tight. Government officials expected Kabila's body would be transported from the Zimbabwean capital Harare on Saturday and taken to his hometown of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Katanga province. A memorial ceremony is scheduled there and, on Sunday, the body is to be brought to Kinshasa. The burial is to be in Kinshasa on Tuesday, the officials said.

Even after Thursday's announcement in a nationwide television broadcast, the time and place of Kabila's death remained unclear. The announcement by a government spokesman came after two days of confusion and conflicting reports on when he died after he had been shot Tuesday at the presidential residence by one of his bodyguards.

The government of Zimbabwe, where Kabila had been taken after the shooting, retreated from an earlier statement confirming Kabila's death after authorities were apparently embarrassed at having confirmed the death before Kinshasa had made a formal statement. According to analysts, an official acknowledgement of the death was possibly delayed to avoid unrest and to ensure that the clique of politicians, mostly members of the Kabila family, remained in control of the army.

It remained unclear whether Kabila's son, Joseph, would only serve as acting president for an interim period or become the official successor of his father. He fought alongside his father in the ousting of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. He later underwent military training in China and received the rank of major general after his return, taking control of the Congolese land forces. Following the shooting attack Tuesday, sources in Belgium, the former colonial ruler of the Congo, as well as in France, Britain and Zimbabwe, said the Congolese president was dead.

The Congolese government said he had been severely wounded and was flown out of the country for treatment. Congolese officials, however, did not say where Kabila had been taken. The Congolese ambassador to Harare, Kikaya Bin Karubi, had told Zimbabwean state television that Kabila was not dead but was being treated for life-threaening wounds by a team of doctors.

Congolese Defence Minister Godefroid Tchamlesso said in the Libyan capital Tripoli that "Kabila was hit by two bullets fired by his bodyguard. He died two hours later."

(la/dpa)