Laurent-Désiré Kabila

SWAPO and its Zimbabwean allies are trying to shore up President Laurent-Désiré Kabila's government in Congo-Kinshasa and are highly sensitive to the conflicts among their neighbours...

Murkier still President Laurent-Désiré Kabila in Congo-K seized power by force in May 1997 but is now recognised as legitimate by the Southern African Development Community...

He brought Congo-K's Laurent Kabila and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni together (having financed both their military campaigns) in December and May after which both announced they'd agreed a ceasefire in the Congo war...

The loss of Gbadolité would deprive President Laurent-Désiré Kabila's government of the biggest runway in the country: at 2 300 metres it's long enough to land a Concorde on which is what it was designed for...

He's cautious about his son-in-law Gabon's Omar Bongo and like most regional leaders has a low opinion of Congo-Kinshasa's Laurent-Désiré Kabila...

Several senior ministers in Laurent Kabila's government are also Kongo among them Abdoulaye Ndoumbassi Yerodia Thomas Kanza Pierre-Victor Mpoyo and Mawampanga Mwana Nanga...

Cheers for the arriving dignitaries were a barometer of local star status: Mandela got the most; the heir to the British throne was greeted enthusiastically (by a society with over 500 of its own monarchs); and Congo-Kinshasa's President Laurent-Désiré Kabila won the most boos and catcalls...

Rautenbach has close personal ties with Zimbabwe's Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa who also manages the business holdings of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union and has been the main strategist along with President Robert Mugabe of Harare's intervention to shore up Laurent Kabila's government...

Referring to President Laurent Kabila and his allies (including Mugabe) Modise said: ‘Neither can beat the other they have got to get round the table to discuss and resolve their problems...

Laurent Kabila’s forces are on the run with his foreign allies threatening to pull out...

The present danger is that the Congo conflict may destabilise not just Laurent-Désiré Kabila's regime but the governments in Kampala and Kigali...