Laurent-Désiré Kabila

Aside from the tragic situation in Angola these mini-crises pale into insignificance beside the war in Congo-Kinshasa where SADC states are deeply polarised: Angola Namibia and Zimbabwe back President Laurent-Désiré Kabila; South Africa Botswana and Mozambique are ostensible neutrals but accused of helping the Congolese rebel alliance with Rwanda and Uganda...

At home an anti-corruption drive is running alongside fresh allegations of complicity in the genocide against some senior officials; in the region peace prospects in Congo-Kinshasa are bleaker with President Laurent-Désiré Kabila's government making no apparent effort to comply with the Lusaka agreements on handing over genocide suspects...

Rautenbach's Ridgepointe company has also taken over some of Congo's richest mineral assets in an opaque deal negotiated with President Laurent-Désiré Kabila's Minister of State Pierre-Victor Mpoyo...

Congo's Lusaka accord means little until President Laurent-Désiré Kabila's government talks to and negotiates seriously with the three main rebel groups...

Perhaps the most promising signs are the discreet contacts between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (the leading backer of the forces supporting Congo-Kinshasa President Laurent-Désiré Kabila) and Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni (the leading backer of the rebel forces)...

On 23 September too the Zimbabwean Defence Ministry announced a joint venture for dealing in Congolese gold and diamonds between Comiex a company belonging to Laurent Kabila and some of his ministers and Osleg one of whose main shareholders is General Vitalis Zvinavashe the Zimbabwean Chief of Staff...

They were also meant to set up financing schemes through which Zimbabwe could invest in Congo's mining sector using the profits to defray the cost of military support for President Laurent-Désiré Kabila's government...

The Dar es Salaam paper The Guardian estimates that the FDD's total strength is 10 000 men of whom some (trained by the Zimbabwean army) are fighting on President Laurent-Désiré Kabila's side in Congo-Kinshasa...

It is based on the idea that the conflict was nearing stalemate and that most of the foreign sponsors - Angola Namibia and Zimbabwe backing President Laurent-Désiré Kabila and Rwanda and Uganda backing the RCD factions and the Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo - would prefer to concentrate on their growing domestic political and security problems...

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...