Laurent-Désiré Kabila

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...

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...