Minister tells how Kabila was shot 3 times

KINSHASA, Sunday – The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Justice Minister, Mwenze Kongolo, on Saturday described in graphic detail how President Laurent Kabila was shot, but refused to name the assassin or give any motive for the killing, because an inquiry was under way. But yesterday, a group of soldiers close to Ngandu Kisase, one of Kabila's former allies, claimed the late president's slaying in a statement. Kisase, who fought alongside Kabila in the war that ousted Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997 disappeared later that year in circumstances that were never clarified. The January 18 statement sent to AFP in Paris was signed by "the young militants of the National Council for Resistance and Democracy (NCRD)." Kongolo told a press conference that the fatal bullet was one that went in "right behind his ear, then all the way down and out his ribs. "I think that's the one that was fatal," he said. He said he was present when Kabila was shot by one of his own bodyguards in his Kinshasa residence last Tuesday. Two other pistol bullets that lodged in Kabila's stomach were "not really harmful," he said. Kongolo refused to confirm or deny a report that the CIA had organised the killing with the help of Ugandans. He only said, "We have some indications that we are following up." On the train of events on Tuesday, Kongolo said he had just arrived at Kabila's residence (marble palace) when he heard a gunshot. "The president was relaxing, with the big doors open to let the air through," he said. "He was sitting in his chair when his bodyguard came in. The bodyguard was standing up." The bodyguard then drew his pistol and fired the three shots at Kabila, he said, quoting another aide who saw what happened. The bodyguard then fled, Kongolo said, but other guards gave chase and shot him dead. "I had all these people crying around me," Kongolo said. He said Kabila was transferred by helicopter to a Kinshasa hospital, then flown to Harare after he had been stabilised. Four days of funeral rites began on Saturday when Kabila's body was flown from Harare to Lubumbashi. The body was to be transferred to Kinshasa on Sunday, and a state funeral will be held on Tuesday. AFP Ends