SOUTH AFRICA: LAURENT KABILA SHOOTING: REACTIONS

Описание: (17 Jan 2001) English/Nat
XFA
APTN has an exclusive interview with a senior figure in the largest rebel movement in Democratic Republic of Congo, Bizima Karaha, of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (known as R-C-D or C-R-D).

In the first reaction from such a source to the shooting of Laurent Kabila, Dr Biziha Karaha, the spokesman and head of security and the interior for the C-R-D, says that he thinks the attack on Kabila was carried out on the orders of the President's own son.
He describes Kabila as a ruthless despot, and the violent way in which he was wrenched from power as a fitting end to his rule.

But he says that so far as he is concerned, Congolese rebels remain faithful to the Lusaka peace accord.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The late Kabila understood no other language than the language of violence, even with his own people. The information we have at this at this stage is was a coup amidst the closest friends of Kabila, meaning that if people have gone that far, then they have no other way of expressing themselves, and it shows the degree of disappointment, and the degree of frustration."
SUPER CAPTION: Bizima Karaha, Spokesman and Head of Security and Interior, Rally for Congolese Democracy

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It was an inside story, because it is his son that now wants to take over."
Question: "Do you think his son is involved in the killing?"
Answer: "I don't see that could have been done without people like his son and others close to him being involved because then how would it happen? And if you see how they are fighting to take over after him, it appears clearly that he was involved in this business."
SUPER CAPTION: Bizima Karaha, Spokesman and Head of Security and Interior, Rally for Congolese Democracy

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"He has failed to rise as a leader. He had become somebody who was killing, looting stealing, and it was normal that at some stage even his closest friends would react like that. Actually, it is not surprisingly that the people who brought him today are fighting against him - or were fighting against him."
SUPER CAPTION: Bizima Karaha, Spokesman and Head of Security and Interior, Rally for Congolese Democracy

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"As far as the RCD is concerned. We believe in the Lusaka agreement. We believe in a united, democratic, peaceful, stable Congo. A stable Congo will bring stability to the region. That is our aim. We shall continue with that, with or without Kabila."
SUPER CAPTION: Bizima Karaha, Spokesman and Head of Security and Interior, Rally for Congolese Democracy

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