Kabila, sworn in as president, puts DR Congo to
work
Wednesday December 6, 07:54 PM
By Sofia Bouderbala
KINSHASA (AFP) - Joseph Kabila was
sworn in as the first democratically elected president of the Democratic
Republic of Congo at a colourful ceremony, where he vowed to lead a "revolution"
for clean governance and development.
The day had dawned for "the people to be able entirely to get down to work, and this in peace and tranquility," Kabila announced in his first speech to the huge central African nation after taking the oath of office in Kinshasa before 10,000 guests.
Nine African presidents were on hand to watch the youngest president on the continent, at 35, swear to "uphold and defend the constitution" and "let myself be guided only by the general interest" of a country bowed for decades by misrule, then five years of regional war fought on its mineral-rich soil.
Kabila in November was proclaimed winner of the first free presidential poll held since independence in 1960, after heading an interim government, including his political foes and former rebels, which saw the nation out of the 1998-2003 war and into a democratic transition.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, a chief architect of the peace accords, was at the ceremony, while the United Nations, which has 17,600 peacekeepers in the DRC, was represented by Deputy Secretary General Jean-Marie Guehenno.
The only notable absentee from the swearing-in was Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former rebel leader who lost the landmark vote to Kabila and unsuccessfully contested the outcome before the Supreme Court.
Kabila's speech was a rallying call to his people to break the "cycle of crisis" in the country by committed work, restored security, good governance and a fight, "to the last of my energy", against corruption.
He thanked voters for putting the nation's destiny in his hands, saying he saw his duty as "sparking off a veritable revolution".
The young leader pledged "in coming days" to name a prime minister. Under electoral accords, this will be 80-year-old Antoine Gizenga, creating a living link between Kabila and the country's charismatic, murdered first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, under whom Gizenga served.
Kabila also held out an olive branch to Bemba, seen as a key player by diplomats here, reaffirming the importance of the opposition's role as an "institutional counterweight."
However, in a week when government soldiers have been fighting a dissident general in the unstable east of the DRC, he warned: "Trouble makers must be considered enemies of the people and of development."
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan sent his congratulations to Kabila in a statement released by the organisation's office in Kinshasa.
"I also congratulate the Congolese people, whose peaceful, enthusiastic and determined participation was critical in ensuring the success of the electoral process," Annan said.
"I encourage the Government to work closely with the Congolese people and civil society ... to stimulate economic growth, reform the security sector, protect human rights, and strengthen economic governance, democracy and the rule of law."
The European Union presidency, currently held by Finland, also congratulated Kabila in a statement, calling "all political parties and authorities in the DRC to work together in a spirit of national reconciliation and respect for the rule of law."
One of the biggest foreign delegations under the awnings in the grounds of the presidential palace was that of Belgium -- which ruled the country as colonial power until independence in 1960 -- led by Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.
EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel, an old hand in Congolese affairs, was there, while British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said Kabila's inauguration and "Mr Bemba's decision to go into political opposition are a turning point in the history" of the DRC.
Cannons fired salutes, soldiers trooped the national colours and traditional chiefs from the 11 provinces gave Kabila their allegiance.
His following speech had echoes of Martin Luther King and pan-Africanist dreams.
"In the Congo of tomorrow, I see the hope of an Africa in rebirth," he said. Kabila will need to win the confidence of foreign donors in a country with a multilateral debt of 10 billion euros (13.3 billion dollars), despite fabulous mineral wealth, and where his room for financial maneouvre is limited.
Every month, the UN estimates that 30,000 of the 60 million Congolese people die for lack of the most basic health care.
