Text:
http://www.africanews.org/central/congo-kinshasa/stories/19990316_feat5.html
Source App: [Kabila Appoints Rebel's Father - Netscape]
Kabila Appoints Rebel's Father
March 16, 1999
KIGALI - Democratic Republic of the Congo rebel chief Jean-Pierre Bemba said on
Monday he would keep up his fight to oust President Laurent Kabila despite his
father's appointment to a ministerial post.
"It doesn't change anything. It's their business and it doesn't concern me," Bemba told Reuters by satellite phone from a base in northern Congo. "I'm concerned with fighting Kabila and we are still continuing the struggle." Kabila on Sunday announced sweeping changes in his cabinet, appointing business tycoon Bemba Saolona as Minister for Economy and=
Industry.
The younger Bemba heads the Congolese Liberation Movement, which with heavy Ugandan backing has captured significant territory in Congo's northern Equator province since its creation last November. Saolona has publicly distanced himself from his son but has twice been detained by Kabila, initially for his association with late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, whom Kabila ousted in 1997. Rebels from another anti-Kabila movement, the Congolese Rally for Democracy, have battled Kabila since August with Rwandan and Ugandan backing and captured huge swaths of land in the east of the country.
Bemba said his troops had advanced and were ready to launch a counter-offensive. The Bemba family has business interests ranging from commodity exports to air transport and communications systems, including a television station.
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