The mainstream press has made much of entries in Che Guevara's diaries, made more than 32 years ago, that were critical of the conduct of the young Laurent Kabila, now leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo. There is more to the story than the mainstream press is letting on, as DIHUR GODEFROID TCHAMLESSO explains. Tchamlesso was Kabila's aide, as well as Tanzanian representative of the 1964-1965 guerilla movement. He currently lives in Cuba, where he works as a reporter for the Prensa Latina news agency.
I have known Laurent-Desire Kabila since we were kids. As a child, he used to play soccer, and although he was not a brilliant player, he always wanted to be a forward and score goals. Although he was strongly built, a small muscular problem in his right leg prevented him from standing out and achieving high performance in sports. But Kabila always did his best.
He liked to play baseball, which requires tall players. We used to say that if he had dedicated time to Greco-Roman wrestling, he would have won many medals and honours because of his massive build and short height.
He was born in the north-eastern part of the province of Katanga, known as Shaba today. During his childhood he lived in Kalemie and Manono, where his parents from the Baluba tribe settled and worked to maintain the family.
Kabila's house may be described as comfortable enough to house an African family in colonial times. His father was an "assimilated traditional chief", the term used to refer to a Congolese with a certain education level working for the Belgian crown.
Kabila's best friends were older than him, and he was always trying to show them that he was more mature. His baby face, sporting a precocious beard, betrayed him. I remember that Idelphonse Massengo, one of his closest comrades during the insurrection and a friend since his childhood, used to recall incidents when the young Kabila claimed to be older than the rest. It seems he did this to impose himself and prevail as group leader.
Still, Laurent-Desire Kabila is not an arrogant man and is angered by flattery. He never reprimands in a loud voice or shows his anger, although he knows how to nurse a grudge against someone. I have known him since we were kids in Kalemie.
Since he was very young, Kabila was interested in politics. He joined the national Congolese Youth Movement led by Patrice Lumumba and rapidly became one of the most outstanding leaders of the organisation in Katanga.
From Kalemie to Manono and from there to Elizabethville, capital of Katanga, which Mobutu Sese Seko renamed Lubumbashi in today's Shaba, Kabila grew up and climbed the political ladder between 1960 and 1965.
His parents sent him to one of the best lyceums in Katanga, and the young Kabila dedicated himself to studying "humanities" (philosophy and letters). He also studied French literary classics.
A real bookworm, Kabila used to devour novels, books about history, sociology and philosophy and almost became a self-taught university graduate. At that time, he drove a brand-new Volkswagen in which he used to take his lyceum friends to school without selfishness.
We used to meet from time to time, mostly during holidays. Kabila was studying in the provincial capital, and I was in Kalemie, an important city by Tanganyika Lake. One of the best high schools in the country, the Notre Dame de Lourdes d'Oostaker, run by Belgian and French nuns, was located in Kalemie.
After the assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba on January 18, 1961, seven months after the difficult independence struggle with Belgium, Kabila went underground to fight against the imperialist-backed secession of Katanga.
Moises Tshombe, with the help of Brussels, London and Paris, had split the rich province and its fabulous copper, cobalt, manganese, uranium, tin, gold and zinc mines from the Congo on July 11, 1960, 11 days after independence.
The Baluba tribe, mostly affiliated with the national Congolese/Lumumba Movement, rose in arms against the secessionist attempts until 1963, when United Nations troops, helped by local rebels, defeated Tshombe's troops, which were made up of Katangan soldiers and mercenaries.
Kabila toured large territories of Katanga by car, train and plane, and sometimes on foot, preaching and mobilising young followers of Lumumba and Jason Sendwe, leader of the Balubakat party (Baluba from Katanga), for the armed struggle.
It was underground work that had to be carried out with the patience and methods of a conspirator. From this work, Kabila emerged as an outstanding figure and the future leader of a guerilla movement that Cuba supported in April 1965 with the presence of Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
Guevara went to Congo at the request of the Congolese National Liberation Front. He entered the country through Tanzania with 100 men. This was the first Cuban internationalist mission south of the Sahara desert.
The Cuban expeditionaries remained in eastern Congo for seven months. They stayed in a region called Kibamba by the lake, near Uvira, Kivu. After a delay, the Cubans fought several battles together with Kabila's rebels, and Che himself was in the front line several times. That action started an era of active solidarity by Havana's government for black Africa during its decolonisation process.
The European and US media are digging up old files to explain the past. Many journalists are removing the ashes from a fire that was extinguished a long time ago, calling readers' attention to events that took place three decades ago.
Kabila's links to Che and Cuba and his progressive ideas are now being criticised. Some suggest "the possibility of Kabila returning to his authoritarian ideas".
Pierre Mulele, former education minister and one of Lumumba's most loyal followers, was the first to start the armed struggle in western Congo in the summer of 1963. Mulele, Leonard Mitudidi and Laurent Kabila agreed to continue and vindicate the political heritage of Lumumba and to liberate Congo.
They founded the Congolese National Liberation Front with other patriots. Some betrayed the group and joined Mobutu's regime. Mulele was mysteriously and cruelly murdered in 1968, after several years of guerilla struggle in west Congo. Mobutu, with the help of the authorities in neighbouring Brazzaville, managed to deceive Mulele by promising him amnesty and later murdering him.
Kabila, warned by this example of betrayal, not only rejected any deal with the murderer of Congo's most brilliant and popular statesman and politician, but swore to avenge the crime.
"A revolutionary never dies in his bed", Kabila used to say in his resounding and touching monologue while we were in the mountains near Uvira in 1965.
From his hideouts in the mountains of Kivu, near his native town of Kalemie, the rebel with a cause, the last unsurrendering follower of Lumumba, boldly exploited the weaknesses of the Zairean armed forces.
Mobutu's soldiers, underpaid and lacking military training (they are trained only to repress people's demonstrations), were easy to bribe. Kabila exploited these weaknesses for 30 years. He was never far from the theatre of operations where, in 1965, he failed to succeed despite the support from abroad, particularly from Tanzania, Cuba and China.
Kabila reorganised his movement immediately after the rebellion was defeated in Kibamba. He founded the People's Revolutionary Party. He analysed the causes of the defeats suffered between 1964 and 1965. These causes included occupation of large areas without having the right weapons or the necessary military training; rebels who lacked political education, material resources, and funds.
Accusations have been made in the media that Kabila "smuggled" ivory, precious stones, diamonds and gold through Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. Laurent-Desire Kabila used the money from his alleged "trade" to finance the liberation war.
Kabila has kept his word to avenge Mobutu and the CIA's murder of Lumumba. More than 30 years involved in guerilla struggles speak for him and his loyalty to what he considers inviolable principles.