TUESDAY, 3.30PM
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela on Tuesday said it would be suicidal for Laurent Kabila, the self-proclaimed president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), to allow free political activity before he had a firm grip on the country’s government.
Speaking after talks with Kabila ally Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who is in SA on a four-day state visit, Mandela said: “I think that dealing with a country which has been under a dictatorship for more than three decades, it is quite reasonable for him to ensure that law and order is stabilised before he can now say I want to allow all political parties to function.”
Mandela added that Kabila had made it clear he is committed to democracy and that elections will be held in due course and that he believes Kabila can be trusted.
Commenting on Kabila’s refusal to offer opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi the position of prime minister, Mandela said that he does not believe anyone, however important, can insist on the position of prime minister. “That would offend anybody. Certainly it would offend me if somebody tells me while I’m fighting and incurring casualties, however slight, to say to me: ‘I want to be the prime minister of the new government’. I would certainly resent that,” Mandela said.