Laurent Kabila

Shot on 16 January 2001 in Kinshasa by a bodyguard, one of his child-soldier veterans; the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo died in office amid a war he could not end.

Overview

Kabila, the veteran guerrilla who had marched to power at the head of the Rwanda and Uganda backed alliance in 1997, had broken with his sponsors, launched the second Congo war in 1998, and resisted the Lusaka peace process as armies of six states and dozens of militias partitioned the country. A bodyguard, a kadogo from his original movement, shot him in his office at the Marble Palace; he was flown to Harare and died, the death announced two days later. The shooter was killed at the scene, leaving motive unresolved among palace intrigue, frustrated officers, and foreign hands. His son Joseph succeeded him through the family guard and presided over the transition and the 2006 elections. The murder remains unpunished and unexplained amid the deadliest war in modern African history.