The tragic death of Laurent Kabila is a set back not only for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but for all of Africa. You can glean from the writings in the western papers that he was not a favorite of America or certain European powers. In the papers and magazines that I have read, whenever Uganda and Rwanda were mentioned, it was never mentioned that their troops which had been fighting Kabila in the eastern part of The Congo were backed and trained by America.

In his obituary from different parts of the world, many of the writers chose to talk about his personal life involving the 30 years he spent challenging the late Sese Seko Mobutu�s government. None of the papers mentioned that he was struggling against a brutal dictator who was backed and propped up by the U.S. government.

The Congo has a longstanding relationship of 36 years with America (1961-1997) and six American presidents. Of the many things that Belgium and America feared from Laurent Kabila was that he would one day ask for compensation from Belgium and the family of King Leopold for not only the exploitation of the resources of The Congo, but for the enslavement of its citizens from 1890 to 1906. During this brutal period, many men and women had their limbs cut off, particularly their hands, for not working hard enough on the plantations as well as the brutal murder of hundreds, thousands, if not millions of the people in The Congo. You may recall the historical horrific picture of the skulls of our Black brothers and sisters of The Congo stacked up in a pyramid form with a white Belgium officer standing in front of them.

America now is concerned about being charged with the death of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Congo after colonial rule, though in recent years there has been an attempt to shift the responsibility to the Belgium secret service. However, we know the CIA was directed to kill Patrice Lumumba, something which was verified directly from the writings of one of its own secret agents. America is also concerned about the mounting evidence of her medical experiments on The Congolese people. In the early �70s a book was published titled, "Who Killed The Congo." Today that question can be answered, America, Belgium and France.

When the diaries of the Cuban revolutionary leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara were published in 1999, he mentioned Mr. Kabila, whom he met while he was in The Congo helping in their struggle against the American-backed dictator Mobutu. In Kabila�s obituary, they were able to extract criticisms about him from "Che" Guevara�s diaries, but what they should have added was that "Che" Guevara buried deep into Kabila�s mind, never trust the Americans. When Laurent Kabila came to power in 1997,
he reflected on this by never allowing the Americans to get to close to him. He made it next to impossible for America to make him their boy as they had done with Mobutu.

Kabila backed the new initiative of Brother Muammar Gadhafi on the United States of Africa. Laurent Kabila felt that if we could unite Africa, the riches of The Congo could help to build Africa as in the past those riches helped to build Europe and America. The problems of The Congo and the ongoing war between the legitimate government in Kinshasa and the American-backed Rwandan and Ugandan troops could come to an end if America directs its puppets to leave The Congo so that they can find a peaceful solution.

When Kabila came to power, he promised democratic elections in four years. I personally believe by knowing Africa, that was a reasonable time frame. Since he did not buck dance for America and allow her entities in to once again exploit The Congo, he was criticized and attacked. Consequently, America financed troops to overthrow his government. May God be pleased with our brother Laurent Kabila, a man who refused to be America�s boy.