Zaire’s Kabila Keeps Grip on Power With New Cabinet

KINSHASA, Zaire — Laurent Kabila, the guerrilla leader-turned-president, appointed the bulk of his interim government early today, reserving the most powerful portfolios for his key advisors and abolishing the post of prime minister.

Kabila’s chief political rival, Etienne Tshisekedi, was not among the 13 names announced to reporters by a spokesman shortly before 1 a.m. The spokesman said 20 people will ultimately be in the Cabinet, but it is highly unlikely that Tshisekedi will now join.

The apparent failure to bring Tshisekedi into the government may prove problematic for the untested new rulers of Africa’s third-largest nation. Until Kabila’s rebel army began rolling across the country last fall, the combative former prime minister was widely hailed here as the most credible opposition figure to dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.

Tshisekedi regularly mobilized unruly demonstrations and disruptive strikes against Mobutu’s regime, and his supporters angrily vowed Thursday to take to the streets again if he were not named prime minister.

A reliable source said Kabila had offered Tshisekedi alternative positions as minister of justice, interior or foreign affairs, but that he had refused. The source said Tshisekedi demanded to be named prime minister and be given five other slots for his followers. Kabila declined, the source said.

Raphael Ghenda, the newly appointed information minister, said Kabila was creating a presidential government without a prime minister. No vice president was named, nor was a defense minister. Ghenda called the defense post a “presidential prerogative,” indicating that Kabila will keep the army under his direct command.

Kabila, 57, has not appeared in public since he arrived unannounced in the capital Tuesday night. He has stayed inside a heavily guarded riverside compound.

In all, seven of the first 13 portfolios went to senior members of Kabila’s victorious Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire, including the crucial ministries of interior, foreign affairs, information, finance and mines.

The others named included two members of Tshisekedi’s party and members of several smaller political groups. But Ghenda said they were told that they must join as individuals rather than representatives of separate parties.

“They’re all part of the alliance now,” Ghenda said. He said none of Mobutu’s political followers were considered for posts.

Kabila triumphed in a seven-month war, but steering this fractious nation into a new era is likely to prove more difficult. His alliance is an unwieldy coalition of disparate regional and ethnic interests, and analysts fear it may fracture now that their common enemy, Mobutu, has been vanquished.

Critics here warned that Kabila appeared to be creating an autocratic one-party system, just as Mobutu did during most of his 32-year reign. But Kabila’s aides described his approach as a “democratic no-party system,” similar to that created in Uganda by Yoweri Museveni, another guerrilla-turned-president.

Ghenda argued that the alliance had overseen democratic reforms in the areas it captured during the war despite its banning of political parties. Allowing open political opposition “would have started disputes, contradictions and confrontations,” he said.

“If we had done that, would we be here today?” he asked. “Would we have managed to drive out Mobutu? That’s doubtful. I think we have adopted a responsible approach.”

Ghenda said democratic elections will be scheduled “as soon as possible,” but he would not specify a date. Other aides have said polls may be held in a year’s time.

Ghenda’s announcement capped three days of confusion and delays here. Kabila had said Saturday that he would announce his government within 72 hours, but news conferences were canceled each day since Tuesday.

The effort to reach consensus with Tshisekedi was the chief stumbling block. He was repeatedly jailed and persecuted by Mobutu’s forces, and his allies argued that he should be rewarded.

But Ghenda suggested Tshisekedi did nothing to support the armed rebellion that finally drove Mobutu from power in the now-renamed Democratic Republic of Congo.

“We liberated the Congo from the dictator and its regime,” he said. “It’s the alliance that achieved that. . . . No other force succeeded in doing this.”