Dem Rep of Congo: Kinshasa – Laurent Kabila Mausoleum

Exploration of Kinshasa has a logical start at the Mausoleum to Laurent-Desire Kabila, the country’s president from 1997 to 2001. Laurent Kabila started as a revolutionary in his early 20s, as a protege of Patrice Lumumba, Congo’s first president at independence. Kabila was a devout Marxist and was groomed in many ways by the Cuban revolutionary Chegevara himself. However, after toying with some revolutionary ideas and successionist attempts for Eastern Congo, Kabila ended up just owning a bar and a brothel on the shores of lake Kivu. Lucky for him, on his visit to Uganda, he got introduced to Musevere and Kagame, fellow antigovernment rebels at the time. Then Musevere won in the Ugandan civil war and became the president (he still is), and a few years later Kagame won the Rwandan civil war and also became the president (he still is). The two concocted to install Kabila as the friendly Congolese leader and Rwanda and Uganda invaded Congo (then Zaire) in 1997. Laurent Kabila soon became the president. It didn’t take long for him to turn into complete totalitarian rule and turning against his Rwandan and Ugandan puppet-masters, which quickly prompted the latter to invade again. In 2001, Laurent Kabila ended up assassinated, and his son Joseph Kabila took the reins of power for the next 18 years. The body of the slain Laurent Kabila is kept in a mausoleum opposite the former presidential palace. In front of the Mausoleum stands a giant statue of the former president, with his hand in the air and a book in the other. The statue itself is controversial, it was built by the North Korean architects, the Mansudae Overseas Project, responsible for many brutalist monuments in North Korea and Africa. Supposedly, the North Koreans just used a base of a Kim Jong-il body and attached Kabila’s head to it. Indeed, the monument’s body proportions are incorrect and closer resemble the North Korean leader who was 5 ft 3 inches tall (160 cm) tall, while Laurent Kabila was the towering 6 ft 5 images (196 cm).