KINSHASA - President Laurent Kabila took office as head of state of the Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday, promising to hold elections in April 1999 and to bury the legacy of the ousted dictator, Mr Mobulu Sese Seko.
In an address to the nation, punctuated with sideswipes at western governments which had supported Mr Mobutu and were now questioning his own democratic credentials, he made clear he would bring democratic change - on his own terms.
"We are not in a hurry. This crumbling and shattered state must be organised so that the Congolese people can hold elections," he said, naming April 1999 as the date for presidential and parliamentary elections. "Be assured that the timetable will be respected," he said.
Outside the home of the veteran opposition leader, Mr Etienne Tshisekedi, up to 2,000 opposition militants called for Mr Kabila to stand down, accusing him of acting like a dictator.
In Washington, the US ambassador to the UN, Mr Bill Richardson, said Mr Kabila should not be written off as an autocrat. "Give him a chance," he said. "We should not demonise Kabila," he said in a radio interview from New York that was broadcast live to participants at a Washington conference on Africa. "He has potential. He has a good political mind," he said. Alarmed by reports of massacres of Rwandan refugees, the UN Security Council called for an immediate end to violence against the exiles.