For this 19th anniversary of this tragic memory, as usual, a thanksgiving ceremony was celebrated at the cathédrale du Centenaire protestant, followed by a memorial to the mausoleum of the illustrious disappeared, combined with a visit to the office of the Marble Palace where Laurent-Désiré Kabila was assassinated on January 16, 2001.
Ms. Jaynet Kabila, President of the Laurent-Desiré Kabila Foundation, fellow fighters, PPRD members led by Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, the ex First Lady Marie-Olive Kabila and the authorities of the country including Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga and the Kinshasa governor, Gentiny Ngobila, did not miss this great annual moment.
In his exhortation, the Reverend Nkwim Robert called the Congolese to the values of love. Love of neighbor and love of country. "We cannot love God if we do not love our fellow men. There is love of God only with love of fellow man", he insisted giving the example of the prophet Isaiah and his love for Zion.
"To love your country," he continues, "is to want the reign of justice, not to steal, not to rape, not to divert and not to do harm."
The Reverend Robert Nkwim recalled an extract from the last speech of Laurent-Désiré Kabila delivered on January 1, 2001. Speech which he considers as a will left to the Congolese: "The DRC is a country chosen by God ... The divine plan for the Congo will come true "whatever the plan of its enemies.
"I proclaim like M’zee that the divine plan for the Congo will one day be realized," the man of God confessed.
Théodore Mugalu, head of the Civil House of former President Joseph Kabila, read the family's word of circumstance. A family which is today proud of the fulfillment of Laurent-Désiré Kabila's dreams for the safeguard of territorial integrity and the rooting of democracy with lately first peaceful alternation at the head of the country- M’zee continues to live through his will: "Never betray the Congo", his family believes.
After worship, the audience went to the mausoleum, at Palais de la Nation. On the spot, in turn, the officials laid wreaths of flowers and wrote a few words in the memorial. This -before giving way to Congolese public, always present there, to remember of his third president of the Republic. It was the same craze at the Marble Palace which will open its doors to visitors until Friday, January 17.
Corneille Kinsala N’soki
(CKS/PKF)