From 9 AM to 3 PM, the Marble Palace, the site of the assassination of the third Congolese president, is constantly crowded with people. Among the visitors, an overwhelming majority of young Congolese. From the main entrance to the office where Laurent-Désiré Kabila was shot at point-blank range, a line of people winds through the walkways. "We want to visit the remains of Mzee. But also to listen to the story of his assassination," said 13-year-old Enock Kayembe. This young Congolese, like hundreds of others, patiently looks at the photographs bearing captions that mostly tell the story of the funeral of Laurent Désiré Kabila, who was assassinated on January 16, 2001.
On the other side of the exit from the office, young people who have visited the office with the bullet-ridden chair and splattered with the blood of the man affectionately called by Congolese "soldier of the people," come out with a somewhat wiser look. "We were enlightened by the explanations of the circumstances of his death. But I think his struggle must continue. We must not betray the Congo," reacted Jephté Ileba, a second-year secondary school student at Sainte Marie School in Matadi Kibala, a neighborhood in Mont Ngafula, west of the Congolese capital. This one, for the occasion, held his younger brother's hand, leaving the Sanga-Mamba neighborhood to join the heights of the Marble Palace, at Binza Delvaux.
Alongside the youth, some adults retain the memory of Mzee as a president who offered himself as a sacrifice wanting to block the path to external forces who sought to seize the country. "After realizing that the Rwandans who had accompanied him in the AFDL coveted our country, he parted ways with them. And Kagame couldn't stand that. Mzee knew that these people wanted to lead a country that was not theirs. That is why he left us the phrase 'Never betray the Congo'. We tell our children this so that his ultimate sacrifice was not in vain," declared Tresor Matondo, a relative present on this day of commemoration.
Next to the office of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, other young people immortalize the moment with photographers. On the eve of this day, the Mzee Laurent-Désiré Kabila and Patrice Emery Lumumba foundations invited pupils to a public lesson on January 15, at the Maman Angebi studio of RTNC where three speakers addressed the concept of the national anthem, "Debout Congolais".
Dido Nsapu