by JAMES PALMER
The Kabila mystery
The Independent carries an obituary of Laurent Kabila who the paper says died on January 16, as does The Telegraph, but confusion still surrounds the events of what is increasingly being accepted as the assassination of the Congolese President by a bodyguard.
On its front page, The Independent says Kabila's body lay in a military hospital in Harare as his officials denied that he had been killed. Zimbabwean military sources said the President died on a plane while being flown to the city for treatment, it says. Allies of Kabila denied his death, saying he had been flown abroad for treatment. This is widely seen as a delaying tactic to prevent anarchy breaking out in the region, the papers say.
The Financial Times leads its story with the takeover of power by Kabila's son, Major General Joseph Kabila. The article quotes Ugandan army officials, who back the rebels in Congo, as saying a more understanding
leader could bring a resolution but a more adamant one "would call for new initiatives" from the rebels.
The Independent carries a page-three history of the conflicts which have characterised Africa's "heart of darkness" for over a century.
The New York Times says Kabila, alive or dead, was flown to Zimbabwe and quotes a Rwandan official as saying the president had been an "obstacle" to honouring the peace accord signed in 1999, although "it is not our tradition to derive pleasure from people dying."
The Guardian reports Kabila's foes see his death as a chance for peace, saying Rwandan and Ugandan officials swiftly rejected Kinshasa claims they were behind the killing.
TV Chief assassinated
The head of Palestinian Satellite TV and co-ordinator of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation was yesterday shot and killed, The Independent reports, calling him one of the richest and most influential men in the
Gaza Strip. Hisham Mekki, 54, was shot twice in the chest by hooded gunman as a he sat at lunch in a beach hotel smoking a pipe, the paper says.
The Guardian reports Israel as saying they had no hand in the death of Mekki, a protaacégaacé of Yasser Arafat, adding this killing was different in style from Israeli assassinations of Palestinian militia commanders.
Saddam's warcry
Saddam Hussein has claimed victory over the West in a speech on the 10th anniversary of the Gulf War, The Independent reports. "Kuwait deserves what it got in 1990", the Iraqi leader is reported to have said. A thousand demonstrators burnt US flags in Baghdad, the paper reports.
The Telegraph describes Saddam's speech as "apocalyptic", in which he talked of the Gulf War as a prelude to the End of Days. "His address was long on rhetoric, short on substance," the paper comments.
El Salvador's destitute
Aid workers are voicing their alarm at the plight of 46,000 destititute earthquake survivors and the Pan American Health Organization have warned nearly half the population of 6 million could be without water, The Independent says.
The Guardian reports heavy criticism of the delays in ensuring food and medicines reach the displaced families. The paper also reports the death of Sergio Moreno, the 22-year-old musician who was pulled alive from the rubble at Las Colinas two days previously. He died of heart failure, the
paper says.
Chinese dissidents stand up
China's dissident community has petitioned its leaders to free political prisoners in the run-up to its inspection by the International Olympic Committee, The Independent reports. Their appeal seeks freedom for so-called dissidents, exposing what the paper calls "the Achilles heel" of China's Olympic bid - its human rights record.
Asylum for God's Army twins
All the broadsheets report the possible asylum in Thailand for the gun-toting twins who led a mysterious rebel movement in Burma. The two surrendered on Tuesday after 12 months on the run in the jungle.
Estrada trial suspended
Rumours of an imminent military coup are sweeping the Philippines as thousands of people demonstrated on the streets over the suspension of their president's impeachment trial, The Independent reports.
The International Herald Tribune reports the demonstrators included two of the country's former presidents and religious leaders. Prosecutors resigned in anger when the Senate barred evidence they said proved Estrada had accumulated vast wealth from corruption, the paper said.
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