Congo's Kabila: from rebel to historic president

By David Lewis

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Joseph Kabila, sworn in on Wednesday as Congo's first freely elected president in over 40 years, is a former guerrilla fighter who steered the central African country toward peace after his father's assassination.

Softly spoken and publicity shy, Kabila became the world's youngest president in 2001 when a bodyguard shot dead his father Laurent, a Congolese warlord who fought along with his son to oust former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.

He inherited a vast, mineral-rich country wrecked by decades of corruption and a conflict involving six neighbouring armies which plundered Congo's reserves of gold, diamonds, copper and coltan in what is sometimes referred to as "Africa's World War".

Through a series of accords in 2002, Kabila made peace with the warring factions, including rebel chief Jean-Pierre Bemba who entered an interim government and challenged him in this year's historic presidential polls.

Kabila has swapped his military fatigues for business suits, but -- in contrast to his jovial father -- remains a reserved figure, giving few news conferences and a minimum of speeches.

The 35-year-old, who received military training in China, has promised to rule by consensus to heal the scars of Democratic Republic of Congo's 1996-1997 and 1998-2003 wars.

"The effort now must be nation building, it must be reconstruction. ... The government that will be put in place will be a government of coalition," he said recently, appealing to Bemba and the opposition to play their part.

Though revered in the Swahili-speaking east, where he is credited with ending the second Congo war, he is less liked in the west, where Lingala is spoken, a language he does not speak.