- September 23 

Congo's Boy Soldiers Face Death Penalty

By ARNAUD ZAJTMAN, 

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) - Teen-agers flocked to Laurent Kabila's rebellion, lured with the slogan ``Army is happiness.'' They helped dethrone longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and make Kabila president.

 Now, 29 young men from Kabila's inner circle face possible death penalties in military trials playing out in a remote southern Congo town for a failed conspiracy against his life last October.

 Forty more are in grimy cells in Kinshasa, the capital, on suspicion of participating in the plot that finally succeeded in January, leaving the central African leader mortally wounded at his desk.

 The accused come from the ranks of Kabila's ``Kadogos'' - boy soldiers. Some were as young as 11 when a close friend of Kabila recruited them in the mid-1990s. A few were as old as 20. Most were 14 and 15.

 ``We were saying: Rule, glory, power - it's all for us,'' one imprisoned Kadogo recalled, writing from his jail cell to The Associated Press on condition he not be identified.

 ``But we were only dogs of the king, and we enjoyed it for a very short period,'' the former soldier, now 26, added.

 The assassination cases highlight the intrigues and struggles for power that have bloodied Congo since Kabila overthrew Mobutu in 1997.

 Within a year, Kabila's schemes and his betrayals of old allies plunged the vast, resource-rich nation into a new war that still divides Congo. Rebels backed by the governments of Rwanda and Uganda seized the north and east. Kabila held the west, including Kinshasa, with the help of the armies of Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia.

 Kabila made plenty of enemies, and on Jan. 16, he was shot to death in his office in Kinshasa. The motive and means remain mysterious. He was succeeded by his son, Joseph.

 Many of the Kadogos on trial were recruited in 1996-97 by one of Laurent Kabila's aides, Anselme Masasu.

 Mwami Kabare Rugemaninzi, a traditional chief in Kivu, an eastern Congo province, said Masasu scoured the region talking youngsters into joining Kabila's AFDL movement.

 ``He made loads of empty promises to the children and they joined in overwhelming numbers,'' Rugemaninzi said.

 An estimated 30,000 teen-agers entered Kabila's army.

 ``All my friends were joining, so I did, too,'' the imprisoned Kadogo wrote. ``We took many Antonov planes, and we walked also. It was exciting.''

 Most of the teens performed small tasks like carrying supplies, cooking and helping guard senior officers. Some worked as spies. Some were given weapons and took part in battles.

 It was not an easy life. Kabila had such a menacing reputation that parents used to scare boisterous children with a common threat: ``I will give you to Kabila.''

 When one boy soldier told Kabila that his father had died, Kabila rebuked him for being in touch with his family and ordered him beaten.

 By May 1997, many had walked on foot almost across the breadth of Africa, following Rwandan and Congolese fighters who took over Kinshasa and ended Mobutu's 32-year rule.

 Kabila was named president and quickly recruited about 40 Kadogos into his presidential guard.

 ``Kabila trusted only children for the cooking and cleaning in his house,'' said Cito Ruboneka, a former spokesman for Masasu.

 The trust didn't last.

 By last October, reports emerged that some Kadogos were visiting Masasu and being given tattoos that they were told would make them invincible, said Olivier Kungwa, an activist with Congo's Voice of the Voiceless rights group.

 Kabila became suspicious of a coup plot and turned on Masasu and the Kadogos. He had Masasu executed in November, rights groups say. At least 10 Kadogos were said to have died with him.

 When Kabila was found dead two months later, suspicion quickly fell on the 40 Kadogos who were then guarding him.

 Details of the assassination remain murky. A bodyguard, Rachidi Muzele, was said to be the triggerman, but he himself was shot immediately afterward.

 So far, the closed military court has sentenced eight defendants to death. Authorities have not disclosed whether any Kadogos are among the condemned.

 Rights groups say that suspects have been tortured and that at least one was forced to execute another.

 ``I can't forget the torture that all of us endured in the basement of a gloomy building near the river,'' the prisoner wrote the AP. ``The memories of blood, the screams of people who were stabbed ... I am wondering whether I am still psychologically normal