MEURTRE à KINSHASA. Qui a tué Laurent Désiré Kabila ?

We are in Congo (formerly Zaire), where Kabila was brought to power four years earlier thanks to his army of child soldiers, ending the dictatorial regime of Mobutu. Moments later, Kabila’s killer is himself killed as he tries to flee the crime scene. In his business, we find a missive signed by the military attaché of the American embassy of the time: “in case of problem, contact this number”.

Many other tracks will surround with a thick fog this assassination still not elucidated to this day. Thus, the same evening of the murder, eleven Lebanese nationals linked to the middle of the diamond are kidnapped in the Congolese capital and executed.

The film is a very detailed investigation around the key players – including the current President of Congo, Joseph Kabila, son of the victim – and many witnesses of this enigma. It is led through the gigantic Congo, and rushes to the Arctic Circle in Sweden, where the filmmakers find the alleged accomplice of the assassin.

Congolese justice, for lack of having managed to arrest the guilty, will condemn more than a hundred defendants, military and civilians, mostly innocent, 50 of which still languish in prison. The injustice of this hallucinatory trial is also the starting point of the film: by passing a hidden camera to one of the convicts in the terrible prison of Makala, shocking testimonies allow a start striking the investigation. The interviews are complemented by unpublished archive footage of the war in Congo – which Kabila led against his former ally, Rwanda – and the military trial in which the ubiquitous convictions were handed down.

The film gives us a breathtaking dive into an area of ​​Africa that is at the heart of ruthless fighting for the control of immense natural resources. Fighting that leads to unheard-of violence among those who try to monopolize exploitation.