Congo’s president Joseph Kabila due to step down after two decades in power

Just weeks before Joseph Kabila is due to step down after nearly two decades as Congo’s president, he has received foreign journalists at his riverside palace for rare series of interviews.

“My role will be to make sure that we don’t go back to square one, square one meaning where we found the Congo 22 years ago,” he said in Kinshasa.

“In politics, in life, you shouldn’t rule out anything,” he said about a potential return once the clock on term limits is reset. “There is still a very long journey ahead and there are still other chapters to write.”

Joseph Kabila spent most of his early years in neighbouring Tanzania returning to take part in his father’s Rwandan and Ugandan-backed march to power, Joseph was army chief when Laurent was killed by a bodyguard in 2001 and regime heavyweights named the 29-year-old as his reluctant replacement.