Kabila has ruled Congo by decree since assuming power through arms from the late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997, who later died of prostate cancer while in exile in Morocco the same year. He has banned and suppressed all forms of opposition, arresting and detaining all opposition leaders. He recently handpicked a 300 strong member Assembly that is expected to be sworn in to commence work as the country's parliament any time this year. The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo has had a very negative impact on the human rights situation in the country. Human rights violations and wide spread atrocities are committed by all parties to the conflict.
Government forces have for a long time perpetrated acts of aggression.
For example in 1999, reports were made of government soldiers conducting extermination campaigns in market places, and in the event several mentally ill persons were murdered on grounds that they were rebels who had disguised themselves as being mad. Several other residential areas suspected of housing rebel factions were shelled, resulting in the death of several innocent people. Most of the streets of Kinshasa were reportedly littered with dead and decomposing bodies. While the situation in Kinshasa and the mineral rich Katanga province has improved, the situation still remains volatile in the other parts of this massive central African country. There is a general break down of law and order especially in the northern part of the country were government forces backed by the armies of Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe are locked in a conflict with the armies of Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda who are supporting factional rebel groups.