Transition may be rough for Kabila

8220;Ka-bi-la. Dic-ta-tor,8221; chanted the crowd of several hundred people, virtually all of them university students. They marched the 20 or so kilometers through Kinshasa8217;s suburbs to the city center, then out to the Parliament building.

Kabila8217;s Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo had named a new government in the wee hours on Friday that reserved the presidency and control of the military for Kabila and left out the leading Opposition politician in Kinshasa, Etienne Tshisekedi.

That caused Tshisekedi to reject Kabila8217;s authority as some of his supporters tried to stir up a spontaneous street demonstration in the city.

Marchers set out from Tshisekedi8217;s house, singing songs criticizing Kabila and praising Tshisekedi. They also attacked at least three bystanders, tearing a pro-Kabila shirt off one man and beating another with a chair.

At the Parliament building, an Alliance soldier fired a shot in the air to scatter the crowd, but no injuries or further violence were reported.

The crowd grew as it entered the downtown and stopped for about 10 minutes at the US Embassy, where protesters criticized the United States8217; de facto recognition of Kabila as Congo8217;s leader. Tshisekedi8217;s refusal to recognize Kabila8217;s self-declared presidency prevented the former rebel leader from enjoying total acceptance after a successful military campaign conducted with surprising ease.