CENTRAL AFRICA

Kabila reshuffles Congo's military

President Laurent Kabila has reshuffled Congo's military leadership, naming a former comrade-in-arms as chief of the armed forces and appointing his son head of the army. According to the AP, Lt. Gen. Sylvestre Luesha replaces Maj. Gen. Faustin Munene as the head of the armed forces, national radio and television reported Friday. Luesha fought with Kabila in South Kivu province during the campaign to unseat former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. Munene will head the central African country's small air force. Maj. Gen. Joseph Kabila, Munene's former deputy and Kabila's son, was named head of the army. No reason was given for the changes, which follow the signing Tuesday of a cease-fire agreement by Congo's largest rebel group. Laurent Kabila and his allies -- Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia -- signed the accord July 10, as did Rwanda and Uganda, who are backing the rebels. Another rebel group signed several weeks later. The civil war in the former Zaire erupted in August 1998, a year after Kabila overthrew Mobutu. The war has drawn in soldiers from more than six countries.