KINSHASA, Congo: “”Let’s stop talking about democracy and elections,” Laurent Kabila told some 40,000 onlookers as he was sworn in as president of Congo. “We are building a new state built on new values.” Until April 1999, when Kabila promises to hold presidential and legislative elections, power in the new state will reside almost exclusively with him. Though the transitional government described late Wednesday in a 15-point proclamation is nominally separated into three branches, Kabila will legislate by decree and can hire and fire government employees at will, in addition to his role as commander-in-chief. But Kabila will not be alone at the top. On hand at the swearing-in were the presidents of Angola, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia, whose support made Kabila’s revolution possible and who certainly have a say in how the diminutive ex-smuggler runs Africa’s largest country. “Those four are the best guarantee that Kabila will not become another Mobutu,” says TIME’s Marguerite Michaels. “They invested a lot in Mobutu’s fall, and have too much to gain from a prosperous neighbor. They’ll make sure Kabila doesn’t blow it.”