I haven't used Kopete for KDE 4 in a bit but it was having issues for me
as well when I did try it. I switched to pidgin which means I lost my
chat history. I suspect it is KDE and you will just have to wait for
them to get it fixed. As most people know already, KDE4 is anything but
fully functional. This is why some are still on KDE3.
I read somewhere that the next big update is in February. It may help
to at least know how long you will have to wait. Sort of weigh out some
options if you can.
Also, recheck your USE flags to make sure you didn't miss something.
They could have changed or something.
Dale
:-) :-)