Additional Congo

Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire)
Mobutu Sese Seko

Zaire is one-fourth the size of United States, and one of largest and riches countries of Africa. It has more mineral wealth
than South Africa, with industrial and gem diamonds, copper, gold, silver, cobalt, cadmium, petroleum, zinc, manganese,
tin, germanium, uranium, radium, bauxite, iron ore, coal, hydropower and timber. The population is 58,000,000 (2004).
Through the neglect and mismanagement of one president who held power for 32 years, this once wealthy and attractive
country, with an excellent infrastructure, now flounders in shambles, broken and impoverished.
That one president was Mobutu Sese Seko. He was born in 1930, and at age 19 joined the Belgian Congolese army,
becoming a Sergeant major, the highest rank for Africans. He was discharged from the army in 1956, at age 26. Mobutu
then became editor of a weekly newspaper.
In 1960 the Congo became independent from Belgium. Patrice Lumumba became the Prime Minister. He was moderate
and well educated, and sought to unite all the Congo tribes into one nation. Mobutu, because of his 7 years as an enlisted
man in the army, was appointed Secretary of State for National Defense.
In 1961, backed by financial and military support by the United States, Mobutu seized control of the government from
Lumumba, and turned the country over to Joseph Kasabuvu, who made Mobutu Commander in Chief of armed forces, at
age 31. Lumumba was assassinated. Mobutu then reorganized the army to his own liking.
In 1965 by a military coup, at age 35, Mobutu banished Kasabuvu and made himself president. Later, with no opposition
allowed, he was reelected in 1970 and 1977.
Mobutu created a single state party, and made it mandatory everyone belong. He prohibited opposition candidates. His
government was corrupt. He unmercifully crushed rebel forces and brutally executed dissidents. He nationalized foreign
businesses, and took over the copper and diamond mines.
While his people became impoverished, and the United States continued to send aid to his country, Mobutu amassed one of
the largest personal fortunes in the world. In October 1989, Mobutu visited President Bush in the Oval Office of the White
House.
In 1996 the United States finally ended aid and backing to Mobutu. His health began to suffer. On January 9, 1997 he
underwent surgery in France.
On March 26, 1997 American troops arrived for evacuation of foreign nationals from Zaire.
By May 17, 1997, the rebellion finally ousted Mobutu after 32 years of despotic rule as president and 36 years as
Commander in Chief. He fled the country.
Similar to the looting following the ouster of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, or the ouster of “Baby Doc” Duvalier of Haiti, the
enraged Zairians mobs looted all Mobutu’s many palaces, disfigured every hated picture of him, even ripped off the silk
wallpaper, pulled up the marble floors, and smashed all doors and windows.
On September 7, 1997, Mobutu, at the age of 67, died in exile of prostate cancer at the heavily guarded Mohamed V
military hospital in Rabat, Morocco.
Aftermath:
In the year following his ouster, 1998, the country becomes Africa’s “World War” resulting in 3 million killed, 2 million
more left homeless.
The country was left with a debt of $12.9 billion while Mobutu had palaces throughout Zaire, palatial villas in Europe,
including the French Riviera, and one of the largest personal fortunes in the world. The Swiss government, at the request
of Zaire, froze Mobutu’s assets, and put a lien on his multimillion-dollar villa at Lake Geneva.

[If the world had a universal six-year limitation, Mobutu would have been out of power in 1971 instead of 1997.]
[Instead of waiting until a country is completely devastated, is it not more logical, more economical and more humane to
devise a plan to remove all Heads of State after six years? How many times must the world keep seeing the same pattern
before calling a halt?]





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