Mobutu Sese Seko
(1930-1997).
By
Mify Matondo
Mobutu was born Joseph Désiré
Mobutu on Oct. 14, 1930,
at Lisala and he grew up among the Bantu-speaking
peoples of the Congo.
He attended a secondary school run by Catholic missionaries at Coquilhatville and after being dismissed for bad behavior
was drafted into the Force Publique in 1950.
Because he had a good education, Mobutu was trained as a
noncommissioned officer and given a desk job as an accountant. He also tried
his hand at journalism by writing a few pieces for army papers, and when he
left the army in 1956, he became a writer in Léopoldville
and later became editor of the magazine Actualités
Africaines. He got more training at the official
Congo Information Office and then at a Brussels
school of journalism.
During that time, Mobutu met Patrice Lumumba and became his
representative in Belgium.
He also began working as an informer for the Belgian security police. Lumumba
brought him back to the Congo
in 1960, made him a presidential assistant, and raised him to the rank of
colonel in charge of the Congolese army.
Within 2 months of this, Mobutu used his power to get rid of Lumumba. Mobutu
also took over the army and decided to turn Lumumba over to the Katanga
regime where he was killed. After this Mobutu concentrated on
building up the army under his command.
Although civilian rule was officially restored in August
1961 under Premier Cyrille Adoula,
Mobutu remained very powerful. His position became weakened when his army
failed to control the Congo
rebellion in 1963-1965. When Tshombe came back to the
Congo
as prime minister, Mobutu backed his decision to make use of foreign military
support.
On Nov.
25, 1965, the army took power and Mobutu became president. Rather
than follow Tshombe's policy of helping Western interests Mobutu said he would look
after his country first. He challenged Belgian economic control of the Katanga
mining industry. His fight with the Union Minière
eventually led to a face-saving compromise, and his attempts to organize a mass
party under the name of MPR turned out to be somewhat a disaster, but he was
successful in beating back all attempts to get rid of him.
Two of these attempts took the form of a mutiny by Katanga
forces and white mercenaries. After this the Mobutu regime gradually changed
its course in a conservative direction. This was witnessed by the October 1968
execution of rebel leader Pierre Mulele, who had
returned to the Congo
following promises of amnesty and had to face growing disaffection and unrest
on the part of student circles.
Mobutu tried to strengthen the Congo's influence on the African
scene. He was always favorable to the United States and some people
accused him of rising to power with CIA help.
In
December 1971 he changed his country's name to Zaïre.
Like Stalin in the Soviet Union and Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Mobutu kept his power by
developing a cult of his own personality. Pictures of him were printed by the
thousands and sent to every part of the country. Every word he said was
recorded. His was the
official voice to speak for Zaire and crowds were made cheer his speeches.
Mobutu beat back threats from outside Zaire in the 1970s that took the form of
invasions from Shaba
(formerly Katanga)
Province by rebels, some of whom were former Thumbed supporters from the
independence era; others were refugees from Mobutu's terror. Mobutu almost lost
control of the mining districts for a while in 1978 during a second rebel
attack, and again was forced to say anti-Communist speeches in order to get
help from American President Jimmy Carter, who did not like Mobutu's breaking
of human rights.
Mobutu made a mess of his nation's economy almost from the
beginning. Once in power, he tried to exploit Zaire's natural mineral riches, but
he and his backers lacked the business sense to make it work. Even worse, his
decision in 1973 to take over all economic assets owned by foreigners led to a
huge drop in national productivity and wealth. Embarrassed by these messes
Mobutu returned farms and factories to their original owners, but a fall in the
world price of copper caused more problems for the economy.
During the 1980s and the 1990s, Mobutu grew ever more
dangerous and corrupt. To stop people complaining he made some half-hearted
promises toward free speech but refused to give up power.
The 1994
genocide in Rwanda and the breakdown of order in Burundi that began in 1993
helped cause Mobutu's final downfall. More than one million refugees fled into
the Congo’s
eastern border regions causing fighting. Out of this another rebellion began
led by Laurent Kabila. This rebel movement proved
successful and in mid-1997 succeeded in pushing to the outskirts of the
capital. kabila became
president and changed the name of the country from Zaire
to the Democratic Republic
of the Congo. Mobutu who was ill with
prostate cancer fled with his family and close supporters to Togo. On September 7, 1997, about
four months after he left the Congo,
Mobutu died in Morocco.
Mobutu education was trained as a noncommissioned officer and given a desk job
as an accountant. he also tried his hand
at journalism by writing a few pieces for army periodicals, and when he left
the force publique in 1956 he became a stringer and
then a regular staffer in Leopolville, rising to the
post of editor of the weekly Actualites Africaines.For my emay Iused the following Web sites. 1. W.W.W peace.ca/ un 2000
survey contribution.htm
2.http/W.W.W Hartford
hwp.com/archives/35/ index Eaca html
3. http/ achivers.cnn.
com/ 2000/ world/ Africa/10/08/congo.mobutu.son.ap/index.html