Mobutu Sese Seko(1930-1997)
- Actor
Mobutu Sese Seko was born Joseph Mobutu in Lisala, Belgian Congo. His
father was a cook, who died when Mobutu was a child, and his mother was
a maid in a hotel. She used her earnings to send him to a Christian
Brothers Catholic boarding school for his education. In 1949 he joined
the Force Publique, an internal security force of Congolese troops but
with Belgian officers, and rose to sergeant. He stayed there for seven
years, leaving to become a newspaper reporter. It was in that position
that he met Congolese nationalist
Patrice Lumumba, and Mobutu was so taken
with him that he joined Lumumba's political party, the Congolese
National Movement (MNC).
When the Congo became independent on June 30, 1960, a coalition
government led the country, with Lumumba as Prime Minister and Joseph
Kasavubu as President. Mobutu was appointed Army Chief of Staff.
Lumumba and Kasavubu then locked horns in a struggle for political
supremacy, and on Sept. 14, 1960, a military coup overthrew Lumumba and
installed Kasavubu as overall leader. One of the key figures in the
coup was none other than Lumumba's old friend, Mobutu. It turned out
that both the American CIA and the Belgian government mistrusted
Lumumba, who they thought to be a Communist or at least pro-Communist,
and wanted Kasavubu in power, as they believed--correctly, as it turned
out--that Kasavubu and Mobutu would be more "pliable". Five years
later, though, Mobutu led a coup against Kasavubu, who had just managed
to oust his rival, popular Prime Minister
Moise Tshombe. Upon taking power, Mobutu
banned all political parties and declared the equivalent of a state of
emergency, taking on almost dictatorial powers. He later formed his own
party, the Popular Movement of the Revolution, which all Congolese were
obliged to join. He ordered all existing trade unions to form a single
union, the National Union of Zairian Workers, and placed it under the
control of the government.
Although there were several uprisings and attempted coups, all were
swiftly and brutally put down. In 1970 Mobutu held an election in which
he was the only candidate and in which voting was mandatory. Not
surprisingly, he got 99% of the vote. In 1971 he began a program of
"cultural awareness" and renamed the country the Republic of Zaire. He
ordered all Congolese with Christian names to drop them and change to
African ones, baptism of children was outlawed and Western-style
clothing and ties were banned. The next year he renamed himself Mobutu
Sese Seko Kuku Nbendu Wa Za Banga, although for convenience's sake he
allowed others to refer to him as Mobutu Sese Seko. He also fostered a
cult of personality in which his picture appeared everywhere, on
everything from from postage stamps to the country's paper currency.
His erratic, corrupt and authoritarian rule resulted in several coup
attempts and secessions. Mobutu's solution was to stage public
executions of those who were real, potential or imagined threats to his
regime, but he later found that it was much less trouble--and garnered
much less bad publicity worldwide--if he just bought off his enemies,
which he proceeded to do. He also nationalized foreign-owned firms and
deported their European owners and managers. He handed the firms over
to his family members and political allies, most of whom immediately
robbed the companies blind, sold off their assets and kept the money.
The resulting economic anarchy caused by these actions forced Mobutu in
1977 to bring the Europeans back. In that same year a force of several
thousand rebels--followers of the executed Tshombe--invaded the
province of Katanga from their bases in neighboring Angola. They were
well-trained, motivated and led mainly by professional mercenaries from
South Africa and Europe, and they swiftly and decisively routed
Mobutu's ill-equipped, poorly trained, undisciplined and disorganized
army. He appealed for aid from France, which airlifted several thousand
Moroccan paratroopers who eventually defeated the Katangan rebels.
However, a year later the rebels attacked again, but this time with
more troops than before. Mobutu's ragtag army fared no better this time
than it did the year before and was decisively defeated again, with
many of its soldiers tearing off their uniforms, throwing away their
weapons and fleeing naked into the jungles. Katanga, with its vast
mineral, diamond and ore deposits, was on the verge of declaring its
independence, and there was nothing Mobutu could do about it. Once more
he appealed for international help against the "Communists". France and
Belgium dispatched troops to put down the invasion, with the US
supplying logistical and material help, and the invading forces were
driven back across the border into Angola.
Despite these crises, Mobutu still had time to build up his personal
wealth, which by 1984 was estimated to be at least $5 billion. While he
amassed a fortune the country was going broke, and in 1989 it defaulted
on loans from Belgium--Mobutu and his family and cronies having looted
the country for years almost nonstop, the treasury simply ran out of
money. This situation resulted in most roads, bridges and other
elements of its infrastructure beginning to literally fall apart
because there was no money to maintain them. Most government workers
were paid sporadically if at all, resulting in tremendous inflation and
a level of corruption that was mind-boggling even for Africa. The sheer
scope of mismanagement, embezzlement and outright thievery by Mobutu
and his cronies resulted in economists coining a new word for his form
of government--kleptocracy. The cult of personality fostered by Mobutu
and his government was pervasive; pictures and portraits of Mobutu were
everywhere, government employees had to wear buttons with his
photograph on them, and on TV broadcasts he was seen descending from
the sky through clouds. He also awarded himself such titles as "Lion
Warrior", "Savior of the Nation" and "Supreme Combatant".
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 did not bode well for Mobutu.
He had always been able to count on support by Western governments, no
matter how much they disliked his domestic policies. Because of the
Congo's huge size. vast mineral wealth and strategic location, he was
able to paint himself as a bulwark against "the Communist menace" in
Africa, and the fact that his country held vast untapped reserves of
gold, silver, diamonds, timber, etc., didn't hurt, either. However, now
that the Soviet Union no longer existed, Mobutu's claim to be an
anti-Communist bastion in the heart of Africa was irrelevant. Under
pressure from western governments and because of economic problems and
internal disturbances, Mobutu ended the ban on political parties and
brought opposition figures into the government. Despite his attempt to
co-opt the opposition by playing different factions against each other,
however, the main opposition parties joined in one single organization
in 1994, forcing him to appoint one of their members as his Prime
Minister. In addition, Mobutu's health began to deteriorate, and he
started to spend more time in Europe for medical treatment. In 1996
Tutsi rebels took advantage of one of his absences by launching a
rebellion and taking control of the western half of the country. Other
rebellions were launched from eastern Zaire, and in 1997 the combined
rebel forces defeated Mobutu's army and took Kinshasa, the capital.
Mobutu fled to neighboring Togo and then to Morocco, where he took
permanent residence.
On Sept. 7, 1997, he died of prostate cancer in Rabat, Morocco.
father was a cook, who died when Mobutu was a child, and his mother was
a maid in a hotel. She used her earnings to send him to a Christian
Brothers Catholic boarding school for his education. In 1949 he joined
the Force Publique, an internal security force of Congolese troops but
with Belgian officers, and rose to sergeant. He stayed there for seven
years, leaving to become a newspaper reporter. It was in that position
that he met Congolese nationalist
Patrice Lumumba, and Mobutu was so taken
with him that he joined Lumumba's political party, the Congolese
National Movement (MNC).
When the Congo became independent on June 30, 1960, a coalition
government led the country, with Lumumba as Prime Minister and Joseph
Kasavubu as President. Mobutu was appointed Army Chief of Staff.
Lumumba and Kasavubu then locked horns in a struggle for political
supremacy, and on Sept. 14, 1960, a military coup overthrew Lumumba and
installed Kasavubu as overall leader. One of the key figures in the
coup was none other than Lumumba's old friend, Mobutu. It turned out
that both the American CIA and the Belgian government mistrusted
Lumumba, who they thought to be a Communist or at least pro-Communist,
and wanted Kasavubu in power, as they believed--correctly, as it turned
out--that Kasavubu and Mobutu would be more "pliable". Five years
later, though, Mobutu led a coup against Kasavubu, who had just managed
to oust his rival, popular Prime Minister
Moise Tshombe. Upon taking power, Mobutu
banned all political parties and declared the equivalent of a state of
emergency, taking on almost dictatorial powers. He later formed his own
party, the Popular Movement of the Revolution, which all Congolese were
obliged to join. He ordered all existing trade unions to form a single
union, the National Union of Zairian Workers, and placed it under the
control of the government.
Although there were several uprisings and attempted coups, all were
swiftly and brutally put down. In 1970 Mobutu held an election in which
he was the only candidate and in which voting was mandatory. Not
surprisingly, he got 99% of the vote. In 1971 he began a program of
"cultural awareness" and renamed the country the Republic of Zaire. He
ordered all Congolese with Christian names to drop them and change to
African ones, baptism of children was outlawed and Western-style
clothing and ties were banned. The next year he renamed himself Mobutu
Sese Seko Kuku Nbendu Wa Za Banga, although for convenience's sake he
allowed others to refer to him as Mobutu Sese Seko. He also fostered a
cult of personality in which his picture appeared everywhere, on
everything from from postage stamps to the country's paper currency.
His erratic, corrupt and authoritarian rule resulted in several coup
attempts and secessions. Mobutu's solution was to stage public
executions of those who were real, potential or imagined threats to his
regime, but he later found that it was much less trouble--and garnered
much less bad publicity worldwide--if he just bought off his enemies,
which he proceeded to do. He also nationalized foreign-owned firms and
deported their European owners and managers. He handed the firms over
to his family members and political allies, most of whom immediately
robbed the companies blind, sold off their assets and kept the money.
The resulting economic anarchy caused by these actions forced Mobutu in
1977 to bring the Europeans back. In that same year a force of several
thousand rebels--followers of the executed Tshombe--invaded the
province of Katanga from their bases in neighboring Angola. They were
well-trained, motivated and led mainly by professional mercenaries from
South Africa and Europe, and they swiftly and decisively routed
Mobutu's ill-equipped, poorly trained, undisciplined and disorganized
army. He appealed for aid from France, which airlifted several thousand
Moroccan paratroopers who eventually defeated the Katangan rebels.
However, a year later the rebels attacked again, but this time with
more troops than before. Mobutu's ragtag army fared no better this time
than it did the year before and was decisively defeated again, with
many of its soldiers tearing off their uniforms, throwing away their
weapons and fleeing naked into the jungles. Katanga, with its vast
mineral, diamond and ore deposits, was on the verge of declaring its
independence, and there was nothing Mobutu could do about it. Once more
he appealed for international help against the "Communists". France and
Belgium dispatched troops to put down the invasion, with the US
supplying logistical and material help, and the invading forces were
driven back across the border into Angola.
Despite these crises, Mobutu still had time to build up his personal
wealth, which by 1984 was estimated to be at least $5 billion. While he
amassed a fortune the country was going broke, and in 1989 it defaulted
on loans from Belgium--Mobutu and his family and cronies having looted
the country for years almost nonstop, the treasury simply ran out of
money. This situation resulted in most roads, bridges and other
elements of its infrastructure beginning to literally fall apart
because there was no money to maintain them. Most government workers
were paid sporadically if at all, resulting in tremendous inflation and
a level of corruption that was mind-boggling even for Africa. The sheer
scope of mismanagement, embezzlement and outright thievery by Mobutu
and his cronies resulted in economists coining a new word for his form
of government--kleptocracy. The cult of personality fostered by Mobutu
and his government was pervasive; pictures and portraits of Mobutu were
everywhere, government employees had to wear buttons with his
photograph on them, and on TV broadcasts he was seen descending from
the sky through clouds. He also awarded himself such titles as "Lion
Warrior", "Savior of the Nation" and "Supreme Combatant".
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 did not bode well for Mobutu.
He had always been able to count on support by Western governments, no
matter how much they disliked his domestic policies. Because of the
Congo's huge size. vast mineral wealth and strategic location, he was
able to paint himself as a bulwark against "the Communist menace" in
Africa, and the fact that his country held vast untapped reserves of
gold, silver, diamonds, timber, etc., didn't hurt, either. However, now
that the Soviet Union no longer existed, Mobutu's claim to be an
anti-Communist bastion in the heart of Africa was irrelevant. Under
pressure from western governments and because of economic problems and
internal disturbances, Mobutu ended the ban on political parties and
brought opposition figures into the government. Despite his attempt to
co-opt the opposition by playing different factions against each other,
however, the main opposition parties joined in one single organization
in 1994, forcing him to appoint one of their members as his Prime
Minister. In addition, Mobutu's health began to deteriorate, and he
started to spend more time in Europe for medical treatment. In 1996
Tutsi rebels took advantage of one of his absences by launching a
rebellion and taking control of the western half of the country. Other
rebellions were launched from eastern Zaire, and in 1997 the combined
rebel forces defeated Mobutu's army and took Kinshasa, the capital.
Mobutu fled to neighboring Togo and then to Morocco, where he took
permanent residence.
On Sept. 7, 1997, he died of prostate cancer in Rabat, Morocco.