Word: belgians
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...week's end the Angola-backed rebels were less than 50 miles from Kolwezi, where the Belgian-run Gecamines Co. extracts more than half of Zaïre's vital copper. U.S. construction workers on a $500 million power line were airlifted out.* Should Kolwezi fall, Mobutu's government would be hard pressed to survive. French officials are said to have begun talks with anti-Mobutu rebels in Paris-presumably in an effort to reach a compromise...
Meanwhile, the main body of Katangese circled Bumba's positions to join the infiltrators in a lightning attack that erupted everywhere in Mutshatsha at once. Within an hour, they had seized the army command post, the rail yard and a trainload of U.S.-and Belgian-made arms and ammunition. When Bumba's edgy battalions realized they had been bypassed, they simply streamed away through the jungle. After the loss of Mutshatsha-which the government denied for six days-Mobutu replaced his local commander with General Singa Boyenge...
...Katangese have raised the sharpest challenge yet to Mobutu. A Belgian-trained soldier and former journalist, Mobutu has managed to unify a nation with a bloody history of chaos and tribal war. Parceling out privileged positions and sinecures to leaders of Zaïre's 200 ethnic groups, Mobutu in return demanded and got almost feudal loyalty. High-living and profligate, he tried to burnish his image as a 20th century chief by such flamboyant stunts as the "Rumble in the Jungle" between Heavy-weights Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in 1974, which lost the government $4.1 million...
...move toward the copper mines. According to U.S. reports, the Katangese had crossed the border in trucks provided by Angola, and were equipped with Soviet-made rockets. They were accompanied by a number of white troops; these could have been Cuban soldiers, but they could also have been Belgian or other European mercenaries who have fought with the Katangese in the past. The Zaïrian army reportedly put up little resistance as the rebels seized one town after another; indeed, Kinshasa was so short of fuel that it had difficulty flying reinforcements into the fighting area. By late last...
Life is pretty hectic for me now. Meandering through Harvard Square late at night, I keep a sharp eye out for martians ordering yogurt cones at Belgian Fudge, or hirsute werewolves hailing taxis in front of the Coop. Back at my room, I turn on the radio to catch any late news flashes--did Marie Osmond find a new pimple on her chin? Why has Farrah Fawcett stopped eating bananas? But unfortunately, the radio coverage isn't satisfying, so I head for bed and sleep fitfully, anxious to read the morning news and rediscover the fantastic world of events...