Word: kasavubu
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Died. Joseph Kasavubu, 56, President of the Congo Republic in the stormy first years of nationhood; of a brain hemorrhage; in Boma, Lower Congo. Kasavubu took office in 1960 at a time of total chaos: the army began to mutiny, mineral-rich Katanga was threatening to secede, Premier Patrice Lumumba seemed bent on turning the country Communist. What saved Kasavubu was an Army coup by Colonel Joseph Mobutu, who thereafter largely held the power while allowing Kasavubu to administer, until Mobutu deposed him in 1965 to assume the presidency himself...
...unpredictable is commonplace and panic constantly threatens, any progress at all is remarkable. Despite its recent mercenary uprising and new rounds of racial violence and pillaging, the Congo has cause for hope. Last week, as the country marked the second anniversary of the army coup that overthrew Joseph Kasavubu in 1965, the mercenaries who have plagued it for years were in neighboring Rwanda, waiting with their suitcases and women for a one-way ticket out of Africa. Moreover, President Joseph Mobutu can claim credit for a lot more than driving out the "meres." In his two years of rule...
...Congo, President Joseph Kasavubu and ex-Premier Moise Tshombe were locked in a power struggle that had paralyzed the government, threatened to plunge the nation into another senseless civil war. "Political bankruptcy was complete," said Lieut. General Joseph Mobutu, the army commander, after his bloodless coup. "We are going to impose the spirit of discipline...
...final blow came early last week when the Kasavubu government organized a "spontaneous demonstration" of leftist youths, who burned homemade Belgian flags, marched up Leo-poldville's broad Boulevard du 30 Juin under a forest of banners ("Long Live Nkrumah and Kasavubu," "Down with the Yankees," "Tshombe to the Firing Squad"), and tried to break into Parliament. The army arrested the ringleaders, but when Nendaka's police promptly set them free, Mobutu decided that it was time to step in. He summoned his 14 regional commanders to Leopoldville, where in a conference that lasted until...
Military Hero. Coup or not, it was the second time that "Jumping Joe" Mobutu, a sometime paratrooper and former sergeant in the Belgian army, had tried it. Five years ago, in the midst of a racking feud between Kasavubu and leftist Premier Patrice Lumumba, he had "neutralized" them both by seizing power on behalf of a "college of commissioners." But his army withdrew its full support, and Mobutu, then only 30 years old, was forced to retire after four hectic months...