Word: mobutu
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When an army mutiny and rioting forced President Mobutu Sese Seko to join with the opposition in a coalition government last month, many Zairians rejoiced over what they hoped would spell the end of Mobutu's 26-year lock on power. But last week, as violence once more swept Zairian cities, the coalition was in a state of disarray -- and Mobutu was still there...
...African colonies that came to independence in the 1960s, few fared worse than the former Belgian Congo, now known as Zaire. The country endured army mutinies, civil wars, invasions and, through it all, 26 years of iron rule by President Mobutu Sese Seko. In due course, thanks in part to Zaire's copper wealth, Mobutu amassed billions of dollars, but he always took care to keep the army on his side -- until last week...
Furious because they were underpaid, soldiers mutinied in Kinshasa, looting and pillaging the capital, and civilians soon joined in. Belgium and France sent paratroops to help evacuate their nationals. Mobutu denounced the violence as an "insurrection." But by week's end he had agreed, for the first time ever, to share power with the opposition in a coalition government...
...least superficially mimicking the revolutions in Europe, Mobutu has lots of company in his own neighborhood. Since February three other one-party regimes in sub-Saharan Africa -- those of Benin, Gabon and the Ivory Coast -- have consented to pluralistic systems. These were radical moves, considering that the leaders of these lands, who with Mobutu have held power for a combined 96 years, had previously put up with virtually no dissent. Tanzania too has said yes in principle to pluralism, and Zambia has promised a referendum to decide the issue...
...giving up the total control they have enjoyed. The need for foreign aid and the fear of social unrest drove President Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia's leader for 25 years, to embrace the idea of pluralism, but he has yet to schedule a promised popular referendum. In the case of Mobutu and Houphouet-Boigny, their utterances have contained a hint of "Apres moi, le deluge." These old-timers may be calculating that they can stand back, allow chaos to break out as competing factions scuffle for power, then return triumphantly. Mobutu's police did their part to encourage disarray two weeks...