Word: mobutu
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...secret that Muhammad Ali is the overwhelming favorite among Zaireans for next week's Ali/Foreman fight in Zaire. But whatever the outcome, the real winner will be President Mobutu Sese Seko. The ballyhoo for "The Fight of the Century" has made the proud President's country an international household word-though a frequently mispronounced one (Zeye...
Carefully orchestrated publicity campaigns are nothing new to Mobutu's 23 million subjects. Every night the television station in the capital city of Kinshasa begins its news with a vision of heavenly clouds slowly dividing. As sonorous music swells, a dark, bespectacled face topped with a leopardskin cap emerges to fill the screen. It is the visage of Mobutu, 44, also known as "le Guide," "le Clairvoyant," "le Redempteur." Without undue modesty, he has also chosen another name for himself that roughly translates as "the all-powerful warrior who, because of his endurance and will to win, will...
...aura of princely grandeur surrounding Mobutu is further bolstered by a life-style that includes palatial residences in each of Zaire's eight provinces and others in France, Belgium and Switzerland. There is not only a luxurious palace in Kinshasa but a 20-sq.-mi. "presidential domain" at N'sele, 40 miles away, which contains two more residences and a swimming pool billed as Africa's largest. To shuttle between his international chain of palaces, Mobutu uses the national airline, Air Zaire, as a personal transport service. His high-handed habit of commandeering planes at a whim...
...will go for naught. Few Americans or Europeans were willing to pay the $2,500 tab that Schwartz originally put on flight-fight packages. Zaïre declined to deal with other tour promoters, and a number of airline charters were canceled. Still, Kinshasa is a prettier place for Mobutu's effort, and he has certainly succeeded in drawing international attention...
Anti-Foreman Fetishes. Fight sentiment in Zaïre strongly favors Ali, President Mobutu's friend, and the government-controlled press has been careful to censor such patronizing Ali comments as "We're gonna have a rumble in the jungle." Indeed, loyalty to Ali, America's best-known athlete abroad, is so intense that officials are concerned about Foreman's safety. Many Zairians are expected to carry anti-Foreman fetishes into the stadium. Their passions will hardly be reduced if Foreman floors Ali in the first few rounds...