Word: mobutuism
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...excesses of Mobutu's corruption might be comical were it not for the tragic consequences his despotism has wreaked upon his countrymen. While Mobutu lounged in his Belgian castle, a Peace Corps survey in 1980 revealed that in a nation that owns one-quarter of the world's diamonds, malnutrition was killing more than one-third of the Zairian population. The U.S. was a key player among the Western nations that helped line Mobutu's coffers. The current overtures of China to the Western marketplace confront the global community with a similar challenge. Let's hope that Washington does...
GOMA, Zaire: Laurent Kabila has given President Mobutu Sese Seko three days to get out of town. Declaring a "pause" in his march across Zaire, Kabila issued this ultimatum: "In three days, if we will not get good news from Kinshasa of his willingness to depart to the north, then we will be forced to continue the military advance." Kabila, who ordered the pause to give his armies time to regroup, hopes the delay will bring Mobutu under increasing pressure to leave. "This gives people in Kinshasa a chance to put some more pressure on Mobutu and his government," notes...
KINSHASA: As Laurent Kabila?s rebels entered Zaire's second largest city Lubumbashi to the sound of cheering crowds, preparing to move on Kinshasa, ailing Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko made a feeble attempt to regain the power he held for three decades, ousting the country's new prime minister Etienne Tshisekedi and naming the army chief of staff to head the government. The White House demanded that Mobutu step down and go into exile, effectively ending U.S. support of the African dictator. "Mobutuism is about to become a creature of history," White House press secretary Mike McCurry said. Tshisekedi...
MBUJI-MAYI, Zaire: Standing before 50,000 rapturous supporters in the diamond-mining center of Mbuji-Mayi, Laurent Kabila seemed to make a promise to all Zaire: to topple Mobutu Sese Seko and retrieve a nation's stolen wealth. "The diamonds of Mbuji-Mayi went to Kinshasa," Kabila said. "We must go there to find the people who took the diamonds of Mbuji-Mayi." There's a lot of symbolism there, says TIME's Marguerite Michaels. The main message is, without question, he is going to Kinshasa. Meanwhile, another branch of Kabila's army was closing on Lubumbashi, capital...
KINSHASA, Zaire: The new prime minister of Zaire wants rebel leaders to join the party. Etienne Tshisekedi, a longtime Mobutu opponent, offered rebels a slew of government posts, including defense minister, in hopes of deflating the rebellion he is suddenly in charge of stopping. Rebel leaders aren't biting. "This doesn't go with our political demands," rebel spokesman Raphael Ghenda told France Info today. "Mobutu must be deposed from power and the Alliance must be assured of a democratic transition." Kabila once was friendly with Tshisekedi and his opposition party. But as the rebels advance south towards Lubumbashi...