Word: mobutuism
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...DIED. MOBUTU SESE SEKO, 66, African strongman and kleptocrat whose 32-year rule of Zaire finally ended last May; of prostate cancer; in Rabat, Morocco. In the cold war theater that was Africa, Mobutu profitably played the anticommunist, earning an ally in the U.S. and seizing power in what was then the Belgian Congo in a 1965 coup. He ordered the nation to discard Western dress in the name of African authenticity and touted nationalization and other economic reforms. But he spent the following decades looting his resource-rich country, leaving it bankrupt and impoverished...
...convert loyal CompuServe users following an unexpected takeover of their rival (TIME Daily) ... Hundreds of passengers are feared dead after a ferry sank off the coast of Haiti (Reuters) ... Paula Jones' lawyers want out of her suit against President Clinton (TIME Daily) ... The illness that helped bring down Mobutu Sese Seko finally killed the former Zairean dictator (TIME Daily) ... Mir's main computer fails, but the crew sleeps on (TIME Daily) ... Palestinians are cracking down on Islamic militants as Madeleine Albright prepares for her Mideast peace mission (Reuters) ... Mourning continues for Princess Diana (People) and Mother Teresa (Life), while...
RABAT: The prostate cancer that killed Mobutu Sese Seko here Sunday night was the one that sounded the death knell for his Zairean dictatorship, according to TIME Nairobi correspondent Peter Graff. "In the last year, he became physically sick, incapable of functioning as a leader ... That's when his people began to say things about Mobutu they never dared say before, and when his own army refused to fight for him. It was his sickness that did it. He ruled for 32 years and was ousted in seven months...
...Soon after Mobutu was ousted, Graff recalls walking through the leader's house during his final days and finding it filled with potions and herbs used in traditional African rituals. "He was trying to save his rule and save his life by relying on the supernatural," says Graff, "but, in the end, he lost both...
...Ugandan bush. Kagame even served in Uganda's army from 1986 to 1990. When the time came to lead an invasion of Rwanda, Kagame relied on Museveni's moral and material help, including arms. While Museveni insists he "wasn't looking" for the opportunity to dislodge longtime strongman Mobutu Sese Seko from Zaire, when the chance came he joined with Kagame to mastermind the revolt. With Washington's tacit consent, he supplies weapons and training to the Sudanese guerrilla bands of Garang, who went to university with Museveni and who even sent his own troops to fight. But Museveni...