Word: mwata
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...dance troupe of local girls frantically undulated their hips before him to the rhythm of pounding drums. Slouched on a throne consisting of a grey army blanket thrown over a schoolroom chair, his feet resting on a leopard skin, the Lunda tribe's newly installed 25th Mwata Yambo (Great Chief) received the adulation of his people. His ascension is an interesting case history of the tribalism that is still deeply rooted in the Congo; for on a continent where firebrand leaders talk constantly of forging ahead, Mwata Yambo XXV has won success by forging backward...
...seemed time to try another field. Turning to politics, Tshombe put to use his two big assets. One was a jovial, easy charm. The other was his father-in-law; young Moise had married the daughter of Bako Ditende, a prominent chief of the Lunda tribe, later to become Mwata Yamvo Ditende Yawa Nawezi III, supreme ruler of all the Lunda. Ditende's influence helped when Tshombe sought and won a seat on the Elisabethville city council (a tame advisory body under the thumb of the Belgian provincial governor) in 1947, then moved up to the Katanga provincial council...