Word: seko
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...Congo’s troubles stem back to the days of Belgian imperialism, when the needs of the people were neglected while the land was stripped of its rich natural resources. The country received its independence in 1960, but fell into chaos and then dictatorship under Mobutu Sese-Seko...
...would be hard to do worse than his father did. When the one-time Marxist Laurent-Désiré - backed by Rwanda and Uganda - ousted the venal Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997, he was greeted with cheers and optimism. After three decades of kleptocratic dictatorship, it seemed that Congo could finally begin again. But the senior Kabila's promise of national reconstruction didn't get much further than slogans and billboards. Within a year the country was back at war, and the smiling giant had cracked down on political opponents and postponed promised elections. So when a bodyguard shot...
...takes charge of a country in name only. The war that began as a rebellion in the east of the country in August 1998 quickly became an African scramble for Africa. Rwanda and Uganda, which had supported Kabila pere in his campaign to end the reign of Mobutu Sese Seko, backed the rebellion after falling out with Kabila. Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe supported the Congolese President in return for the promise of lucrative oil and mining concessions. A peace accord signed 18 months ago by the main protagonists called for a cease-fire, but fighting has dragged...
...rolled across the border, hoping to carve out a buffer zone to prevent Hutu militiamen using sanctuaries in the state then known as Zaire for their genocidal campaign against Rwandan Tutsis. As they moved westward, the Rwandans encountered no resistance - the army of the reviled dictator Mobutu Sese Seko had no interest in defending the borders of a state that hadn't paid them for years. Mobutu's kleptocracy had finally reduced Zaire to an empty shell of a state. And that gave the Rwandans the idea of marching on the capital together with Uganda and Angola to oust Mobutu...
...many of those who cheered Laurent Kabila's march to power mourning over his assassination. Because the diminutive guerrilla leader, who assumed the presidency of the Congo only four years ago as the Rwandan army led an insurrection that swept aside the four-decade dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko, had become a caricature of the man he'd replaced. He headed up a corrupt, inept and duplicitous government that delivered little to its long-suffering people except more war. Kabila was reportedly shot dead Tuesday by one of his bodyguards, in what may have been part of a coup attempt...