Word: sele
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Walkie-Talkies. For example, a six-lane highway leads from Kinshasa 30 miles east to the "presidential domain" at N'Sele. There visitors find not only a gaudy cluster of conference halls and air-conditioned bungalows but also a palace for visiting heads of state in which the baths reportedly have gold-plated fixtures. A 27-story, $50 million world trade center is rising in Kinshasa; Mobutu hopes to make the city the trading crossroads of Africa-although the telephone system is so poor that some government officials use walkie-talkies...
...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 has made...