MOBUTU

The biography of one of the most famous dictators of Africa, the “King of Zaire”.

For thirty-two years (1965-1997), Mobutu reigned with an iron hand over the Congo/Zaire – an often vicious dictatorship combining bloody crimes, material and moral corruption and the shameless plunder of national wealth. The verdict of history regarding Mobutu is damning. The man with the leopard-skin hat was no vulgar tyrant, however: he was a friend of the West who played a key strategic role during the Cold War, promoting his country as a «bulwark against communism» in Africa.

Having come to power in the wake of a ruthless civil war, he constantly maintained the often threatened unity of the Congo/ Zaire, an immense ethnic puzzle with some four hundred tribes. But he wanted to do more: to endow his people with a national consciousness by exalting their identity, roots and traditions. This was the campaign for “authenticity”, a singular operation, intended to bring about psychological reconciliation.

This cultural revolution was accompanied, to an extravagant degree, by a glorification of the “Supreme Guide”. The vagaries of the world economy aggravated by catastrophic state management plunged the Zairian people into poverty and forced Mobutu to regretfully “democratize” his regime. He clung to his throne for a long time, until illness and a foreign invasion compelled him to flee his country ignominiously and he died in exile. It happened only twenty years ago.

Jean-Pierre Langellier is a journalist who worked for thirtyfive years at the daily Le Monde, during half of which he was a foreign correspondent. He is the author of several books, including Les Héros de l'An mil (The Heroes of the Year 1000, Le Seuil, 2000).