Saturday, February 14, 2009

Idi Amin DADA of Uganda

Idi Amin

Idi Amin
Idi Amin

Idi Amin addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York, 1975


In office
1971 – 1979
Vice President Mustafa Adrisi
Preceded by Milton Obote
Succeeded by Yusufu Lule

Born May 17, 1925(1925-05-17)
Koboko or Kampala[1]
Died 16 August 2003 (aged 78)
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Nationality Ugandan
Spouse Malyamu Amin (divorced)
Kay Amin (divorced)
Nora Amin (divorced)
Madina Amin
Sarah Amin
Profession Military officer
Religion Islam

Idi Amin Dada (c.1925[1] – 16 August 2003), commonly known as Idi Amin, was a Ugandan military dictator and the president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles, in 1946, and advanced to the rank of Major General and Commander of the Ugandan Army. He took power in a military coup in January 1971, deposing Milton Obote. His rule was characterized by human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, extrajudicial killings and the expulsion of Asians from Uganda. The number of people killed as a result of his regime is unknown; estimates from human rights groups range from 100,000 to 500,000.

From 1977 to 1979, Amin titled himself as "His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor[2] Idi Amin Dada, VC,[3] DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular."[4] In 1975–1976, despite opposition[citation needed], Amin became the Chairman of the Organization of African Unity, a pan-Africanist group designed to promote solidarity of the African states.[5] During the 1977–1979 period, Uganda was appointed to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.[6]

Dissent within Uganda, and Amin's attempt to annex the Kagera province of Tanzania in 1978, led to the Uganda-Tanzania War and the fall of his regime in 1979. Amin fled to Libya, before relocating to Saudi Arabia in 1981, where he died in 2003.



Early life and military career

Amin never wrote an autobiography or authorized any official account of his life. There are discrepancies as to when and where he was born. Most biographical sources hold that he was born in either Koboko or Kampala around 1925.[7] According to Fred Guweddeko, a researcher at Makerere University, Idi Amin was the son of Andreas Nyabire (1889–1976). Nyabire, a member of the Kakwa ethnic group, converted from Roman Catholicism to Islam in 1910 and changed his name to Amin Dada. Abandoned by his father, Idi Amin grew up with his mother's family. Guweddeko states that Amin's mother was called Assa Aatte (1904–1970), an ethnic Lugbara and a traditional herbalist, who treated members of Buganda royalty, among others. Amin joined an Islamic school in Bombo in 1941. After a few years he left school and did odd jobs before being recruited to the army by a British colonial army officer.[8]

Chronology of Amin's military promotions
King's African Rifles
1946 Joins King's African Rifles
1947 Private
1952 Corporal
1954 Effendi (Warrant Officer)
1961 First Ugandan Commissioned Officer, Lieutenant
Uganda Army
1962 Captain
1963 Major
1964 Deputy Commander of the Army
1965 Colonel, Commander of the Army
1968 Major General
1971 Head of State
Chairman of the Defence Council
Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces
Army Chief of Staff and Chief of Air Staff
1975 Field Marshal

Colonial British army

Amin joined the King's African Rifles (KAR) of the British Colonial Army in 1946 as an assistant cook.[7] He claimed he was forced to join the Army during World War II and that he served in the Burma Campaign,[9] but records indicate he was first enlisted after the war was concluded.[10][11] He was transferred to Kenya for infantry service as a private in 1947 and served in the 21st KAR infantry battalion in Gilgil, Kenya, until 1949. That year, his unit was deployed to Somalia to fight the Somali Shifta rebels who were rustling cattle there.[12] In 1952 his brigade was deployed against the Mau Mau rebels in Kenya. He was promoted to corporal the same year, then to sergeant in 1953.[8]

In 1954 Amin was made effendi (warrant officer), the highest rank possible for a Black African in the colonial British army of that time. Amin returned to Uganda the same year, and in 1961 he was promoted to lieutenant, becoming one of the first two Ugandans to become commissioned officers. He was then assigned to quell the cattle rustling between Uganda's Karamojong and Kenya's Turkana nomads. In 1962 he was promoted to captain and then, in 1963, to major. The following year, he was appointed Deputy Commander of the Army.[8]

Amin was an active athlete during his time in the army. At 193 cm (6 ft 4 in), he was the Ugandan light heavyweight boxing champion from 1951 to 1960, and a swimmer and rugby player.[13][14]

Army commander

In 1965 Prime Minister Milton Obote and Amin were implicated in a deal to smuggle ivory and gold into Uganda from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The deal, as later alleged by General Nicholas Olenga, an associate of the former Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, was part of an arrangement to help troops opposed to the Congolese government trade ivory and gold for arms supplies secretly smuggled to them by Amin. In 1966, Parliament demanded an investigation. Obote imposed a new constitution abolishing the ceremonial presidency held by Kabaka (King) Edward Mutesa II of Buganda, and declared himself executive president. He promoted Amin to colonel and army commander. Amin led an attack on the Kabaka's palace and forced Mutesa into exile to the United Kingdom, where he remained until his death in 1969.[15][16]

Amin began recruiting members of Kakwa, Lugbara, Nubian, and other ethnic groups from the West Nile area bordering Sudan. The Nubians had been residents in Uganda since the early 20th century, having come from Sudan to serve the colonial army. In Uganda, Nubians were commonly perceived as Sudanese foreigners and erroneously referred to as Anyanya (Anyanya were southern Sudanese rebels of the First Sudanese Civil War and were not involved in Uganda). Because many ethnic groups in northern Uganda inhabit both Uganda and Sudan, allegations persist that Amin's army consisted substantially of Sudanese soldiers.[17]

Seizure of power

Eventually, a rift developed between Amin and Obote, worsened by the support Amin had built within the army by recruiting from the West Nile region, his involvement in operations to support the rebellion in southern Sudan, and an attempt on Obote's life in 1969. In October 1970, Obote himself took control of the armed forces, reducing Amin from his months-old post of commander of all the armed forces to that of commander of the army.[18]

Having learned that Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds, Amin seized power in a military coup on 25 January 1971, while Obote was attending a Commonwealth summit meeting in Singapore. Troops loyal to Amin sealed off Entebbe International Airport, the main artery into Uganda, and took Kampala. Soldiers surrounded Obote's residence and blocked major roads. A broadcast on Radio Uganda accused Obote's government of corruption and preferential treatment of the Lango region. Cheering crowds were reported in the streets of Kampala after the radio broadcast.[19] Amin announced that he was a soldier, not a politician, and that the military government would remain only as a caretaker regime until new elections, which would be announced as soon as the situation was normalised. He promised to release all political prisoners.[20]

Amin was initially welcomed both within Uganda and by the international community. In an internal memo, the British Foreign Office described him as "a splendid type and a good football player".[21] He gave former king and president Mutesa (who had died in exile) a state burial in April 1971, freed many political prisoners, and reiterated his promise to hold free and fair elections to return the country to democratic rule in the shortest period possible.[22]

Presidency


Establishment of military rule

On 2 February 1971, one week after the coup, Amin declared himself President of Uganda, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Army Chief of Staff and Chief of Air Staff. He announced that he was suspending certain provisions of the constitution and soon instituted an Advisory Defence Council composed of military officers, with himself as the chairman. Amin placed military tribunals above the system of civil law, appointed soldiers to top government posts and parastatal agencies, and informed the newly inducted civilian cabinet ministers that they would be subject to military discipline.[18][23] Amin renamed the presidential lodge in Kampala from Government House to "The Command Post". He disbanded the General Service Unit (GSU), an intelligence agency created by the previous government, and replaced it with the State Research Bureau (SRB). SRB headquarters at the Kampala suburb of Nakasero became the scene of torture and executions over the next several years.[24] Other agencies used to root out political dissent included the military police and the Public Safety Unit (PSU).[24]

Obote took refuge in Tanzania, having been offered sanctuary there by Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere. He was soon joined by 20,000 Ugandan refugees fleeing Amin. In 1972, the exiles attempted to regain the country through a poorly organized coup attempt, without success.[25]

Persecution of ethnic and other groups

Amin retaliated against the attempted invasion by Ugandan exiles in 1972 by purging the army of Obote supporters, predominantly those from the Acholi and Lango ethnic groups.[26] In July 1971, Lango and Acholi soldiers were massacred in the Jinja and Mbarara Barracks,[27] and by early 1972, some 5,000 Acholi and Lango soldiers, and at least twice as many civilians, had disappeared.[28] The victims soon came to include members of other ethnic groups, religious leaders, journalists, senior bureaucrats, judges, lawyers, students and intellectuals, criminal suspects, and foreign nationals. In some cases entire villages were wiped out.[29] In this atmosphere of violence, many other people were killed for criminal motives or simply at will.[30] Bodies floated on the River Nile in quantities sufficient to clog the Owen Falls Hydro-Electric Dam in Jinja on at least one occasion.[31]

The killings, motivated by ethnic, political and financial factors, continued throughout Amin's eight-year reign.[28] The exact number of people killed is unknown. The International Commission of Jurists estimated the death toll at no fewer than 80,000 and more likely around 300,000. An estimate compiled by exile organizations with the help of Amnesty International puts the number killed at 500,000.[10] Among the most prominent people killed were Benedicto Kiwanuka, the former prime minister and later chief justice; Janani Luwum, the Anglican archbishop; Joseph Mubiru, the former governor of the Central Bank; Frank Kalimuzo, the vice chancellor of Makerere University; Byron Kawadwa, a prominent playwright; and two of Amin's own cabinet ministers, Erinayo Wilson Oryema and Charles Oboth Ofumbi.[32]

In 1977, Henry Kyemba, Amin's health minister and a former official of the first Obote regime, defected and resettled in Britain. Kyemba wrote and published A State of Blood, the first insider exposé of Amin's rule.

In August 1972, Idi Amin declared what he called an "economic war", a set of policies that included the expropriation of properties owned by Asians and Europeans. Uganda's 80,000 Asians were mostly from the Subcontinent born in the country, whose ancestors had come to Uganda when the country was still a British colony. Many owned businesses, including large-scale enterprises, that formed the backbone of the Ugandan economy. On 4 August 1972, Amin issued a decree ordering the expulsion of the 60,000 Asians who were not Ugandan citizens (most of them held British passports). This was later amended to include all 80,000 Asians, with the exception of professionals, such as doctors, lawyers and teachers. A plurality of the Asians with British passports, around 30,000, emigrated to Britain. Others went to Australia, Canada, India, Pakistan, Sweden, and the U.S.[33][34][35] Amin expropriated businesses and properties belonging to the Asians and handed them over to his supporters. The businesses were mismanaged, and industries collapsed from lack of maintenance. This proved disastrous for the already declining economy.[23]

International relations


Following the expulsion of Indians in 1972, India severed diplomatic relations with Uganda. The same year, as part of his "economic war", Amin broke diplomatic ties with Britain and nationalized 85 British-owned businesses. He also expelled Israeli military advisers and turned to Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya and the Soviet Union for support.[26] In General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait, he discussed his planned war against Israel, using paratroops, bombers, and suicide squadrons.

In 1973, U.S. Ambassador Thomas Patrick Melady recommended that the United States reduce its presence in Uganda. Melady described Amin's regime as "racist, erratic and unpredictable, brutal, inept, bellicose, irrational, ridiculous, and militaristic".[36] Accordingly, the United States closed its embassy in Kampala.

In June 1976, Idi Amin allowed an Air France aeroplane hijacked by two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - External Operations (PFLP-EO) and two members of the German Revolutionäre Zellen to land at Entebbe Airport. There, the hijackers were joined by three more. Soon after, 156 hostages who did not hold Israeli passports were released and flown to safety, while 83 Jews and Israeli citizens, as well as 20 others who refused to abandon them, continued to be held hostage. In the subsequent Israeli rescue operation, codenamed Operation Thunderbolt (popularly known as Operation Entebbe), nearly all of the hostages were freed. Three hostages died and 10 were wounded; six hijackers, 45 Ugandan soldiers, and one Israeli soldier, Yoni Netanyahu, were killed. This incident further soured Uganda's international relations, leading Britain to close its High Commission in Uganda.[37]

Uganda under Amin embarked on a large military build-up, which raised concerns in Kenya. Early in June 1975, Kenyan officials impounded a large convoy of Soviet-made arms en route to Uganda at the port of Mombasa. Tension between Uganda and Kenya reached its climax in February 1976 when Amin announced that he would investigate the possibility that parts of southern Sudan and western and central Kenya, up to within 32 kilometres (20 mi) of Nairobi, were historically a part of colonial Uganda. The Kenyan Government responded with a stern statement that Kenya would not part with "a single inch of territory". Amin backed down after the Kenyan army deployed troops and armored personnel carriers along the Kenya-Uganda border.[38]

[edit] Erratic behaviour

As the years went on, Amin became increasingly erratic and outspoken. In 1977, after Britain had broken diplomatic relations with his regime, Amin declared he had beaten the British and conferred on himself the decoration of CBE (Conqueror of the British Empire). Radio Uganda then read out the whole of his new title: "His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor[2] Idi Amin Dada, VC,[39] DSO, MC, CBE."[10] In 1971, Amin and Zaire's president Mobutu Sese Seko changed the names of Lake Albert and Lake Edward to Lake Mobutu Sese Seko and Lake Idi Amin Dada, respectively.[40] Amin became the subject of rumours and myths, including a widespread belief that he was a cannibal.[41][42][43] Some of the unsubstantiated rumours, such as the mutilation of one of his wives, were spread and popularised by the 1980 film, Rise and Fall of Idi Amin.[44]

During Amin's reign, popular media outside of Uganda often portrayed Amin as an essentially comic figure. In a 1977 assessment typical of the time, Time magazine article described him as a "killer and clown, big-hearted buffoon and strutting martinet".[45] For focusing on Amin's excessive tastes and self-aggrandizing eccentricities, the foreign media was often criticized for downplaying or excusing his murderous behavior.[46] Other commentators even suggested that Amin had deliberately cultivated his reputation in the foreign media as an easily-parodied buffoon in order to defuse international concern over his administration of Uganda.[47]

[edit] Deposition and exile

Further information: Uganda-Tanzania War

By 1978, the number of Amin's close associates had shrunk significantly, and he faced increasing dissent from within Uganda. After the killings of Luwum and ministers Oryema and Oboth Ofumbi in 1977, several of Amin's ministers defected or fled to exile.[48] Later that year, after Amin's vice president, General Mustafa Adrisi, was injured in a car accident, troops loyal to him mutinied. Amin sent troops against the mutineers, some of whom had fled across the Tanzanian border.[23] Amin accused Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere of waging war against Uganda, ordered the invasion of Tanzanian territory, and formally annexed a section of the Kagera Region across the boundary.[23][25]

Nyerere mobilized the Tanzania People's Defence Force and counterattacked, joined by several groups of Ugandan exiles who had united as the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA). Amin's army retreated steadily, and despite military help from Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi, he was forced to flee on 11 April 1979 when Kampala was captured. He escaped first to Libya and ultimately settled in Saudi Arabia.[7]

Amin held that Uganda needed him and never expressed remorse for the abuses of his regime.[49] In 1989, he attempted to return to Uganda, apparently to lead an armed group organised by Colonel Juma Oris. He reached Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), before Zairian President Mobutu forced him to return to Saudi Arabia.

[edit] Amin's death

On 20 July 2003, one of Amin's wives, Madina, reported that he was in a coma and near death at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She pleaded with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to allow him to return to die in Uganda. Museveni replied that Amin would have to "answer for his sins the moment he was brought back."[50] Amin died in Saudi Arabia on 16 August 2003. He was buried in a simple grave in Ruwais Cemetery in Jeddah.[51]

[edit] Family and associates

A polygamist, Idi Amin married at least six women, three of whom he divorced. He married his first and second wives, Malyamu and Kay, in 1966. The next year, he married Nora and then Nalongo Madina in 1972. On 26 March 1974, he announced on Radio Uganda that he had divorced Malyamu, Nora and Kay.[52][53] Malyamu was arrested in Tororo on the Kenyan border in April 1974 and accused of attempting to smuggle a bolt of fabric into Kenya. She later moved to London.[52][54] Kay died on 13 August 1974, reportedly from an attempted surgical abortion performed by her lover Dr. Mbalu Mukasa (who himself committed suicide). Her body was found dismembered. In August 1975, during the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit meeting in Kampala, Amin married Sarah Kyolaba. Sarah's boyfriend, whom she was living with before she met Amin, vanished and was never heard from again. According to The Monitor, Amin married a wife a few months before his death in 2003.[54]

Sources differ widely on the number of children Amin fathered; most say that he had 30 to 45.[55] Until 2003, Taban Amin, Idi Amin's eldest son, was the leader of West Nile Bank Front (WNBF), a rebel group opposed to the government of Yoweri Museveni. In 2005, he was offered amnesty by Museveni, and in 2006, he was appointed Deputy Director General of the Internal Security Organisation.[56] Another of Amin’s sons, Haji Ali Amin, ran for election as Chairman (i.e. mayor) of Njeru Town Council in 2002 but was not elected.[57] In early 2007, the award-winning film The Last King of Scotland prompted one of his sons, Jaffar Amin, to speak out in his father's defense. Jaffar Amin said he was writing a book to rehabilitate his father's reputation.[58]

On 3 August 2007, Faisal Wangita, one of Amin's sons, was convicted for playing a role in a murder in London.[59]

Among Amin's closest associates was the British-born Bob Astles, who is considered by many to have been a malign influence, and by others as a moderating presence.[60] Isaac Malyamungu was an instrumental affiliate and one of the more feared officers in Amin's army.

Mobutu Sese Seko

Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga (October 14, 1930September 7, 1997), commonly known as Mobutu, or Mobutu Sese Seko (pronounced /məˈbuːtuː ˈsɛseɪ ˈsɛkoʊ/ in English), born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, was the President of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) for 32 years (1965–1997) after deposing Joseph Kasavubu. He formed a totalitarian regime in Zaire which attempted to purge the country of all colonial cultural influence and entered wars to challenge the rise of communism in other African countries. His mismanagement of his country's economy, and personal enrichment from its financial and natural resources, makes his name synonymous with kleptocracy in Africa.


Early years

Mobutu, a member of the Ngbandi ethnic group, was born in Lisala, Belgian Congo. Mobutu's mother, Marie Madeleine Yemo, was a hotel maid who had fled to Lisala from the harem of a local village chief. There she met and married Albéric Gbemani, a cook for a Belgian judge. Two months later she gave birth to Mobutu. The name "Mobutu" was selected by an uncle. Gbemani died when Mobutu was eight.[1]

The wife of the Belgian judge took a liking to Mobutu and taught him to speak, read and write fluent French. Yemo relied on the help of relatives to support her four children, and the family moved often. Mobutu's earliest studies were in Léopoldville, but his mother eventually sent him to an uncle in Coquilhatville, where he attended the Christian Brothers School, a Catholic mission boarding school. A physically imposing figure, he dominated school sports. He also excelled in academics, and ran the class newspaper. He was also known for his pranks and impish sense of humor; a classmate recalled that when the Belgian priests, whose first language was Dutch, misspoke in French, Mobutu would leap to his feet in class and point out the mistake. In 1949 Mobutu stowed away aboard a boat to Léopoldville and met a girl. The priests found him several weeks later, and at the end of the school year he was sent to the Force Publique (FP), the Belgian Congolese army. Enlistment, which came with a seven-year commitment, was a punishment for rebellious students.[2]

Mobutu found discipline in army life, as well as a father figure in Sergeant Joseph Bobozo. Mobutu kept up his studies by borrowing European newspapers from the Belgian officers and books from wherever he could find them, reading them on sentry duty and whenever he had a spare moment. His personal favorites were the writings of French President Charles de Gaulle, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli. After passing a course in accounting, he began to dabble professionally in journalism. Still angry after his clashes with the school priests, he did not wed in a church. His contribution to the wedding festivities was a crate of beer, all his army salary could afford.[3]

As a soldier, Mobutu wrote pseudonymously on contemporary politics for a new magazine set up by a Belgian colonial, Actualités Africaines. In 1956, he quit the army and became a full-time journalist,[4] writing for the Léopoldville daily L'Avenir.[5] Two years later, he went to Belgium to cover the 1958 World Exposition and stayed to receive journalist training. By this time, Mobutu had met many of the young Congolese intellectuals challenging colonial rule. He became friends with Patrice Lumumba and joined Lumumba's Mouvement National Congolais (MNC). Mobutu eventually became Lumumba's personal aide, though several contemporaries indicate that Belgian intelligence had recruited Mobutu to be an informer by this point.[6]

During the 1960 talks in Brussels on Congolese independence, the U.S. Embassy held a reception to gain a better sense of the Congolese delegation. Embassy staff were each assigned a list of delegation members to meet and then discuss their impressions. The ambassador noted, "One name kept coming up. But it wasn't on anyone's list because he wasn't an official delegation member, he was Lumumba's secretary. But everyone agreed that this was an extremely intelligent man, very young, perhaps immature, but a man with great potential."[7]


Following the granting of independence on June 30, 1960, a coalition government was formed, led by Prime Minister Lumumba and President Joseph Kasa-Vubu. The new nation quickly lurched into the Congo Crisis as the army mutinied against the remaining Belgian officers. Lumumba appointed Mobutu as Chief of Staff of the Army and in that capacity, Mobutu toured the country convincing soldiers to return to their barracks. Encouraged by a Belgian government intent on maintaining its access to rich Congolese mines, secessionist violence erupted in the south. Miffed that the United Nations force sent to help restore order was not helping to crush the secessionists, Lumumba turned to the Soviet Union for assistance, receiving massive military aid and about a thousand Soviet technical advisers in six weeks. The U.S. government saw the Soviet activity as a maneuver to spread communist influence in Central Africa. Kasavubu, riled by the Soviet arrival, dismissed Lumumba. An outraged Lumumba declared Kasavubu deposed. Both Lumumba and Kasavubu then ordered Mobutu to arrest the other. As Army Chief of Staff, Mobutu came under great pressure from multiple sources. The embassies of Western nations, which helped pay the soldiers' salaries, as well as Kasavubu and Mobutu's subordinates favored getting rid of the Soviet presence. On September 14, 1960, Mobutu took control[8] in a CIA-sponsored coup. The new regime placed Lumumba under house arrest for the second time and kept Kasavubu as president.[9]

All Soviet advisers were ordered to leave. Next, Mobutu accused Lumumba of pro-communist sympathies, thereby hoping to gain the support of the United States. Lumumba tried to flee to Stanleyville, but he was captured and sent to Katanga where he was assassinated.

In 1964, Pierre Mulele led partisans in another rebellion. They quickly occupied two thirds of The Congo, but the Congolese army, led by Mobutu, was able to reconquer the entire territory in 1965.

Second coup and consolidation of power

On November 25, 1965, General Mobutu seized power for the second time in a bloodless coup, following another power struggle between Kasavubu and his prime minister Moise Tshombe. According to Mobutu, it had taken "the politicians" five years to "ruin" the country; therefore, said Mobutu, "For five years, there will be no more political party activity in the country." Under the auspice of a regime d'exception (the equivalent of a state of emergency), Mobutu assumed sweeping (almost absolute) powers. Parliament was reduced to a rubber-stamp, before being abolished altogether though it was later revived. The number of provinces was reduced, and their autonomy curtailed, resulting in a highly centralized state.

Initially, Mobutu's government was decidedly apolitical, even anti-political. The word "politician" carried negative connotations, and became almost synonymous with someone who was wicked or corrupt. Even so, 1966 saw the debut of the Corps of Volunteers of the Republic, a vanguard movement designed to mobilize popular support behind Mobutu, who was proclaimed the nation's "Second National Hero" after Lumumba. Ironic given the role he played in Lumumba's ousting, Mobutu strove to present himself as a successor to Lumumba's legacy and one of the key tenets early in his rule was "authentic Congolese nationalism."

1967 marked the debut of the Popular Movement of the Revolution (MPR) which until 1990 was the nation's only legal political party. Membership became obligatory for all citizens. Among the themes advanced by the MPR in its doctrine, the Manifesto of N'Sele, was nationalism, revolution, and authenticity. Revolution was described as a "truly national revolution, essentially pragmatic," which called for "the repudiation of both capitalism and communism." One of the MPR's slogans was "Neither left nor right," to which would be added "nor even center" in later years.

That same year, all trade unions were consolidated into a single union, the National Union of Zairian Workers, and brought under government control. By Mobutu's own admission, the union would serve as an instrument of support for government policy, rather than as a force for confrontation. Independent trade unions were illegal until 1991.

Facing many challenges early in his rule, Mobutu was able to turn most opposition into submission through patronage; those he could not, he dealt with forcefully. In 1966 four cabinet members were arrested on charges of complicity in an attempted coup, tried by a military tribunal, and publicly executed in an open-air spectacle witnessed by over 50,000 people. Uprisings by former Katangan gendarmeries were crushed, as was an abortive revolt led by white mercenaries in 1967. By 1970, nearly all potential threats to his authority had been smashed, and for the most part, law and order was brought to nearly all parts of the country. That year marked the pinnacle of Mobutu's legitimacy and power. The Belgian monarch, King Baudouin I, made a highly successful state visit to Kinshasa. That same year legislative and presidential elections were held. The electorate was presented a single list of candidates for the legislature, for which 98.33% of voters voted in favor. For the presidential election, Mobutu was the only candidate, and voters were offered two ballot choices: green for hope, and red for chaos: Mobutu won with a vote of 10,131,699 to 157.[10]

As he consolidated power Mobutu set up several military forces whose sole purpose was to protect him. These included the Special Presidential Division, Civil Guard and Service for Action and Military Intelligence (SNIP).

Authenticity campaign


Flag of Zaire

Embarking on a campaign of pro-Africa cultural awareness, Mobutu renamed the country the Republic of Zaire in October 1971. Africans were ordered to drop their Christian names for African ones, and priests were warned that they would face 5 years' imprisonment if they were caught baptizing a Zairean child with a Christian name. Western attire and ties were banned, and men were forced to wear a Mao-style tunic known as an abacost.

In 1972, Mobutu renamed himself Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga ("The all-powerful warrior who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win, goes from conquest to conquest, leaving fire in his wake."[11]), Mobutu Sese Seko for short.

One-man rule


Early in his rule, Mobutu consolidated power by publicly executing political rivals, secessionists, coup plotters, and other threats to his rule. To set an example, many were hanged before large audiences, including former Prime Minister Evariste Kimba, who, with three cabinet members - Jérôme Anany (Defense Minister), Emmanuel Bamba (Finance Minister), and Alexandre Mahamba (Minister of Mines and Energy) - was tried in May 1966, and sent to the gallows on May 30, before an audience of 50,000 spectators. The men were executed on charges of being in contact with Colonel Alphonse Bangala and Major Pierre Efomi, for the purpose of planning a coup. Mobutu explained the executions as follows: "One had to strike through a spectacular example, and create the conditions of regime discipline. When a chief takes a decision, he decides - period."[12]

In 1968 Pierre Mulele, Lumumba's Minister of Education and later a rebel leader during the 1964 Simba rebellion, was lured out of exile in Brazzaville on the assumption that he would be amnestied, but was tortured and killed by Mobutu's forces. While Mulele was still alive, his eyes were gouged out, his genitals were ripped off, and his limbs were amputated one by one.[13]bribery. A favorite Mobutu tactic was to play "musical chairs," rotating members of his government, switching the cabinet roster constantly to ensure that no one would pose a threat to his rule. Another tactic was to arrest and sometimes torture dissident members of the government, only to later pardon them and reward them with high office. The most famous example of this treatment is Jean Nguza Karl-i-Bond, who was fired as foreign minister in 1977, sentenced to death, and tortured. Mobutu then commuted his sentence to life imprisonment, released him after a year, and later appointed him prime minister before fleeing the country in 1981 (although he returned to the fold in 1985, first as Zaire's ambassador to the U.S., and later as foreign minister).[14] Mobutu later moved away from murder, and switched to a new tactic, buying off political rivals. He used the slogan "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer still" to describe his tactic of co-opting political opponents through

In 1972 Mobutu tried unsuccessfully to have himself named president for life.[15]

He initially nationalized foreign-owned firms and forced European investors out of the country. In many cases he handed the management of these firms to relatives and close associates who stole the companies' assets. This precipitated such an economic slump that Mobutu was forced by 1977 to try to woo foreign investors back.[16] Katangan rebels based in Angola invaded Zaire in 1977 in retaliation for Mobutu's support for anti-MPLA rebels. France airlifted 1,500 Moroccan paratroopers into the country and repulsed the rebels, ending Shaba I. The rebels attacked Zaire again, in greater numbers, in the Shaba II invasion of 1978. The governments of Belgium and France deployed troops with logistical support from the United States and defeated the rebels again.

He was re-elected in single-candidate elections in 1977 and 1984. He worked hard on little but to increase his personal fortune, which in 1984 was estimated to amount to US$5 billion,[17][18]Swiss banks (however, many now suspect he was never a billionaire at all[19]). This was almost equivalent to the country's foreign debt at the time, and, by 1989, the government was forced to default on international loans from Belgium. He owned a fleet of Mercedes-Benz most of it in vehicles that he used to travel between his numerous palaces, while the nation's roads rotted and many of his people starved. Infrastructure virtually collapsed, and many public service workers went months without being paid. Most money was siphoned off to Mobutu, his family, and top political and military leaders. Only the Special Presidential Division - on whom his physical safety depended - was paid adequately or regularly. A popular saying that the civil servants pretended to work while the state pretended to pay them expressed this grim reality.

Another feature of Mobutu's economic mismanagement, directly linked to the way he and his friends siphoned off so much of the country's wealth, was rampant inflation. The rapid decline in the real value of salaries strongly encouraged a culture of corruption and dishonesty among public servants of all kinds.

Marshal Mobutu was known to charter a Concorde from Air France for personal use, including shopping trips to Paris for him and his family. He had an airport constructed in his hometown of Gbadolite with a runway long enough to accommodate the Concorde's entended take off and landing requirements. In 1989, Mobutu chartered Concorde aircraft F-BTSD for a June 26-July 5 trip to give a speech at the United Nations in New York City, July 16 for French bicentential celebrations in Paris (where he was a guest of President François Mitterrand), on September 19 for a flight from Paris to Gbadolite, and another nonstop flight from Gbadolite to Marseille with the youth choir of Zaire.[20]

Mobutu's rule earned a reputation as one of the world's foremost examples of kleptocracy and nepotism. Close relatives and fellow members of the Ngbandi tribe were awarded with high positions in the military and government, and he groomed his eldest son, Nyiwa, to one day succeed him as President;[21] however, this was thwarted by Nyiwa's death (caused by AIDS) in 1994.[22]

10 Makuta coin depicting Mobutu Sese Seko

He was also the subject of a massive personality cult. The evening news on television was preceded by an image of him descending through clouds from the heavens, portraits of him adorned many public places, government officials wore lapels bearing his portrait, and he held such titles as "Father of the Nation," "Savior of the People," and "Supreme Combatant." At one point, in early 1975, the media was even forbidden from mentioning by name anyone but Mobutu; others were referred to only by the positions they held.[23]

In 1983, Mobutu promoted himself to the rank of Field Marshal.[24]

However, Mobutu was able to successfully capitalize on Cold War tensions and gain significant support from Western countries like the United States and international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund.[25]

Foreign policy


Relations with the United States

Mobutu Sese Seko and Richard Nixon in Washington D.C., 1973.

For the most part, Zaire enjoyed warm relations with the United States. The United States was the third largest donor of aid to Zaire (after Belgium and France), and Mobutu befriended several U.S. presidents, including Nixon, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. Relations did cool significantly in 1974-1975 over Mobutu's increasingly radical rhetoric (which included his scathing denunciations of American foreign policy),[26] and plummeted to an all-time low in the summer of 1975, when Mobutu accused the CIA of plotting his overthrow and arrested eleven senior Zairian generals and several civilians, and condemned (in absentia) a former head of the Central Bank.[27] However, many people viewed these charges with skepticism; in fact, one of Mobutu's staunchest critics, Nzongola-Ntalaja, speculated that Mobutu invented the plot as an excuse to purge the military of talented officers who might otherwise pose a threat to his rule.[28] In spite of these hindrances, the chilly relationship quickly thawed when both countries found each other supporting the same side during the Angolan Civil War.

Because of Mobutu's poor human rights record, the Carter Administration worked to put some distance between itself and the Kinshasa government;[29] even so, Zaire was the recipient of nearly half the foreign aid Carter allocated sub-Saharan Africa.[30] During the first Shaba invasion, the United States played a relatively inconsequential role; its belated intervention consisted of little more than the delivery of non-lethal supplies. But during the second Shaba invasion, the U.S. played a much more active and decisive role by providing transportation and logistical support to the French and Belgian paratroopers that were deployed to aid Mobutu against the rebels. Carter echoed Mobutu's (unsubstantiated) charges of Soviet and Cuban aid to the rebels, until it was apparent that no hard evidence existed to verify his claims.[31] In 1980, the House of Representatives voted to terminate military aid to Zaire, but the Senate reinstated the funds, in response to pressure from Carter and American business interests in Zaire.[32]

Mobutu enjoyed a very warm relationship with the Reagan Administration (through financial donation); during Reagan's presidency, Mobutu visited the White House three times, and criticism of Zaire's human rights record by the U.S. was effectively muted. During a state visit by Mobutu in 1983, Reagan praised the Zairian strongman as "a voice of good sense and goodwill."[33]

Mobutu also had a cordial relationship with Reagan's successor, George H. W. Bush; he was the first African head of state to visit Bush at the White House.[34] Even so, Mobutu's relationship with the U.S. radically changed shortly afterwards with the end of the Cold War; with the Soviet Union gone, there was no longer any reason to support Mobutu as a bulwark against communism. Accordingly, the U.S. and other Western powers began pressuring Mobutu to democratize the regime. Regarding the change in U.S. attitude to his regime, Mobutu bitterly remarked: "I am the latest victim of the cold war, no longer needed by the U.S. The lesson is that my support for American policy counts for nothing."[35] In 1993, Mobutu was denied a visaU.S. State Department after he sought to visit Washington, D.C. by the

Mobutu was also befriended by televangelist Pat Robertson, who promised to try to get the State Department to lift its ban on the African leader.[36]

Relations with Belgium

Relations between Zaire and Belgium wavered between close intimacy and open hostility during the Mobutu years. Relations soured early in Mobutu's rule over disputes involving the substantial Belgian commercial and industrial holdings in the country, but relations warmed soon afterwards. Mobutu and his family were received as personal guests of the Belgian monarch in 1968, and a convention for scientific and technical cooperation was signed that same year. During King Baudouin's highly successful visit to Kinshasa in 1970, a treaty of friendship and cooperation between the two countries was signed. However, Mobutu tore up the treaty in 1974 in protest of Belgium's refusal to ban an anti-Mobutu book written by left-wing lawyer Jules Chomé.[37] Mobutu's "Zairianization" policy, which expropriated foreign-held businesses and transferred their ownership to Zairians, added to the strain.

Relations with France

As the second largest French speaking country in the world and the largest one in sub-Saharan Africa[38] Zaire was of great strategic interest to France.[39] During the First Republic era, France tended to side with the conservative and federalist forces, as opposed to unitarists such as Lumumba.[38] Shortly after the Katangan secession was successfully crushed, Zaire (then called the Republic of the Congo), signed a treaty of technical and cultural cooperation with France. During the presidency of de Gaulle, relations with the two countries gradually grew stronger and closer. In 1971, then-Finance Minister Valéry Giscard d'Estaing paid a visit to Zaire; later, after becoming President, he would develop a close personal relationship with President Mobutu, and became one of the regime's closest foreign allies. During the Shaba invasions, France sided firmly with Mobutu: during the first Shaba invasion, France airlifted 1,500 Moroccan paratroopers to Zaire, and the rebels were repulsed;[40] a year later, during the second Shaba invasion, France itself would send troops to aid Mobutu (along with Belgium).[41][42][43]

Relations with the Soviet Union

Mobutu's relationship with the Soviet Union was frosty and tense. Mobutu, a staunch anticommunist, was not anxious to recognize the Soviets; he remembered well their support, albeit mostly vocal, of Lumumba and the Simba rebels. However, to project a non-aligned image, he did renew ties in 1967; the first Soviet ambassador arrived and presented his credentials in 1968 (Mobutu did, however, join the U.S. in condemning the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia that year). Mobutu viewed the Soviet presence as advantageous for two reasons: it allowed him to maintain an image of non-alignment, and it provided a convenient scapegoat for problems at home. For example, in 1970, he expelled four Soviet diplomats for carrying out "subversive activities," and in 1971, twenty Soviet officials were declared persona non grata for allegedly instigating student demonstrations at Lovanium University.

Moscow was the only major world capital Mobutu never visited, although he did accept an invitation to do so in 1974; however, for reasons unknown, he cancelled the visit at the last minute, and toured the People's Republic of China and North Korea, instead.

Relations cooled further in 1975, when the two countries found themselves opposing different sides in the Angolan Civil War. This had a dramatic effect on Zairian foreign policy for the next decade; bereft of his claim to African leadership (Mobutu was one of the few leaders who denied the Marxist government of Angola recognition), Mobutu turned increasingly to the U.S. and its allies, adopting pro-American stances on such issues as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Israel's position in international organizations, etc.

Relations with the People's Republic of China

Initially, Zaire's relationship with the People's Republic of China was no better than its relationship with the Soviet Union. Memories of Chinese aid to Mulele and other Maoist rebels in Kwilu province during the ill-fated Simba rebellion remained fresh in Mobutu's mind. He also opposed seating China at the United Nations. However, by 1972, he began to see the Chinese in a different light, as a counterbalance to both the Soviet Union as well as his intimate ties with the United States, Israel, and South Africa.[44] In November 1972, Mobutu extended the Chinese (as well as East Germany and North Korea) diplomatic recognition. The following year, Mobutu paid a visit to Beijing, where he met personally with Chairman Mao and received promises of $100 million in technical aid. In 1974, Mobutu made a surprise visit to both China and North Korea, during the time he was originally scheduled to visit the Soviet Union. Upon returning home, both his politics and rhetoric became markedly more radical; it was around this time that Mobutu began criticizing Belgium and the United States (the latter for not doing enough, in Mobutu's opinion, to combat white minority rule in southern Africa), introduced the "obligatory civic work" program called salongo, and initiated "radicalization" (an extension of 1973's "Zairianization" policy). Mobutu even borrowed a title - the Helmsman - from Mao. Incidentally, late 1974-early 1975 was when his personality cult reached its peak.

China and Zaire shared a common goal in Central Africa, namely doing everything in their power to halt Soviet gains in the area. Accordingly, both Zaire and China covertly funneled aid to the FNLA (and later, UNITA) in order to prevent the MPLA, who were supported and augmented by Cuban forces, from coming to power. The Cubans, who exercised considerable influence in Africa in support of leftist and anti-imperialist forces, were heavily sponsored by the Soviet Union during the period. In addition to inviting Holden Roberto and his guerrillas to Beijing for training, China provided weapons and money to the rebels. Zaire itself launched an ill-fated, pre-emptive invasion of Angola in a bid to install a pro-Kinshasa government, but was repulsed by Cuban troops. The expedition was a fiasco with far-reaching repercussions, most notably the Shaba I and Shaba II invasions, both of which China opposed. China sent military aid to Zaire during both invasions, and accused the Soviet Union and Cuba (who were alleged to have supported the Shaban rebels, although this was and remains speculation) of working to de-stabilize Central Africa.

Coalition government

In May 1990, due to the ending of the Cold War and a change in the international political climate, as well as economic problems and domestic unrest, Mobutu agreed to end the ban on other political parties and appointed a transitional government that would lead to promised elections, but he retained substantial powers. However, following riots in Kinshasa by unpaid soldiers, Mobutu brought opposition figures into a coalition government, but he still connived to retain control of the security services and important ministries. Factional divisions led to the creation of two governments in 1993, one pro and one anti-Mobutu. The anti-Mobutu government was headed by Laurent Monsengwo and Étienne Tshisekedi of the UDPS. The economic situation was still dreadful, and, in 1994, the two groups joined as the High Council of Republic - Parliament of Transition (HCR-PT). Mobutu appointed Kengo Wa Dondo, an advocate of austerity and free-market reforms, as prime minister. Mobutu was becoming increasingly physically frail and during one of his absences for medical treatment in Europe, Tutsis captured much of eastern Zaire.

Overthrow

Mobutu was overthrown in the First Congo War by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who was supported by the governments of Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda.

Tutsis had long opposed Mobutu, due to his open support for Rwandan Hutu extremists responsible for the Rwandan genocide in 1994. When his government issued an order in November 1996 forcing Tutsis to leave Zaire on penalty of death, they erupted in rebellion. From eastern Zaire, with the support of President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Rwandan Minister of Defense Paul Kagame, they launched an offensive to overthrow Mobutu, joining forces with locals opposed to him as they marched west toward Kinshasa.

Ailing with cancer, Mobutu was unable to coordinate the resistance, which crumbled in front of the march, the army being more used to suppressing civilians than defending the large country. On May 16, 1997, following failed peace talks, the Tutsi rebels and other anti-Mobutu groups as the Alliance des Forces Democratiques pour la Liberation du Congo-Zaire (AFDL) captured Kinshasa. Zaire was renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Burial of Juvénal Habyarimana

On May 12, 1997, as Laurent-Désiré Kabila's ADFL rebels were advancing on Gbadolite, Mobutu had the remains of assassinated Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana flown by cargo plane from his mausoleum to Kinshasa where they waited on the tarmac of Kinshasa International Airport for three days. On May 16, the day before Mobutu fled Zaire (and the country was renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Habyarimana's remains were burned under the supervision of an Indian Hindu leader. [45]

Exile

Mobutu went into temporary exile in Togo but lived mostly in Morocco. Laurent-Désiré KabilaJoseph Kabila. became the new president on the very same day. Kabila was killed in 2001 under unclear circumstances; the new President is Laurent's son

Death

Mobutu died on September 7, 1997 in exile in Rabat, Morocco, from prostate cancer. He is buried in Rabat, in the Christian cemetery known as "Pax."

In December 2007, the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of the Congo[46] recommended returning his remains to the Congo and interring them in a mausoleum.

Legacy

According to Transparency International, Mobutu embezzled over $5 billion USD from his country, ranking him as the third-most corrupt leader in the past two decades and the most corrupt African leader during the same period.[47]

He is a constantly recurring theme in Advance fee fraud (419) scams in emails sent to anybody worldwide.[48] A 419er may claim to be Mobutu's wife, son,[49] or daughter and promise a percentage of his wealth to the email recipient if the recipient does a few things first, including pay advance fees. Another cause of his unscrupulous legacy abroad is his record on human rights as well as mismanagement of the economy and the institutionalization of corruption.

Mobutu also was one of the men who was instrumental to bringing the famous Rumble in the Jungle fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman to Zaire on October 30th, 1974. According to the documentary When We Were Kings, promoter Don King promised both fighters $5,000,000 USD for the fight, and no other group would put up that kind of money for the fight. Mobutu, wanting to expand the image of the nation of Zaire, put up the nations money to do so. According to a quote in the film, Ali supposedly said: "Some countries go to war to get their names out there, and wars cost a lot more than $10,000,000."

Family

Mobutu was married twice. His first wife, Marie-Antoinette Mobutu, died of heart failure on October 22, 1977 in Genolier, Switzerland at age 36. On May 1, 1980, he married his mistress, Bobi Ladawa, on the eve of a visit by Pope John Paul II, thus legitimizing his relationship in the eyes of the Church. Four of his sons from his first marriage died: Nyiwa (d. September 16, 1994), Konga (d. 1995), Kongulu (d. September 24, 1998), and Manda (d. November 27, 2004).[50] A son from his second marriage, François Joseph Nzanga Mobutu Ngbangawe, was a candidate in the 2006 presidential elections and currently serves in the government as Minister of State for Agriculture. A daughter, Yakpwa (nicknamed Yaki), was briefly married to a Belgian man named Pierre Janssen, who later wrote a book[51] which described Mobutu's lifestyle in vivid detail.

Mobutu had seventeen children.

Art and literature

Mobutu was the subject of the three-part documentary Mobutu, King of Zaire by Thierry Michel. Mobutu was also featured in the feature film Lumumba, directed by Raoul Peck, which detailed the pre-coup and coup years from the perspective of Lumumba.

Mobutu featured in the Documentary "When We Were Kings" which centred around the famed "Rumble in the Jungle" boxing bout between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali for the 1974 Heavyweight championship of the world. The bout took place in Kinshasa, Zaire during Mobutu's rule.

Mobutu also might be considered as the inspiration behind some of the characters in the works of the poetry of Wole Soyinka, the novel A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul, and Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe.