Theย Pathsย toย Power.ย Historyย ofย Mobutuย Se๐ฌeย Seko,ย theย Leopardย ofย Zaireย /๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ 5 ๐๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ ,๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ข ๐๐ก๐จ๐ข๐๐ 1 , / ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ/๐๐
As per your request, today’s programme will come back to the overthrow of Mareshal Mobutu Sese Seko, president of the Republic of Zaire. This is among the chiefs of state who were given incredibly many names, showing their special prases. The Leopard of Zaire. The Leopard of Kinshasa. Eagle of Kawele. In Gbadolite’s Kawele, he had built an incredibly fancy palace. Others called him Papa Marechal, the Zairian King… Every now and then, he was given another new names owing to his many years in power. However, his original name was Joseph Desire Mobutu. Towards the end of his power, he was named Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngendu wa Zabanga.ย ย
Mobutu came to power on the 24th November 1965 and was ousted on 16th May 1997. He ruled this country exactly for 31 years 5 months and 22 days. He was an iron-stick-ruler. During his reign he had to fight numerous rebel armed groups which were opposed to his rule. He defeated all of them. Truly speaking, Mobutu’s rule was exceptionally long. Many were born and got married during his tenure. For all that time some people thought that Mobutu means President. They even designated other countries’ presidents by the name of Mobutu. Mobutu was admired and feared everywhere in the African Great Lakes Region. Even in Europe where some chiefs of state could not hide the admiration and fear he inspired to them.ย ย
So, how did the Great Mobutu loose his power? Given the many battles he fought and won very easily, according to his own words, what is happening to the Mareshal this time? According to Rwanda’s ancient wisdom, nothing was made to last for ever. Apart from Rwanda and Uganda that cooperated with some Zairian people to overthrow president Mobutu, many observers have confirmed the competing roles of Superpowers such as the USA and France in this Mobutu rule’s tragic end.ย ย
Following are the key events that marked Mobutu’s rule. For many, Marshal Mobutu may have committed tremendous errors which pushed millions of his people into abject poverty, whereas his country is normally among the richest. It also remains among countries with big numbers of people with chronic poverty and related diseases. All these are consequences of his personal innovation in politics that he named ‘zairianisation’. When he came to power his country’s name was Congo. He changed its name to Zaire. The zairianisation system only snatched all economic tools from the hands of foreigners and put all commercial and mining firms in the hands of Zairians. These started a personal and family-based management. Mobutu and his new managers became extremely rich whereas millions of fellow citizens were desperately sinking in destitution. Zaire was then led by a kleptomaniac government whereby leaders are there only to steal and use people’s property in their personal interests.ย ย
This Zairianisation has become the starting point of an all corruption-oriented administration forย ย civil and military responsibles. Up to now everyone is still wondering where the name Zaire came from. The word Zaire has no great meaning in normal life. It’s a word initially used in the Portuguese with the meaning of “wide river”. The Portuguese generally used it to designate the Congo river in the region. This word was used for the first time in 1529 in the letter addressed to the then king of Congo by king Joao III of Portugal. Mobutu did not invent the word. Some however believed that Zaire was a name of one of Mobutu’s family members. Marshal Mobutu could not eat alone or only with family members. His dinners were always shared by at least one hundred to five hundred different people,ย ย in ordinary days. He was the Leopard of Zaire; the Kawele Eagle. During the many banquets offered in his home, Mobutu used to drink Laurentpellier or even Rwanda style Primus mixed with Sprite.ย ย
ย Theย overthrowย ofย Marshalย Mobutu’sย power,ย theย oldestย regimeย inย theย region.ย ย
To bring this programme to fruition, I consulted different international media, including Jeune Afrique, The Guardian, France24, Al Jazeera. . .ย ย Welcome to The Paths to Power Programme, presented by Alphonse Muhire Munana.ย ย ย
After RPF captured the power in Kigali, it was not easy to believe in the volatile security situation in place,ย ย given the presence of Rwandan refugee camps near the Rwando-Zairian borders. So in the aftermath of Rwandan genocide,ย ย a new war was immediately prepared through intensive military training by Rwandan Patriotic Front forces along with their historic allies.ย ย Among those in training we can talk about Rwandophone Zairians from the Eastern DRC and many other historic opponents to Mobutu Sese Seko’s regime.ย ย Today’s Rwandan President,ย ย Paul Kagame was then Vice-President.ย ย “We had to seriously prepare ourselves with no transition.ย ย We had already located some Zairian citizens who could help us fight Mobutu regime”.ย ย
As Rwanda was bracing for the war against Zaire,ย ย no possibility was neglected. In the UN Security Council,ย ย Paul Kagame,ย ย Rwanda Vice-President,ย ย insisted on demanding that Rwandan security be cared for. “Rwandanย ย Peace and Security, he said, will greatly depend on what the Security Council is ready to do in the short term. The warning to criminals who’ve never been punished is the first most important decision we are waiting for”. But this is said to have been his last time to make such a request. When he came back from the UN’s Security Council, Kagame was very furious on this subject. “When I came back and after warning the Americans and the United Nations, truly speaking, I was ready to fight. I was ready to do whatever I could to deal with the situation”.ย
On the ground in Rwanda thousands of Zairian rwandophone citizens had already received enough military training and were ready to cross the border. Destroying the refugee camps which were hosting a mixture of civilians, Interahamwe militias and the defeated regime soldiers was nolonger enough for the new regime in Kigali. It was also a good occasion to put an end to Mobutu’s rule which had been in place for more than 30 years, together with the arrogance of Marshal Mobutu, who was considered an invincible hero in the region. Anyway, Rwanda was surely supported by the Americans who, on their part, needed to bring about a tangible change as far as leadership in the Great Lakes Region politics was concerned.ย ย
To overthow a regime such as this which had been in place for extremely many years, war and armies were not sufficient. Rwanda entered Zaire with the aim of helping, advising and bringing their military expertise to the Zairian internal rebel groups in order to avoid being seen as a country launching a military aggression against another. It was therefore necessary to use the ordinary Zairian citizens who were opposed to Mobutu. Among them Laurent Desire Kabila appeared to better suit the rwandan idea. Kabila did not belong to any Rwandophone rebel group opposing Mobutu. Moreover he had spent more than 30 years launching small scale scarmishes against Zairian army.ย ย
This Kabila who found himself leading an army raised to overthrow Mobutu had been neither an important fighter nor an outstanding politician able to effect tangible change vis-a-vis Marshal Mobutu’s regime.ย ย Following is Ambassador Daniel Simpson’s point of view. This was the USA’s representative to the Republic of Zaire, between 1995 and 1998. “Kabila was a very lowly political player in Mobutu’s Zaire. His activities were mainly characterised by his struggle for survival. He dealt with illegal activities of gold extraction, low commercial activities and even piracy. He would approach the Chinese and some other supporters and tell them that he had an important revolutionary programme only to extort some money from them”.ย ย
All Ambassador Simpson’s words about Kabila can’t be taken as pure truth. Innocent Bisangwa who was President Museveni’s Advisor says that Kabila lived in Tanzania in a house rented by the Government and had a Government sponsored security. I never heard about Kabila carrying out any commercial and illegal activities. General Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, Ugandan President, has also made some observations about Laurent Desire Kabila.ย ย
According to Museveni, Kabila had his own strengths and weaknesses. I call Kaguta General, but he also liked it. He himself like to remind it to his opponents. President Museveni is the one who led Kabila and Kagame to know each other. “I thought he had some capacities since he opposed and fought Mobutu for such a long time. Yet he originated from Katanga. He was born in the East and communicated in swahili as well as we do. But he didn’t know what to do to overthrow Mobutu. Why did I accept to present him to Kagame? Why did Rwanda have big problems with Zaire? I immediately ordered Bisangwa to take Kabila to Kagame”.ย ย ย
Innocent Bisangwa confirmed his mission given by President Museveni. “I accompanied Kabila to Kigali. I knew the office of the Vice-President. I knew also those who worked with him. So I went to meet Kagame and talked with him about Kabila. He absolutely knew nothing about him. Paul Kagame also recalls the way he was helped to meet these Zairians. “I don’t remember well. Anyway we had to do something to solve the then problems. We had nothing else to do but to team up with these Zairians. I don’t know which historical accident made us meet and work with Kabila”.ย ย ย
Kabila alone was not sufficient to lead an army crossing from Rwanda to Zaire. It was therefore necessary to find many other Zairians who had to be part of this adventure. Here are another three Zairians who were called upon and who were Mobutu’s opponents. Among them Deogratias Bugera. A rwandophone congolese who founded a political party in Northern Kivu in the 1990s, the ADP, Democratic Popular Alliance. A new political party has recently been formed in Rwanda with exactly the same name. They surely have nothing in common.ย ย
Let’s proceed. This war was called the war to liberate Zaire, the war to overthrow Mobutu Regime, or both in the same time in different ways. Each analyst has their own interpretation. There are some who think that Rwanda only intended to have the upper hand on Zairian immense natural resources. Anyway, through tight cooperation, Rwandan and Ugandan regimes brought together many of the Zairians who were opposed to Mobutu’s regime, under the leadership of Kabila, in what was called Alliance of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo – AFDL. These have been the most famous. Zairian people received them as their true Liberators. But the doctrine of war and political guidelines were entirely defined by the Rwandan and Ugandan Authorities.ย ย
General Kayumba Nyamwasa was the then Rwanda General Chief of Defence Staff. He confirmed the spirit in which these Zairians were called together to team up with Rwandan Defense Authorities in order to overthrow Mobutu’s regime. The main idea was to bring together many Zairians with different backgrounds and origines. We wanted them to meet in a common political movement with the coordinated philosophy and stern direction, able to justify the reason of a war against Zaire. All conditions were fulfilled to comence the war against Mobutu regime.ย ย
James Kabarebe who was 25 years old when RPF captured Kigali, the Rwandan capital, was now 29 years old. He was put in charge of all military activities and the war meant to overthrow Marshal Mobutu’s regime. Here is his account of the events. “They didn’t know each other. We had to bring them together so they could identify themselves and get to know each other”.ย ย
Deogratias Bugera has also testified. ” That day, I was the first one to get in James Kabarebe’s office, together with my people form ADP. Then I saw a military jeep carrying two people. One of them was Kabila. A man in sandals, old and walking with difficulty. Then I wondered if that was Kabila”. James Kabarebe: “I introduced each one to the others. Then I informed them on the reason why we were meeting. We were preparing a war with the aim to overthrow Mobutu’s regime and liberate Congo. They were very excited. But also I assume that they were glad to know each other.ย
Combattants, weapons and multiple other equipment were already in place. Rwandans and the movement they had created, the AFDL, bringing together the Zairians. Nothing else remained to be done for the war to start. Everybody was waiting for the occasion which didn’t delay. The South Kivu Governor proclaimed a order from Bukavu City, in the following terms: Zairian Tutsis, most especially the Banyamulenge, are ardered to leave the soil of Zaire within six days. Failure to do so meant death for them.ย ย
The said order prompted General James Kabarebe to declare war against Zaire. That order was the occasion of war. However, had the order against Banyamulenge not been issued, nothing would had prevented that war. In fact it had been prepared since a certain time. Combattants had been trained and equipped. An agreement had been concluded between those who wanted to oust Mobutu from power. Moreover Rwanda’s security was seriously compromised by thousands of refugees, Interahamwe militias and ex-armed forces of the defeated Rwandan regime who were packed in Zairian refugee camps near Rwandan borders.ย ย
