This invasion is sometimes known as Shaba I. Mobutu had to request assistance, which was provided by Morocco in the form of regular troops who routed the MPLA and their Cuban advisors out of Katanga.

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.

As the rebels advanced, Mobutu — who had been out of the country receiving medical treatment — returned to Zaire, vowing to crush the rebellion.

As the First Congo War broke out, Nzemba initially sided with Mobutu against the rebels led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, but as Kabila's Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire ( AFDL or ADFLC ) approached the city, Nzemba quickly switched sides.

After Mobutu was overthrown in 1997, Etsou spoke out against what he described as the strong-arm tactics of the new leader, Laurent Kabila, the father of the current president of the DRC, Joseph Kabila, who took power in 2001 following his father's assassination.

Among the insurgents was Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who would overthrow long-time dictator Mobutu 30 years later.

The dictatorial regime operated as a one-party-state, which saw most of the powers concentrated between President Mobutu, who was simultaneously the head of the state-party ( Popular Movement of the Revolution ), and a series of essentially rubber-stamping institutions.

Gérald-Libois writes that '.. the special meeting of the council of ministers took steps for the immediate Africanisation of the officer corps and .. named Victor Lundula, who was born in Kasai and was burgomaster of Jadotville, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armée Nationale Congolaise ( ANC ); Colonel Joseph-Désiré Mobutu as chief of staff ; and the Belgian, Colonel Henniquiau, as chief advisor to the ANC.

Close was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, the daughter of Bettine ( née Moore ) and William Taliaferro Close, a doctor who operated a clinic in the Belgian Congo and served as a personal physician to Congo / Zaire President Mobutu Sese Seko.

In this invasion Kagame allied with Laurent Kabila, a progressist revolutionary in Eastern Zaire who had been a foe of Zaire's long-time dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko.

Power was concentrated in Mobutu, who established a one-party state and a cult of personality.

By this time, Mobutu had met many of the young Congolese intellectuals who were challenging colonial rule.

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.

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.

"< ref > There are multiple translations of the full name, including " the all-powerful warrior who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win, will go from conquest to conquest leaving fire in his wake ", " the earthy, the peppery, all-powerful warrior who, by his endurance and will to win, goes from contest to contest leaving fire in his wake " and " the man who flies from victory to victory and leaves nothing behind him "< http :// www. plexoft. com / SBF / N04. html # Sese > and " the all-powerful warrior who goes from conquest to conquest, leaving fire in his wake " ( Wrong, p. 4 )</ ref >), Mobutu Sese Seko for short.

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.

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

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, and Israel's position in international organizations.

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

The classic case of a corrupt, exploitive dictator often given is the regime of Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled the Democratic Republic of the Congo ( which he renamed Zaire ) from 1965 to 1997.

It has been alleged but never proved that, fearing Lumumba's increasing popularity amongst the soldiers who might release him ( soldier mutinies and unrest increased by the day at prison camp Hardy in Thysville ), Harold d ' Aspremont Lynden ( Belgian minister for African Affairs ) sent a highly confidential telegram on January 16, 1961 to the government in Léopoldville ( Kasavubu and Mobutu ) to send Lumumba to Katanga.

In 1965, Prime Minister Joseph Mobutu, who had staged a successful coup against President Kasavubu, brought charges of treason against Tshombe, who again fled the country, and settled in Spain.

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

Others made unsuccessful attempts to have themselves named President for Life, such as Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire in 1972.

The population proved to have a deep antipathy towards President Mobutu Sese Seko after decades of corruption and despotism.

Construction of the Inga – Shaba Project provided the Ministry of Energy and the Société nationale d ' électricité ( SNEL ), with the means to promote further development activity throughout Zaire, by attracting potential investors and overseas firms ; however, there have been suggestions that well-placed officials in the Mobutu government may have accepted gratuities at various critical junctures during the construction phase.

Since the late 19th century, traditional ways of life have undergone changes brought about by colonialism, the struggle for independence, the stagnation of the Mobutu era, and most recently, the First and Second Congo Wars.

Mobutu would not have been pleased by the emergence of a Rwandan government that was allied with Uganda and may have hoped that the Hutu militants could rid him of the new government of Paul Kagame.

He returned to Congo in 1992 to oppose Mobutu since which time he has been the leader of the Mouvement National Congolais Lumumba ( MNC-L ), his father's original political party.

Kabila, an ethnic Luba from Katanga province who would eventually overthrow Mobutu, had been fighting the government since its inception.

The latter was chosen unanimously by the political class because of the role he played in the army, being the " de facto ' officer in charge of the well trained batailions that defeated the Mobutu army and were fighting along side SADC coalition forces.

Ironically, 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.

But during the second Shaba invasion, the US 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.

With the Soviet Union gone, there was no longer any reason to support Mobutu as a bulwark against communism.

At the time, Rwanda officially denied any military connection to the new rebel group, although it openly expressed support for its goal of overthrowing Mobutu.

The AFDL, now seeking the broader goal of ousting Mobutu, made significant military gains in early 1997.

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.

Nzemba, who was appointed by Mobutu in 1986, was considered one of the more powerful players in Mobutu's political party, the Mouvement Populaire pour le Revolution ( MPR ), but also called himself a " brother " of Étienne Tshisekedi, a popular local political figure and Mobutu's most significant political opposition.

As part of his program of “ national authenticity ,” Mobutu changed the Congo's name to Zaïre in 1971 and his own name to Mobutu Sese Seko in 1972.

On March 28, 2003, an apparent coup attempt or mutiny around the capital Kinshasa, allegedly on the part of members of the former guard of former president Mobutu Sese Seko ( who had been ousted by Kabila's father in 1997 and died in the same year ), failed.

They had long been discriminated against for being relative newcomers to the region and having a different language and culture than neighboring tribes, part of Mobutu Sese Seko's strategy of encouraging a low level of internal discord in the country so an alliance would not form against him.

In November 1965, Tshisekedi took part in the second Mobutu coup which led to the impeachment of President Kasavubu and his prime minister Kimba.

Those assets of UMHK not seized by Mobutu were absorbed by the Société Générale de Belgique, later becoming part of Union Minière ( now Umicore ).

An engineer by profession, he was educated in Belgium at Leuven University and was considered an integral part of Prime Minister Kengo Wa Dondo's entourage during the Mobutu years.

Uvira was the former capital of Sud-Kivu Subregion, which was part of the Kivu region during the Mobutu era.