They quickly occupied two thirds of The Congo, but the Congolese army, led by Mobutu, was able to reconquer the entire territory in 1965.

In the ensuing Congo Crisis, the CIA-backed Colonel Mobutu quickly mobilized his forces to seize power through a military coup d ' état.

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.

As he consolidated power Mobutu set up several military forces whose sole purpose was to protect him.

Early in his rule, Mobutu consolidated power by publicly executing political rivals, secessionists, coup plotters, and other threats to his rule.

After a week's deadlock, Mobutu announced on September 14 that he was assuming power until December 31, 1960, in order to " neutralize " both Kasavubu and Lumumba.

After five years of turbulence, in 1965 Mobutu used his position as ANC Chief of Staff to seize power in the Congo.

Although Mobutu succeeded in taking power, his position was soon threatened by the Kisangani Mutinies, also known as the Stanleyville Mutinies or Mercenaries ' Mutinies, which were eventually suppressed.

* 1965 – Joseph Désiré Mobutu seizes power in the Congo and becomes President ; he rules the country ( which he renames Zaire in 1971 ) for over 30 years, until being overthrown by rebels in 1997.

* 1960 – Congo Crisis: With CIA help, Mobutu Sese Seko seizes power in a military coup, suspending parliament and the constitution.

** The First Congo War takes place in Zaire from 1996 to 1997, resulting in Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko being overthrown from power on 16 May 1997, ending 32 years of his rule.

** Colonel Joseph Mobutu takes power in Republic of the Congo via a military coup.

On 25 November 1965, General Mobutu seized power for the second time in a bloodless coup, following another power struggle between Kasa-Vubu and Prime Minister Moise Tshombe.

The Congo Crisis ( 1960 – 1965 ) was a period of turmoil in the First Republic of the Congo that began with national independence from Belgium and ended with the seizing of power by Joseph Mobutu.

Mobutu seized power for a second time on November 25, 1965, this time deposing Kasa-Vubu and subsequently declaring himself head of state.

Never liked by the public, and loathed by the Roman Catholic Church and the Armed Forces despite his avowed right-wing views, López Rega was a man considered by others in the halls of power as a borderline psychopath, and, worse, the sport of being the " power behind the throne ," which he leveraged to secure business partnerships with Muammar Gaddafi, Zairean dictator Joseph Mobutu, and the Italian Fascist Licio Gelli ( to whose P-2 lodge López Rega belonged ).

When Laurent Kabila successfully led a rebellion and ousted Mobutu from power in 1997, Gbadolite was raided, and most of what was in the palaces was looted.

In November 1965, following another fall-out between president and prime minister, Mobutu again seized power and under regime d ' exception appointed himself President.

The Congo Crisis ( 1960 – 1966 ) was a period of turmoil in the First Republic of the Congo that began with national independence from Belgium and ended with the seizing of power by Joseph Mobutu.

On September 14, with U. S. Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) help, Mobutu seized power in a military coup, suspending parliament and the constitution.

On 25 November 1965, just five days after Guevara's departure, Joseph Mobutu seized power from President Kasa-Vubu with the help of the CIA.

Although Mobutu succeeded in taking power, his position was soon threatened by the Kisangani Mutinies, also known as the Stanleyville Mutinies or Mercenaries ' Mutinies, which were a direct continuation of the Congo Crisis and involved the same political actors.

The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire ( AFDL or ADFLC ) was a coalition of Congolese dissidents, disgruntled minority groups and nations that toppled President Mobutu Sese Seko and brought Laurent Kabila to power in the First Congo War ( 1996-1997 ).

Mobutu, an ethnic Ngbandi, came to power in Kinshasa in 1965 and enjoyed support from the United States during the Cold War.

Control of the government -- such control as there was and such government as there was -- passed into the hands of Joseph Mobutu, chief of staff of the Congolese army.

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

In late 1989 and early 1990, Mobutu was weakened by a series of domestic protests, by heightened international criticism of his regime's human rights practices, by a faltering economy, and by government corruption, most notably his massive embezzlement of government funds for personal use.

The Regime of Marshall Mobutu Sese Seko lasted 32 years ( 1965 – 1997 ), during which all but the first seven years the country was named Zaire.

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.

The committee was headed by Mobutu.

For a long period of time, Mobutu was the sole leader of the Executive Council.

Every aspect of life was regulated to some degree by the party, and the will of its founding-president, Mobutu Sese Seko.

As stated above, the government of former president Mobutu Sese Seko was toppled by a rebellion led by Laurent Kabila in May 1997, with the support of Rwanda and Uganda.

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.

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.

Between 1971 and 1997 ( during the rule of Mobutu Sese Seko when Congo was known as Zaire ), its official name was Shaba Province.

Similar forms of African socialism were introduced inter alia in Ghana by Kwame Nkrumah (" Consciencism ") and Tanzania by Julius Nyerere (" Ujamaa "), while in Zaire, President Mobutu Sese Seko, a much less " benevolent " ruler than Kaunda or Nyerere, was at a loss until he hit on the ideal ideology – ' Mobutuism '.

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.

Pursued by troops loyal to Mobutu he was finally captured in Port Francqui on 1 December 1960 and flown to Leopoldville ( now Kinshasa ) in ropes not handcuffs.

The UN Security Council was called into session on 7 December 1960 to consider Soviet demands that the UN seek Lumumba's immediate release, the immediate restoration of Lumumba as head of the Congo government, the disarming of the forces of Mobutu, and the immediate evacuation of Belgians from the Congo.

* In 1966 Patrice Lumumba's image was rehabilitated by the Mobutu regime and he was proclaimed a national hero and martyr in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Laurent-Désiré Kabila ( November 27, 1939 – January 18, 2001 ) was President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from May 17, 1997, when he overthrew Mobutu Sese Seko, until his assassination by one of his bodyguards on January 18, 2001.