Word: mobutu
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...best market for mercenary employment remains the Congo, where President Joseph Mobutu is now trying to quell a mutiny led by some 150 whites, who were hired a few years ago by ex-Premier Moise Tshombe but have more recently been on Mobutu's payroll. That mercenary force had by last week battled its way out of a forest encampment near Obokote in Kivu Province and was pushing toward Bukavu near the Rwanda border, where a small government garrison was waiting...
...vowed: "I will go back to the Congo because I am a man." He may not have much choice. If Boumediene acts on the Algerian supreme court's recommendation that Tshombe be extradited, Tshombe will probably be returned to the Congo secretly and put to death quickly. Mobutu shows no signs of relenting, said last week that "the furor created over the Tshombe affair constitutes meddling in our internal affairs." Still, Tshombe may at least escape the fate of the four political enemies Mobutu executed last year: he declared a public holiday and hanged them before throngs...
...Standard warned the Congo that its actions could "further tarnish Africa's image. It could provide a precedent to hang like a sword of Damocles over other African leaders who openly support what, in effect, amounts to a blood lust." The U.S. has interceded with Congo President Joseph Mobutu to spare Tshombe's life, not only for humanitarian reasons but for fear that his execution might spark resentment, and perhaps even a new Congo revolt that could undermine Mobutu's regime. Such enlightened African leaders as the Ivory Coast's Felix Houphouet-Boigny and Leopold Senghor...
...this may not move Algerian President Houari Boumediene, who must give ultimate approval if Tshombe is to be extradited, but there were other factors that may have caused him to delay his decision. In exchange for Tshombe, Boumediene hopes to get Mobutu's support for Arab policies in the U.N. and perhaps also to loosen the Congo's close ties with Israel. His intelligence men may also want to get as much information as they can out of Tshombe, including the details of Lumumba's death, which some say Mobutu also had a hand...
...Department to help block any possible execution of Tshombe. His kidnapping, detention in Algeria, and proposed extradition to the Congo has been high-handed. An execution for political reasons would be even worse. No matter how destructive Tshombe has been, the United States should use its influence to convince Mobutu to try Tshombe under Congolese...