Word: mobutuism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1990
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...story going around Kinshasa is that one night late last December, Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko was entertaining a roomful of dinner guests when the television broadcast news of Nicolae Ceausescu's precipitate execution in Bucharest. Mobutu had long counted as a friend the Romanian autarch, who came to power in 1965, as he did. At the sight of that familiar face wreathed in blood, Mobutu abruptly left the room, abandoning his visitors without a word...
Finally, late last month, the authoritarian ruler of Zaire for all but five of its 30 years of independence was ready to speak. As his compatriots -- who had taken to calling their President "Mobutu Sese Sescu" -- crowded around radios and TVs set at full volume, Mobutu gave his answer to the stunning events in Eastern Europe. Reversing positions he had tenaciously reavowed only months before, Mobutu announced that he would allow two parties aside from his to compete for power and would turn the day-to-day running of the government over to a new Prime Minister. "Wisdom comes...
...least superficially mimicking the revolutions in Europe, Mobutu has lots of company in his own neighborhood. Since February three other one-party regimes in sub-Saharan Africa -- those of Benin, Gabon and the Ivory Coast -- have consented to pluralistic systems. These were radical moves, considering that the leaders of these lands, who with Mobutu have held power for a combined 96 years, had previously put up with virtually no dissent. Tanzania too has said yes in principle to pluralism, and Zambia has promised a referendum to decide the issue...
...giving up the total control they have enjoyed. The need for foreign aid and the fear of social unrest drove President Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia's leader for 25 years, to embrace the idea of pluralism, but he has yet to schedule a promised popular referendum. In the case of Mobutu and Houphouet-Boigny, their utterances have contained a hint of "Apres moi, le deluge." These old-timers may be calculating that they can stand back, allow chaos to break out as competing factions scuffle for power, then return triumphantly. Mobutu's police did their part to encourage disarray two weeks...
...Mobutu Sese Seko, Zaire...