Who Was Mobutu Sese Seko?
He was the leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). He was, by most accounts, a brutal dictator who robbed his country and encouraged his minions to do the same, leaving one of Africa’s richest countries (in terms of mineral and agricultural potential) one of the worst countries in the world to live in. Watch him styling himself as the “Roi du Zaire”. Born Joseph Desire Mobutu in 1930, in what was then known as the Belgian Congo. Mobutu spent his younger years alternating between journalism and military service. In 1960, as the Belgian Congo achieved independence, Mobutu was appointed Chief of Staff of the Army under a coalition government. The fledgling nation was rocked by ethnic unrest and rivalries as the colonial powers withdrew, problems which the Congolese Army struggled to contain. The Congolese government appealed to the Soviet Union for military aid, alarming western powers afraid of communism spreading throughout Africa. Mobutu headed a splinter group wit
