Mobutu Sese Seko Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018
Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga (/m??bu?tu? ?s?se? ?s?ko?/; born Joseph-Desiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (which Mobutu renamed Zaire in 1971) from 1965 to 1997.Installed and supported in office primarily by Belgium and the United States, he formed an authoritarian regime, amassed vast personal wealth, and attempted to purge the country of all colonial cultural influence while enjoying considerable support by the United States due to his anti-communist stance.During the Congo Crisis, Belgian and CIA-backed forces aided Mobutu in a coup against the nationalist government of Patrice Lumumba in 1960 to take control of the government. Lumumba was the first leader in the country to be democratically elected and was killed by a Katangese firing squad; Mobutu soon became the army chief of staff. He took power directly in a second coup in 1965. 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.Mobutu established a single-party state in which all power was concentrated in his hands. He also became the object of a pervasive cult of personality. During his reign, Mobutu built a highly centralized state and amassed a large personal fortune through economic exploitation and corruption, leading some to call his rule a “kleptocracy.” The nation suffered from uncontrolled inflation, a large debt, and massive currency devaluations. By 1991, economic deterioration and unrest led him to agree to share power with opposition leaders, but he used the army to thwart change until May 1997, when rebel forces led by Laurent Kabila expelled him from the country. Already suffering from advanced prostate cancer, he died three months later in Morocco.Mobutu became notorious for corruption, nepotism, and the embezzlement of between from US$4–15 billion during his reign, as well as extravagances such as Concorde-flown shopping trips to Paris. Mobutu presided over the country for over three decades, a period of widespread human rights violations. As such, he has been described as the "archetypal African dictator."
[when asked about government corruption in Zaire, often called the worst in Africa] If you want to steal, steal a little in a nice way. But if you steal too much to become rich overnight, you'll be caught.
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[after being asked in the 1990s if there was anything he regretted about being dictator of Congo/Zaïre] If I could do it all again, I would have been a farmer.
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Fact
1
Was a close friend of Dr. William Close, who is the father of actress Glenn Close. Besides being his private physician, Close also served as Zaire's chief medical doctor during Mobutu's dictatorship.
2
In 1972 he renamed himself Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga. His name means "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". His name has been transliterated in a wide variety of ways.
3
His name is pronounced: Mobootu Sayzay Sayko kookoo Noogbenda wah zah Bangah
4
Dictator of Congo/Zaïre, 24 November 1965 - 16 May 1997
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Congo vivo
1962
Minister of Defence of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (as General Joseph Mobutu)
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
When We Were Kings
1996
Documentary
Himself (President of Zaire)
Children of Africa
1993
TV Special
Himself
Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee
1969
Documentary
Himself - President of Zaire
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Bokassa 1er, empereur de Françafrique
2011
Documentary
Himself
All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
2011
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself
BBC Four News
2007
TV Series
Himself
Kings of the Ring: Four Legends of Heavyweight Boxing