AS REBEL FORCES CLOSE IN ON KINSHASA, CAPITAL OF ZAIRE, 
PRESIDENT MOBUTU SESE SEKO CLINGS TO POWER BUT WILL SOON BE 
FORCED TO GIVE UP HIS MORE THAN THIRTY YEAR RULE OF THIS MINERAL 
RICH CENTRAL AFRICAN COUNTRY. HE WILL LEAVE IT POORER THAN WHEN 
HE TOOK POWER, THOUGH HE HIMSELF IS MUCH RICHER. 

WITH ITS BOUNTIFUL SUPPLY OF DIAMONDS, GOLD, COPPER, 
COBALT AND OTHER NATURAL RESOURCES, ZAIRE SHOULD BE ONE OF THE 
RICHEST NATIONS ON EARTH.  INSTEAD, IT IS ONE OF THE POOREST.  
AND MANY SAY THAT IS THE CHIEF LEGACY OF THE THREE DECADE RULE OF
PRESIDENT MOBUTU SESE SEKO. 

FROM ALL ACCOUNTS, HE ENRICHED HIMSELF WHILE IMPOVERISHING THE 
STATE - WHAT GEORGE AYITTEY IN HIS BOOK "AFRICA BETRAYED," CALLS 
"AN EMPIRE OF GRAFT AND VENALITY." 

IT DID NOT BEGIN THAT WAY. AFTER THE TUMULT FOLLOWING 
INDEPENDENCE IN 1960, MOBUTU TOOK POWER IN 1965 AND IS CREDITED 
WITH BRINGING STABILITY AND A DEGREE OF PROSPERITY TO THE 
COUNTRY. BUT BEFORE LONG, HE WAS CLAIMING AN EXCESSIVE SHARE OF 
HIS NATION'S WEALTH AND DISTRIBUTING IT AMONG SUPPORTERS WHO 
WOULD KEEP HIM IN POWER WITH THE HELP OF VIGILANT INTELLIGENCE 
SERVICES.  REPRESSION WAS WIDESPREAD.

CRAWFORD YOUNG, PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY 
OF WISCONSIN WHO HAS WRITTEN ON AFRICAN POLITICAL SYSTEMS, SAYS 
THE MOBUTU SYSTEM WAS BUILT TO LAST, IF NOT TO SERVE THE PUBLIC: 

         THE FUNDAMENTAL FLAWS IN THE MOBUTU SYSTEM NEVER COULD 
         BE REMEDIED, AND OVER TIME THE EXTERNAL POWERS -  THE 
         UNITED STATES, FRANCE, BELGIUM - THAT HAD BEEN MUCH 
         INVOLVED IN SUPPORTING THE MOBUTU REGIME IN ITS EARLY 
         YEAR BEGAN TO SLOWLY LOSE FAITH, AND BY THE 1990'S - 
         WITH THE EXCEPTION OF FRANCE - HAD REALLY PULLED BACK 
         FROM  SUPPORT OF THE COUNTRY.

CHESTER CROCKER IS A PROFESSOR OF DIPLOMACY AT GEORGETOWN 
UNIVERSITY AND CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF THE U-S INSTITUTE OF 
PEACE. IN THE 1980'S, HE SERVED AS ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE 
FOR AFRICA AND OFTEN WORKED WITH PRESIDENT MOBUTU: 

         I THINK HE WAS CERTAINLY AN IMPORTANT PARTNER ON CERTAIN
         KINDS OF ISSUES, BUT ALWAYS A VERY DIFFICULT ONE. IT WAS
         AN ACQUIRED TASTE, I CAN TELL YOU, HAVING TO DEAL WITH 
         HIM BECAUSE HE NEVER FAILED TO REMIND YOU WHAT YOU HAD 
         NOT DONE FOR HIM. AND AS A RESULT, IT WAS LIKE PUSHING A
         ROCK UPHILL TO GET HIM TO PAY MUCH ATTENTION  TO THE 
         KIND OF THINGS THAT WERE IMPORTANT TO US.

BUT MR. CROCKER SAYS PRESIDENT MOBUTU HAD A GOOD GRASP OF 
STRATEGY AND RECOGNIZED THE DANGER OF SOVIET INTRUSIONS.

THAT PAID OFF FOR HIM, SAYS TKUMBI LUMUMBA-KASONGO, A PROFESSOR 
OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AT WELLS COLLEGE IN NEW YORK AND AN ADVISER 
TO THE NATIONAL CONGOLESE MOVEMENT IN ZAIRE. HE SAYS THE WEST 
KEPT PRESIDENT MOBUTU IN POWER: 

         MOBUTU WAS GIVEN A SPECIAL MISSION, AND THAT MISSION WAS
         TO STOP ANY KIND OF PROGRESS OF MARXISM OR OF 
         MARXISM-LENINISM. TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, HE PLAYED THE 
         ROLE OF POLICE FOR THE WEST IN CENTRAL AFRICA AND 
         SOUTHERN AFRICA AS WELL. SO FOR ABOUT THIRTY YEARS, 
         MOBUTU WAS HEAVILY SUPPORTED - MILITARILY, ECONOMICALLY 
         - BY THE WESTERN POWERS, AND THIS IS WHY HE SUCCEEDED. 
         WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF THE WEST, HE WOULD NOT HAVE 
         SURVIVED THE INVASIONS. THERE WERE SEVERAL INVASIONS, 
         YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND. 

PROFESSOR LUMUMBA-KASONGO SAYS PRESIDENT MOBUTU, THOUGH SERIOUSLY
ILL, CAN NOW RETIRE TO ANY OF NUMEROUS MANSIONS AND PALACES IN 
VARIOUS PLEASANT COUNTRIES. HIS FORTUNE WAS ONCE ESTIMATED IN 
EXCESS OF FIVE BILLION DOLLARS, THOUGH IT IS NOW BELIEVED TO BE 
CONSIDERABLY LESS. NOBODY KNOWS FOR SURE.

PROFESSOR LUMUMBA-KASONGO SAYS PRESIDENT MOBUTU'S RULE 
WAS NOT SO DIFFERENT FROM THE PREDATORY BELGIANS OF THE LAST 
CENTURY:

         IN THE PAST THIRTY-ONE YEARS, MOBUTU HAS RULED THIS 
         COUNTRY AS PERSONAL PROPERTY - ALMOST THE SAME MODEL AS 
         (BELGIAN KING) LEOPOLD THE SECOND. DURING THIS PERIOD, 
         HE IMPOSED HIS DICTATORSHIP ON THE COUNTRY, DID NOT 
         ALLOW ANY KIND OF SOCIAL OR POLITICAL MOVEMENT TO EMERGE
         AND IN ADDITION TO THIS, THE SOCIETY AT LARGE BECAME 
         HIGHLY CORRUPT. 

IN "AFRICA BETRAYED," PROFESSOR AYITTEY WRITES THAT PRESIDENT 
MOBUTU HAD A PERSONAL BUDGET LARGER THAN THE COMBINED ALLOTMENTS 
FOR HEALTH, EDUCATION AND ALL OTHER SOCIAL SERVICES. 
PATIENTS WERE KNOWN TO DIE AT HOSPITALS FOR LACK OF BANDAGES OR 
OXYGEN OR FAILING TO BRIBE NURSES AND ATTENDANTS WHO WERE NOT 
BEING PAID. THEN THEIR BODIES PILED UP IN INTENSIVE CARE UNITS 
BECAUSE THERE WAS NO ROOM IN THE MORGUES. 

PROFESSOR YOUNG SAYS THE CONTRACTING ECONOMY SPELLED THE EVENTUAL
DOOM OF PRESIDENT MOBUTU:

         THE MISMANAGEMENT OF THE ECONOMY LED TO A FIRST GRADUAL 
         AND THEN BY THE 1990'S, RAPIDLY ACCELERATING DECLINE OF 
         THE FORMAL ECONOMY TO THE POINT WHERE BY  THIS PRESENT 
         PERIOD, THE STATE HAD REALLY VERY LITTLE REVENUE LEFT. 
         IT HAD LONG BEEN UNABLE TO REMUNERATE ITS SOLDIERS OR 
         MUCH OF ITS BUREAUCRACY, MUCH LESS MAINTAIN ANY OF ITS 
         PUBLIC SERVICES. IT HAD BECOME, IN EFFECT, COMPLETELY 
         HOLLOWED OUT. 

IN THIS CONDITION, SAYS PROFESSOR YOUNG, ZAIRE WAS EASY PREY FOR 
A REBELLION THAT NO LONGER HAD TO CONTEND WITH WESTERN POWER.  

06-May-97
Source: Voice of America