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Article: Addicted to Mobutu: why America can't learn from its foreign policy mistakes. (Congo President Mobutu Sese Seko)
- Article from:
- The Washington Monthly
- Article date:
- September 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Washington Monthly Company. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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American foreign policy's 37-year investment in the Congo (formerly known as Zaire) has just gone bust. Notwithstanding some $1.5 billion in direct U.S. aid -- and billions more in U.S.-subsidized Export-Import Bank, World Bank, and United Nations assistance -- President Mobutu Sese Seko's "pro-Western" government melted away before Laurent Kabila's advancing rebels. Few observers mourned Mobutu's passing. During his three decades in power, Mobutu enriched himself and his cronies while impoverishing his people; turned Zaire's military into a rabble effective only in preying upon and repressing civilians; and earned the lasting contempt of the majority of important ...
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Transcript: Mobutu's Rise to Power Examined
NPR All Things Considered;
March 12, 1993 ;
700+ words
... ... increases international pressure on Mobutu Sese Seko, who has ruled the country ... Zaire's capital, Kinshasa, after Mobutu tried to pay soldiers with newly printed, but worthless, money. And Mobutu's private army is charged with ruthlessly ...
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