Mobutu Sese Seko was born in Lisala, Belgian Congo on October 14, 1930. His mother, Marie, was a hotel maid and his father, Albéric, was a cook for a Belgian judge. Albéric died when Mobutu was only eight years old. Mobutu’s mother took care of him and his three other siblings with the help of her relatives.
Mobutu was intelligent even as a boy. When he was young, the wife of his father’s employer taught him how to speak fluent French. When Mobutu was old enough his mother sent him away to a catholic boarding school named the Christian Brothers School. During his stay at the Christian Brothers School he excelled in his studies as well as in athletics and even ran the school newspaper. However, while in attendance at school, Mobutu encountered numerous problems with authority. He was frequently reprimanded for correcting his teachers, as well as playing pranks, and breaking rules. Upon being caught sneaking out to meet a girl, Mobutu was sent to the Belgium Congolese army to serve for seven years.
The army provided Mobutu discipline. He kept up with his studies with the help of old classmates. Shortly after he was released form the army he became a journalist for the Léopoldville daily. Mobutu’s journalism career brought him the friendship of Patrice Lumumba, the Prime Minister of Zaire at the time. Lumumba soon appointed Mobutu as chief of staff of the army. A conflict between Lumumba and Kasavubu, the country’s president put Mobutu in a difficult situation as each party requested Mobutu have the other arrested. He concluded the conflict by placing Lumumba on house arrest and taking control of the country on September 14, 1960.
Upon becoming President, Mobutu was disgusted at the present state of the country. He attributed...
... middle of paper ...
...nation of Zaire, put up the nations money to do so.
There are several attempts that can be made to avoid dictatorships in Africa, however it is a gradual process. It is considerably more difficult for a country to remain under a dictatorship if the surrounding countries are democratic. The spread of democracy will inevitably result in the collapse of tyranny. Dictatorships thrive in isolation.
Another way to discourage dictators is to cut their funds. If Swiss banks pay closer attention to accounts to make sure embezzlement is not taking place, dictators will have no place to keep there millions of dollars in stolen money.
Reference Page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobutu_Sese_Seko
http://www.purpleslinky.com/Humor/Life/Top-Five-African-Dictators-with-the-Most-Bizarre-Titles.85926/2
http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2001/02/03/dictators/print.html
Alas, in 1961 Patrice Lumumba was assassinated by a US- sponsored plot 7 months after independence, and replaced him with a “puppet dictator named Mobutu” (Kingsolver). In her book, Barbara Kingsolver surfaces a forgotten part of our nation’s history in the exploitation of the Congo through her main characters, the Price family, who are missionaries sent to the Kilanga village. Through characters’ narratives that “double as allegories for the uneasy colonial marriage between the West and Africa” (Hamilton, Jones), Kingsolver creates a relatable way for her readers to understand the theme she is trying to convey, which is “‘what did we do to Africa, and how do we feel about it?’” (Snyder). Kingsolver began with this theme and developed the rest of the novel around it, just as she does with her other works, and sticking with her trademark technique, she utilizes her book as a vessel for “political activism, an extension of the anti-Vietnam protests” she participated in college (Snyder).
Nzongola-Ntalaja, Georges. "Patrice Lumumba: The Most Important Assassination of the 20th Century." The Guardian. N.p., 17 Jan. 2011. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. .
During the 17th century, slavery was a widely used commodity with the Europeans, little do people know however that African kings also had and accepted slavery in their own nations. King Nzinga Mbemba of Congo and the King of Ouidah had similarities on the issue of slavery; they tolerated the use of slaves. Congo’s king had no contingency with slavery; in fact, he had slaves in his country. When the Portuguese were purchasing goods in Congo, the king had men “investigate if the mentioned goods are captives or free men” (NZ, 622). The fact that the king differentiates the men between ‘free’ and ‘captives’ illustrates that not all people in Congo are free. Whether these captives are from the country of Congo or not, they are still caught and held all across the nation against their will. King Mbemba kept slaves because the population of Congo was vastly declining due to the slave trade. In his letter, he pleads with the king of Portug...
...ain control of the country’s wealth and resources. Authoritarian regimes use coercion and limit individual freedom to maintain their power. They are also able to keep a middle class from emerging by hindering economic development. In these regimes, when the resources run out they are no longer able to buy off the segments of the population, the elites, necessary to maintain that power. Resource rich, countries are able to sustain authoritarian regimes longer than those without. However, as evidenced by the eventual demise of the Soviet Union, even the most powerful of authoritarian regimes are vulnerable when the resources start to dry up.
Equiano was born in 1745 in Nigeria to a group he refers to as the Igbo people. At the age 12, he was taken from his homeland and put into slavery, spending much
Thomas Isidor Noël Sankara was born December 21, 1949 in the Upper Volta (Biography of Thomas, n.d.). Thomas Sankara went to primary school in Gaoua and attended high school in Bobo-Dioulasso (Biography of Thomas, n.d.). He received basic military training in secondary school in 1966 and began his military career at the age of 19 (Who killed, n.d.). A year later he was sent to Madagascar for officer training at Antsirabe. He witnessed popular uprisings in 1971 and 1972 and read the works of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, greatly influencing his political ideas for the rest of his life (Biography of Thomas, n.d.). He returned to the Upper Volta in 1972 and fought in a border war between the Upper Volta and Mali in 1974 (Burkina Faso, 2012). He became famous for his heroic performance but he later renounced the war.
Portuguese missionaries and trading partners were among the first to meet Africans along the coast of the Atlantic. It was one of these kings, the king of the West African state of Congo, Nzinga Mbemba's father, that provided a coastal settlement for the Portuguese. Adopting Christianity for the nation, including the baptizing of both himself and his son, there seemed to be an alliance between the two nations, as seen in the introduction of Nzinga Mbemba's, “Appeal to the King of Portugal, 1526”. However, after Nzinga Mbemba took the throne, trouble began to arise in Congo due to the Portuguese pushing boundaries that threatened to devastate the nation. This is when the king of Congo wrote a letter to the king of Portugal, which used a variety of psychological strategies that evoke guilt and religious passion, Mbemba establishes a direct linkage between him and the king of Portugal. In consequence, the king of Portugal would become more likely to grant any request that Mbemba would ask for, although Mbemba's true reason for writing the letter was to manipulate the king of Portugal into helping to get part of Mbemba's own power back.
Firstly he won a seat in the assembly which was established to draw up a new constitution; however he did not make a big impression and failed to impress other members. However when the Presidential elections took place on t...
During the colonial period, soldiers in Congo threatened both adults and children and took away all human rights. King Leopold wanted to make the most money he could in the Congo, but he needed workers
One can easily note the physical and sexual violence brought upon the people (black and white) of Congo after independence, but we must locate the other forms of violence in order to bring the entire story of Patrice Lumumba to light. The director’s attempt at bringing the story of Patrice Lumumba to the “silver screen” had political intentions.
The war was worsened by the wealthy minerals in the ground and the influence of the mineral was strengthened by the fear and displacement the war caused. The intertwining of these two destructive forces is seen in the story Salima is told by a man who bought her. In this he tells of a man who stuffed”...the coltan into his mouth to keep the soldiers from stealing his hard work, and they split his belly open with a machete”(31). Not only does this story show the harsh conditions the men are exposed to in war, but also it further demonstrates the hold coltan has on the minds of those who live in the Congo. The want for coltan leads to the destruction of the community and individual identities of those involved as it perpetuates a cycle of war that damages men, induces violence against women, and ultimately creates a cycle of lost identity.
... that role and gained something unimaginable in early times.In 1961, Mandela, who was formerly committed to nonviolent protest, began to believe that armed struggle was the only way to achieve change. He subsequently co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe, also known as MK, an armed offshoot of the ANC dedicated to sabotage and guerilla war tactics to end apartheid. In 1961, Mandela orchestrated a three-day national workers' strike. He was arrested for leading the strike the following year, and was sentenced to five years in prison. In 1963,
Military force led by the United Nations eventually muzzled the rebellion and with United States and Belgium’s help, Mobutu gained power. His leadership has been shown through history to be not much better.
The process of decolonization in Africa during the 1950’s through the 1970’s was a very smart yet risky idea. For some places independence was easily gained yet in other areas it was a battle. During the time periods where colonization existed, Africa was peaceful and kept things in order. People had control over their specific locations and there were no questions to be asked. Once it was decided to remove these rights, things got out of hand rather quickly. Violence was a main occurrence during the decolonization timeframe because rules, rights, leaderships, etc. got altered and drastically changed. Sometimes nonviolence was used but it usually wasn’t as effective. A major example of using nonviolence actions to gain independence is when Gandhi protested in India. African leaders have tried very hard to lessen the influence of Western powers and the broader international community but they’ve never been completely successful because they continuously needed support in state building, economic development, and public health initiatives.
Furthermore, political instability causes uncertainty and, at its most extreme, complete economic breakdown. Take Sudan in Africa thi...