Mobutu Sese Seko

Mobutu Sese Seko (born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, October 14, 1930 - died September 7, 1997) was the dictator of the Democratic Republic of Congo (which he renamed Zaire in 1971) from November 1965 to May 1997. His rise to power was directly facilitated by the CIA and Belgian intelligence as part of the effort to remove and eventually kill Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in 1960-1961. He subsequently received continuous American Cold War support as the most important anti-communist client state in Central Africa, while personally extracting a vast kleptocratic fortune and allowing his country's infrastructure to collapse.¹

CIA Collaboration and the Lumumba Coup

Mobutu rose within the Congolese army after independence in June 1960, becoming army chief of staff. CIA Leopoldville station chief Larry Devlin established a close relationship with Mobutu immediately, recognizing him as a reliable anti-communist who could be influenced and supported. When Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba appealed to the Soviet Union for military assistance during the Congo crisis, the CIA identified Mobutu as the instrument for his removal.

On September 14, 1960, Mobutu staged his first coup, announcing that the army was "neutralizing" both Lumumba and President Kasavubu. He expelled Soviet and Czech diplomatic and technical personnel, aligning the Congo firmly with the Western camp. The CIA provided financial support for this initial coup and for Mobutu's subsequent consolidation of control.

Lumumba, removed from power and eventually captured in December 1960, was transferred to Katanga province in January 1961 under arrangements involving Mobutu's forces. The Church Committee found that Mobutu's forces had participated in Lumumba's delivery to Katangans who executed him. The CIA had provided intelligence on Lumumba's movements that facilitated his capture.¹

Formal Takeover and American Support

After five years as a power behind a figurehead government, Mobutu seized formal power on November 24, 1965. The United States immediately recognized his government. Over the following three decades Mobutu received billions in American economic and military aid, CIA operational support, and political protection at international forums. The United States supported Mobutu because:

• Zaire provided a strategic platform in Central Africa adjacent to Angola, where Cold War proxy conflicts were ongoing
• Mobutu reliably suppressed left-wing movements within Zaire and neighboring countries
• Zaire's copper, cobalt, diamonds, and other mineral wealth were important to Western economies
• Mobutu cooperated with CIA operations using Zairian territory as a staging area¹

Angola Operations

The most significant CIA use of Zaire during the Cold War was the 1975-1976 Angola operation (IAFEATURE), in which the CIA supported UNITA (Jonas Savimbi's movement) and the FNLA (Holden Roberto) against the MPLA, which was backed by Cuba and the Soviet Union. Zairian territory was used as the primary logistics base for CIA weapons and personnel. Mobutu's relationship with Holden Roberto (Roberto was married to a Mobutu relative) made the FNLA particularly dependent on Zairian support.

The Safari Club - the covert intelligence consortium organized by French intelligence chief Alexandre de Marenches in 1976 that included Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, and France - coordinated with Mobutu on the Angola operation. Mobutu was effectively a peripheral member of the Safari Club's African operations.¹

Kleptocracy and Collapse

Mobutu renamed the country Zaire in 1971 as part of an "authenticity" campaign that also required all citizens to take African names. His own name change - from Joseph-Désiré Mobutu to "Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga" (roughly: "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") - was typical of the campaign's grandiosity.

Over his thirty-two-year rule Mobutu extracted an estimated $4-5 billion from Zaire through nationalization of industries followed by systematic looting, kickbacks on contracts, and direct appropriation of state revenues. Zaire's infrastructure decayed as state institutions were hollowed out; the country's GDP per capita declined throughout his tenure.

With the Cold War's end, American support for Mobutu declined. The Clinton administration did not defend him during the 1997 rebellion by Laurent-Désiré Kabila's Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire. Mobutu fled Kinshasa on May 16, 1997, as Kabila's forces entered the city. He died of prostate cancer in Rabat, Morocco, on September 7, 1997.²