Editing Zaire (section)

==History==
{{main|History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo}}
===Mobutu===
In 1965, [[Congo Crisis|as in 1960]], the division of power in [[Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)|Congo-Léopoldville]] (a [[Belgian Congo|former Belgian colony]]) between President and Parliament led to a stalemate and threatened the country's stability.<ref name=":0">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Meditz|Merrill|1994|p=46}}.</ref> [[Mobutu Sese Seko|Joseph-Désiré Mobutu]] again seized power.<ref name=":0" /> Unlike the [[1960 Republic of the Congo coup d'état|first time]], however, Mobutu assumed the presidency, rather than remaining behind the scenes.<ref name=":0" /> From 1965, Mobutu dominated the political life of the country, restructuring the state on more than one occasion, and claiming the title of "Father of the Nation".<ref name=":1">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Meditz|Merrill|1994|p=44}}.</ref> He announced the renaming of the country as the Republic of Zaire on 27 October 1971.<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Kisangani| first1 = Emizet Francois| last2 = Bobb| first2 = Scott F.| title = Historical Dictionary of the Democratic Republic of the Congo| publisher = Scarecrow Press| series = Historical Dictionaries of Africa| volume = 112| edition = 3, illustrated| date = 2009| pages = li, 102| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FvAWPTaRvFYC| isbn = 9780810863255}}</ref>

When, under the [[Authenticité (Zaire)|authenticité]] policy of the early 1970s, Zairians were obliged to adopt "authentic" African names rather than European monikers. Mobutu dropped Joseph-Désiré and officially changed his name to ''Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga'', or, more commonly, Mobutu Sésé Seko, roughly meaning "the all-conquering warrior, who goes from triumph to triumph".<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Meditz|Merrill|1994|p=45}}.</ref>

In retrospective justification of his [[Second Mobutu coup d'état|1965 seizure of power]], Mobutu later summed up the record of the First Republic as one of "chaos, disorder, negligence, and incompetence".<ref name=":1" /> Rejection of the legacy of the First Republic went far beyond rhetoric.<ref name=":1" /> In the first two years of its existence, the new regime turned to the urgent tasks of political reconstruction and consolidation.<ref name=":1" /> Creating a new basis of legitimacy for the state, in the form of a single party, came next in Mobutu's order of priority.<ref name=":1" />

A third imperative was to expand the reach of the state in the social and political realms, a process that began in 1970 and culminated in the adoption of a [[Constitution of Zaire|new constitution]] in 1974.<ref name=":1" /> By 1976, however, this effort had begun to generate its own inner contradictions, thus paving the way for the resurrection of a Bula Matari ("the breaker of rocks") system of repression and brutality.<ref name=":1" />

===Constitutional changes===
By 1967, Mobutu had consolidated his rule and proceeded to give the country a new constitution and a single party.<ref name=":2">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Meditz|Merrill|1994|p=48}}.</ref> The new constitution was submitted to popular referendum in June 1967 and approved by 98 per cent of those voting.<ref name=":2" /> It provided that executive powers be centralised in the president, who was to be head of state, head of government, commander in chief of the armed forces and the police, and in charge of foreign policy.<ref name=":2" />

But the most far-reaching change was the creation of the [[Popular Movement of the Revolution]] (Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution—MPR) on 17 April 1967, marking the emergence of "the nation politically organised".<ref name=":3">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Meditz|Merrill|1994|p=49}}.</ref> Rather than government institutions being the [[emanation of the state]], the state was henceforth defined as the emanation of the party.<ref name=":3" /> Thus, in October 1967, party and administrative responsibilities were merged into a single framework, thereby automatically extending the role of the party to all administrative organs at the central and provincial levels, as well as to the [[trade union]]s, [[youth movement]]s, and [[Student society|student organisations]].<ref name=":3" />

Three years after changing the country's name to Zaire, Mobutu promulgated a [[Constitution of Zaire|new constitution]] that consolidated his hold on the country. Every five years (seven years after 1978), the MPR elected a president who was simultaneously nominated as the only candidate for president of the republic; he was confirmed in office via a referendum. Under this system, Mobutu was reelected in 1977 and 1984 by implausibly high margins, claiming a unanimous or near-unanimous "yes" vote. The MPR was defined as the country's "single institution," and its president was vested with "plentitude of power exercise." Every five years, a single list of MPR candidates was returned to the National Assembly, with official figures showing near-unanimous support. All citizens of Zaire automatically became members of the MPR at birth. For all intents and purposes, this gave the president of the MPR—Mobutu—complete political control over the country.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

===Totalitarian expansion===
[[File:Mobutu.jpg|thumb|[[Mobutu Sese Seko]], the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997]]
Translating the concept of "the nation politically organised" into reality implied a major expansion of state control of [[civil society]].<ref name=":4">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Meditz|Merrill|1994|p=51}}.</ref> It meant, to begin with, the incorporation of youth groups and worker organisations into the matrix of the MPR.<ref name=":4" /> In July 1967, the Political Bureau announced the creation of the [[Youth of the Popular Revolutionary Movement]] (Jeunesse du Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution—JMPR), following the launching a month earlier of the [[National Union of Congolese Workers|National Union of Zairian Workers]] (Union Nationale des Travailleurs Zaïrois—UNTZA), which brought together into a single organisational framework three preexisting trade unions.<ref name=":4" />

Ostensibly, the aim of the merger, in the terms of the Manifesto of N'Sele, was to transform the role of trade unions from "being merely a force of confrontation" into "an organ of support for government policy", thus providing "a communication link between the working class and the state".<ref name=":4" /> Similarly, the JMPR was to act as a major link between the student population and the state.<ref name=":4" /> In reality, the government was attempting to bring under its control those sectors where opposition to the regime might be centred.<ref name=":4" /> By appointing key labour and youth leaders to the MPR Political Bureau, the regime hoped to harness syndical and student forces to the machinery of the state.<ref name=":4" /> Nevertheless, as has been pointed out by numerous observers, there is little evidence that [[co-optation]] succeeded in mobilising support for the regime beyond the most superficial level.<ref name=":4" />

The trend toward co-optation of key social sectors continued in subsequent years.<ref name=":4" /> Women's associations were eventually brought under the control of the party, as was the [[Mass media|press]], and in December 1971 Mobutu proceeded to emasculate the power of the churches.<ref name=":4" /> From then on, only three churches were recognised: the [[Church of Christ in Zaire]] (L'Église du Christ au Zaïre), the [[Kimbanguism|Kimbanguist Church]], and the [[Roman Catholic Church]].<ref name=":4" />

Nationalisation of the [[University of Kinshasa|universities of Kinshasa]] and [[University of Kisangani|Kisangani]], coupled with Mobutu's insistence on banning all Christian names and establishing JMPR sections in all seminaries, soon brought the Roman Catholic Church and the state into conflict.<ref name=":4" /> Not until 1975, and after considerable pressure from the [[Holy See|Vatican]], did the regime agree to tone down its attacks on the Roman Catholic Church and return some of its control of the school system to the church.<ref name=":4" /> Meanwhile, in line with a December 1971 law, which allowed the state to dissolve "any church or sect that compromises or threatens to compromise public order", scores of unrecognised [[religious sect]]s were dissolved and their leaders jailed.<ref name=":5">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Meditz|Merrill|1994|p=52}}.</ref>

Mobutu was careful also to suppress all institutions that could mobilise ethnic loyalties.<ref name=":5" /> Avowedly opposed to ethnicity as a basis for political alignment, he outlawed such ethnic associations as the Association of Lulua Brothers (Association des Lulua Frères), which had been organised in [[Kasai region|Kasai]] in 1953 in reaction to the growing political and economic influence in Kasai of the rival [[Luba people]], and Liboke lya Bangala (literally, "a bundle of Bangala"), an association formed in the 1950s to represent the interests of [[Lingala]] speakers in large cities.<ref name=":5" /> It helped Mobutu that his ethnic affiliation was blurred in the public mind.<ref name=":5" /> Nevertheless, as dissatisfaction arose, ethnic tensions surfaced again.<ref name=":5" />

====Centralisation of power====
Running parallel to the efforts of the state to control all autonomous sources of power, important administrative reforms were introduced in 1967 and 1973 to strengthen the hand of the central authorities in the provinces.<ref name=":5" /> The central objective of the 1967 reform was to abolish provincial governments and replace them with state functionaries appointed by [[Kinshasa]].<ref name=":5" /> The principle of centralisation was further extended to districts and territories, each headed by administrators appointed by the central government.<ref name=":5" />

The only units of government that still retained a fair measure of autonomy—but not for long—were the so-called local collectivities, i.e. [[chiefdoms]] and sectors (the latter incorporating several chiefdoms).<ref name=":5" /> The unitary, centralised state system thus legislated into existence bore a striking resemblance to its colonial antecedent, except that from July 1972 provinces were called regions.<ref name=":5" />

With the January 1973 reform, another major step was taken in the direction of further centralisation.<ref name=":5" /> The aim, in essence, was to operate a complete fusion of political and administrative hierarchies by making the head of each administrative unit the president of the local party committee.<ref name=":5" /> Furthermore, another consequence of the reform was to severely curtail the power of traditional authorities at the local level.<ref name=":5" /> Hereditary claims to authority would no longer be recognised; instead, all chiefs were to be appointed and controlled by the state via the administrative hierarchy.<ref name=":5" /> By then, the process of centralisation had theoretically eliminated all preexisting centres of local autonomy.<ref name=":5" />

The analogy with the colonial state becomes even more compelling when coupled with the introduction in 1973 of "obligatory civic work" (locally known as ''Salongo'' after the Lingala term for work), in the form of one afternoon a week of compulsory labor on agricultural and development projects.<ref name=":5" /> Officially described as a revolutionary attempt to return to the values of [[African communalism|communalism]] and solidarity inherent in the traditional society, Salongo was intended to mobilise the population into the performance of collective work "with enthusiasm and without constraint".<ref name=":6">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Meditz|Merrill|1994|p=53}}.</ref>

In reality, the conspicuous lack of popular enthusiasm for Salongo led to widespread resistance and foot dragging (causing many local administrators to look the other way).<ref name=":6" /> Although failure to comply carried penalties of one month to six months in jail, by the late 1970s most Zairians shirked their Salongo obligations.<ref name=":6" /> By resuscitating one of the most bitterly resented features of the colonial state, obligatory civic work contributed in no small way to the erosion of legitimacy suffered by the Mobutist state.<ref name=":6" />

===Growing conflict===
[[File:Idi Amin and Mobutu.jpeg|thumb|[[Idi Amin]], president of [[Uganda]], visiting Mobutu in Zaire during The [[Shaba I]] Conflict in 1977]]
In 1977 and 1978, Katangan rebels based in [[People's Republic of Angola|Angola]] launched two invasions, [[Shaba I]] and [[Shaba II]], into the [[Katanga Province]] (renamed "Shaba" in 1972). The rebels were driven out with military assistance from the [[Western Bloc]], particularly from the [[Safari Club]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

The [[Battle of Kolwezi]], fought in May 1978, resulted in an [[airborne operation]] in an aim of rescuing Zairian, [[Belgian people|Belgian]] and [[French people|French]] miners held as hostages by pro-Communist [[State of Katanga|Katangan]] guerrillas.

[[Pope John Paul II]] made a [[List of pastoral visits of Pope John Paul II|papal trip]] to Zaire on 2 May 1980, on the centenary of Catholic evangelization. During his tour, he greeted over a million people, making him the first pontiff to visit Africa as a "messenger of peace". He left Zaire four days later on 6 May shortly after 9 people were trampled to death trying to attend mass.

In 1981, despite slow progress, Zaire launched an economic reform to revive its economy in order to keep up its rescheduled payment on the country's tremendous debt of $4.4 billion, which had recorded a small rate of economic growth in the last three quarters of 1980.

During the 1980s, Zaire remained a one-party state. Although Mobutu maintained control during this period, opposition parties, most notably the [[Union for Democracy and Social Progress (Democratic Republic of the Congo)|Union for Democracy and Social Progress]] (Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social—UDPS), were active. Mobutu's attempts to quell these groups drew significant international criticism.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

As the [[Cold War]] came to a close, internal and external pressures on Mobutu increased. In late 1989 and early 1990, Mobutu was weakened by a series of domestic protests, by heightened international criticism of his regime's human rights practices, by a faltering economy, and by government corruption, most notably his massive [[embezzlement]] of government funds for personal use.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} In June 1989, Mobutu visited [[Washington, D.C.]], where he was the first African head of state to be invited for a state meeting with newly elected U.S. President [[George H. W. Bush]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.heritage.org/research/africa/upload/91612_1.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060721174238/http://www.heritage.org/Research/Africa/upload/91612_1.pdf|url-status=unfit|title="Zaire's Mobutu Visits America", by Michael Johns, Heritage Foundation Executive Memorandum #239, June 29, 1989.|archive-date=21 July 2006}}</ref>

In May 1990, Mobutu agreed to the principle of a [[multi-party system]] with elections and a constitution. As details of a reform package were delayed, soldiers began [[1991 Zaire unrest|looting Kinshasa in September 1991]] to protest their unpaid wages. Two thousand French and Belgian troops, some of whom were flown in on U.S. Air Force planes, arrived to evacuate the 20,000 endangered foreign nationals in Kinshasa.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

In 1992, after previous similar attempts, the long-promised Sovereign National Conference was staged, encompassing over 2,000 representatives from various political parties. The conference gave itself a legislative mandate and elected Archbishop [[Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya]] as its chairman, along with [[Étienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba]], leader of the UDPS, as prime minister. By the end of the year Mobutu had created a rival government with its own prime minister. The ensuing stalemate produced a compromise merger of the two governments into the High Council of Republic–Parliament of Transition (HCR–PT) in 1994, with Mobutu as head of state and [[Léon Kengo wa Dondo|Kengo wa Dondo]] as prime minister. Although presidential and legislative elections were scheduled repeatedly over the next 2 years, they never took place.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

===First Congo War and demise of Zaire===
{{Main|First Congo War}}
By 1996, tensions from the neighbouring [[Rwandan Civil War]] and genocide had spilled over to Zaire (see [[History of Rwanda#Post-civil war Rwanda|History of Rwanda]]).{{sfnp|Abbott|2014|pp=33–35}} Rwandan [[Hutu]] militia forces ([[Interahamwe]]), who had fled Rwanda following the ascension of an [[Rwandan Patriotic Front|RPF]]-led government, had been using Hutu refugee camps in eastern Zaire as bases for incursion against Rwanda. These Hutu militia forces soon allied with the [[Military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo|Zairian armed forces]] (FAZ) to launch a campaign against Congolese ethnic Tutsis in eastern Zaire, known as the [[Banyamulenge]]. In turn, these Zairian Tutsis formed a militia to defend themselves against attacks.{{sfnp|Abbott|2014|pp=33–35}} When the Zairian government began to escalate its massacres in November 1996, the Tutsi militias erupted in rebellion against Mobutu, triggering the [[First Congo War]].{{sfnp|Abbott|2014|pp=34–35}}

The Tutsi militia was soon joined by various opposition groups and supported by several countries, including Rwanda and Uganda. This coalition, led by [[Laurent-Désiré Kabila]], became known as the Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaïre ([[AFDL]]). The AFDL, now seeking the broader goal of ousting Mobutu, made significant military gains in early 1997, and by the middle of 1997 had almost completely overrun the country. The only thing that seemed to slow the AFDL forces down was the country's ramshackle infrastructure; irregularly used dirt paths and river ports were all that connected some areas to the outside world. Following failed peace talks between Mobutu and Kabila, Mobutu fled into exile in Morocco on 17 May. Kabila named himself president, consolidated power around himself and the AFDL, and marched unopposed into Kinshasa three days later. On 21 May, Kabila officially reverted the name of the country to the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

=== Legacy ===
After the collapse of Zaire, its legacy was claimed and partially continued by various factions which emerged from Mobutu's former supporter and loyalist network. These factions were headed by former "barons" of the regime as well as Mobutu's family members, and included political parties such as the [[Union of Mobutist Democrats]] and the MPR-''Fait privé''. Several of these groups continued to use Zaire's symbols and invoke its traditions.{{sfn|Turner|2007|p=170}} In 2024, opposition politician [[Christian Malanga]] led a [[2024 Democratic Republic of the Congo coup attempt|coup attempt]] against the Congolese government in the name of his self-proclaimed "New Zaire", raising the old flag of Zaire in Kinshasa. The coup attempt was defeated, and Malanga was killed.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ft.com/content/9b928e98-3221-4db4-8ad2-56a83280e98a |title=Congolese forces claim to have thwarted coup 'involving foreign nationals' |date=2024-05-19 |access-date=2024-05-20 |website=[[Financial Times]] |last=Schipani |first=Andres |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240519202627/https://www.ft.com/content/9b928e98-3221-4db4-8ad2-56a83280e98a |archive-date=2024-05-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/foiled-coup-dr-congo-heres-what-know-2024-05-20/ |title=Explainer: The foiled coup in DR Congo: Here's what to know |website=[[Reuters]] |date=21 May 2024 |access-date=30 September 2024 }}</ref>