Free One Day the Soldiers Came by Charles London Page A

“Mobutuism,” a policy designed to drive colonial influence from Zaire. To this end, he outlawed the necktie and designed a new fashion statement, the abacost : a two-piece outfit of pants and a tunic worn with an ascot. He was a master of the politics of the ground. He bestowed favors on his allies, access to the minerals and metals in the soil, and a share of his largess. Foreign companies and local Big Men benefited greatly from his favor, even as the people starved. Much like Marhsal Tito in Yugoslavia, he suppressed ethnic nationalism when it threatened him, and divided people along ethnic lines when it served his interests. The army wasn’t paid—he told them to fend for themselves with their weapons and take what they needed from the people.
    His rule grew more and more precarious. In 1995, the parliament passed a referendum that would strip Mobutu of all real power and leave him as a figurehead to create a smooth transition to democracy. It was one of the first and boldest democratic moves in Zaire since the coup that ousted Patrice Lumumba. Mobutu ignored the referendum, as did the rest of the world. But the frustrated political opposition to his rule turned into a military opposition soon enough.
    With the backing of Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi, the Marxist guerilla Laurent Kabila (who had fought briefly with Che Guevera during the late sixties), formed the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire ( ADFL ) and marched on Kinshasa. He ousted Mobutu in 1997, and the man once known as the Father of the Nation became a refugee himself. Mobutu died in Rabat, Morocco, shortly after his exile began. He is buried there in a cemetery now, ironically, given Mobutu’s legacy in Africa, as “Pax.”
    Laurent Kabila’s takeover set the stage for the start of what would be known as Africa’s world war. After the fall of Mobutu, Kabila changed the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of Congo. He had come to power with the support of neighboring Rwanda, but resentment grew against Rwandan power in the Congo, and against his support of the Banyamulenge, who were Congolese Tutsis, often labled as Rwandan themselves. In order to shore up his political gains, Kabila turned against the Rwandan and Ugandan governments that had helped him invade the country and overthrow Mobutu. The Banyamulenge in the east rioted. Both Rwanda and Uganda invaded. Other nations jumped at the opportunity to exploit the abundant natural resources of the new “Republic” and rushed to Kabila’s aid, sending in their own armies. In 1998, all-out war began in the Congo.
    At any point there were five armies of other nations fighting, as well as countless local militias, like the Mayi Mayi (which consisted of at least twenty different factions), and the genocidal interhamwe from Rwanda. Rwanda’s legitimate army was fighting the interhamwe in the eastern Congo, as well as Kabila’s government based in Kinshasa, and extracting a wealth of diamonds from the land to finance the war. They also backed the rebel group RCD-Goma, who controlled most of the eastern half of the country.
    The war in the Congo was declared over in 2003. Four rebel leaders became vice-presidents. At the time of writing, fighting continues in the east, displacing thousands more people, some of whom had been hopeful that peace might finally come to their country with the end of the war and the first democratic elections since 1960. Azarias Ruberwa, the former head of RCD-Goma and now one of the vice-presidents (and a thwarted presidential hopeful with an army at his beck and call), suspended his party’s participation in the Kinshasa-based government for four days. Ethnic conflict between the Banyamulenge (Congolese Tutsis) and other ethnic groups has flared, resulting in massacres, widespread human rights abuses, and continued violence. Militias and bandits still terrorize much of the Ituri and North Kivu districts and for many Congolese the war