Mobutu Sese Seko
latest news & developments
How a boy born on World TB Day helped turn the tide on SA’s deadliest TB
Norbert Ndjeka was born on World TB Day. Decades later, he would reshape how South Africa treats the deadliest forms of the disease
Burkina Faso: Revolution, authoritarianism and the crisis of African emancipation politics
If revolutions are to succeed, the people must deliver freedom. They must reject authoritarianism, a small revolutionary elite or a military junta.
In the DRC, an ugly history of war risks repeating itself
East African leaders are mobilising armies to intervene in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Decades ago, Zimbabwean soldiers came to Kinshasa’s aid and learnt harsh…
What your president’s style says about their politics
African leaders’ sartorial choices have been communicating their political orientations for centuries
A modicum of release: Lumumba’s remains return home at last
Sixty years after the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the DRC’s first prime minister, his remains will be returned from Belgium
The DRC’s blood-soaked history
A five-minute history of the country since independence
DRC’s Tshisekedi: Son, heir and president-elect
Since his father founded the UDPS in 1982, the party has served as an opposition mainstay in the DRC
How roadblocks, not just minerals, fund rebels and conflict in the Congo
The DRC’s roads are a crucial space where conflict, illegal taxation, and conflict financing entangle
How Kinshasa’s markets are captured by powerful private interests
The majority of the “formal” and officially acknowledged taxes aren’t fed into the formal hierarchy and revenue flow as they are supposed to be
Swiss lift 12-year freeze on Mobutu’s millions
Swiss authorities on Thursday lifted a 12-year freeze on nearly $7-million in assets the late Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko held in Switzerland.
DRC’s faded copper town perks up in mining rush
Amid rusted hulks of abandoned plants and huge mine craters, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s former top copper town Kolwezi is showing signs of a reawakening. The town in the…
DRC hopes hi-tech ID cards will tame unruly army
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) hopes a new biometric identity card (ID) scheme backed by the European Union can help overhaul its undisciplined armed forces, branded by…
China to lend DRC $5bn in latest Africa foray
China plans to lend the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) -billion to modernise its decrepit infrastructure and rich but deteriorated mining sector in another huge Chinese…