Joseph Mobutu
1930 – 1997 Congolese Army chief, President of Zaire, dictator
Army officer who seized power and ruled Zaire for over three decades.
- Religion
- Roman Catholic
- Affiliations
- Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution (MPR)
Mobutu Sese Seko rose through the army during the Congo Crisis and took full power in a 1965 coup, renaming the country Zaire in 1971. He ran a one-party state backed by Western Cold War patronage while amassing a vast personal fortune, a pattern often cited as kleptocracy. He was overthrown by Laurent-Desire Kabila's forces in 1997 and died in exile shortly after.
In the timeline
- 1960 Mobutu seizes power in the Congo mentioned
- 1960 Lumumba is dismissed as Mobutu seizes power in the Congo mentioned
- 1960 Mobutu's coup sidelines Lumumba mentioned
- 1960 Lumumba is captured fleeing to Stanleyville his troops made the arrest
- 1961 Patrice Lumumba executed in the Congo mentioned
- 1965 Mobutu Sese Seko seizes full power in the Congo mentioned
- 1965 Mobutu seizes power in the Congo with Western backing mentioned