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- <text id=91TT2209>
- <title>
- Oct. 07, 1991: World Notes:Zaire
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1991
- Oct. 07, 1991 Defusing the Nuclear Threat
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- WORLD, Page 37
- World Notes
- ZAIRE
- Army on The Loose
- </hdr><body>
- <p> Of all the African colonies that came to independence in the
- 1960s, few fared worse than the former Belgian Congo, now known
- as Zaire. The country endured army mutinies, civil wars,
- invasions and, through it all, 26 years of iron rule by
- President Mobutu Sese Seko. In due course, thanks in part to
- Zaire's copper wealth, Mobutu amassed billions of dollars, but
- he always took care to keep the army on his side--until last
- week.
- </p>
- <p> Furious because they were underpaid, soldiers mutinied in
- Kinshasa, looting and pillaging the capital, and civilians soon
- joined in. Belgium and France sent paratroops to help evacuate
- their nationals. Mobutu denounced the violence as an
- "insurrection." But by week's end he had agreed, for the first
- time ever, to share power with the opposition in a coalition
- government.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
-