Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu Banga Mobutu Biography

Birth of Sese Seko Mobutu

Overthrows the Government of Lumumba with the support of the USA & Belgium

Deposes President Kasavubu & announces himself President for 5yrs

Mobutu puts down an attempted coup

Mobutu is elected President

Renames the country the Republic of Zaire. Priests are warned they will face 5 yrs imprisonment if they baptze a Zaire child. Africans are ordered to drop their Christian names for African ones

Mobutu renames himself Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga

Suppresses a rebel invasion from Angola

The terminally ill Mobutu leaves Zaire for treatment

Faces a massive humanitarian emergency in camps around Goma.

Refugee camps rapidly develop around Goma and Bukavu.

Former Rwandan soldiers and militia also enter eastern Zaire.

Allows vast refugee camps to form after the Rwandan genocide.

Cholera kills tens of thousands of Rwandan refugees.

Allows huge numbers of Rwandan refugees to enter eastern Zaire.

Regional security deteriorates along the Rwanda-Zaire border.

Faces mounting pressure over militarized Rwandan refugee camps.

Faces rebellion in eastern Zaire involving Banyamulenge forces.

Rwanda and Uganda increasingly support anti-Mobutu forces.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees return toward Rwanda.

When Mobutu issues an order forcing Tutsis to leave Zaire on penalty of death, they erupt in rebellion

Rwandan-backed forces attack refugee camps in eastern Zaire.

His three-decade rule of Zaire collapses.

Leaves the country as rebel forces approach Kinshasa.

Death of Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu Banga Mobutu, in exile in Rabat, Morocco, from prostate cancer which had been developing since 1962