Zaire

Republic of Zaire
*République du Zaïre*(French)
*Repubilika ya Zaïre*(Kituba)
*Republíki ya Zaïre*(Lingala)
*Jamhuri ya Zaïre*(Swahili)
*Ditunga dia Zaïre*(Luba-Lulua)
Republic of Zaire République du Zaïre(French); Repubilika ya Zaïre(Kituba); Republíki ya Zaïre(Lingala); Jamhuri ya Zaïre(Swahili); Ditunga dia Zaïre(Luba-Lulua)
1971–1997
	Flag Emblem
	Motto:Paix — Justice — Travail; "Peace — Justice — Work"
	Anthem:La Zaïroise; "The Song of Zaire";
Capital and largest city	Kinshasa; 4°19′S15°19′E/ 4.317°S 15.317°E
Official languages	French
Recognised national languages	Lingala·Kikongo ya leta·Swahili·Tshiluba
Ethnic groups	SeeEthnic groupssection below
Religion (1986)	50%Roman Catholic; 20%Protestant; 10%Kimbanguism; 10%Islam; 10% Others (Baluba,Bantu);
Demonym(s)	Zairian
Government	UnitaryMobutistone-partypresidentialrepublicunder atotalitarianmilitary dictatorship
President
• 1965–1997	Mobutu Sese Seko
Prime Minister
• 1977–1979 (first)	Mpinga Kasenda
• 1997 (last)	Likulia Bolongo
Legislature	Legislative Council
Historical era	Cold War
•Coup d'état	24 November 1965
• Established	27 October 1971
•Constitution promulgated	15 August 1974
•Mobutu overthrown	18 May 1997
• Death of Mobutu	7 September 1997
Area
• Total	2,345,409 km2(905,567 sq mi)
• Water (%)	3.32
Population
• 1971	18,400,000
• 1997	46,498,539
GDP(nominal)	1983 estimate
• Total	$4.5 billion
HDI(1990 formula)	0.294; low
Currency	Zaïre(ZRN)
Time zone	UTC+1 to +2(WATandCAT)
Drives on	right
Calling code	+243
ISO 3166 code	ZR
Internet TLD	.zr
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Léopoldville Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Today part of	Democratic Republic of the Congo

Zaire,^[c]officially theRepublic of Zaire,^[d]was the name of theDemocratic Republic of the Congofrom 1971 to May 18, 1997. Located inCentral Africa,it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa afterSudanandAlgeria,and the11th-largest country in the worldfrom 1965 to 1997. With a population of over 23 million, Zaire was themost populous Francophone countryinAfrica.Zaire played a central role during theCold War.

The country was aone-party totalitarian military dictatorship,run byMobutu Sese Sekoand hisPopular Movement of the Revolution.Zaire was established following Mobutu's seizure of power in a military coup in 1965, after five years of political upheaval following independence fromBelgiumknown as theCongo Crisis.Zaire had a stronglycentralist constitution,and foreign assets werenationalized.The period is sometimes referred to as theSecond Congolese Republic.

A wider campaign ofAuthenticité,ridding the country of the influences from the colonial era of theBelgian Congo,was also launched under Mobutu's direction. Weakened by the termination of American support after the end of theCold War,Mobutu was forced to declare a new republic in 1990 to cope with demands for change. By the time of its downfall, Zaire was characterised by widespreadcronyism,corruptionandeconomic mismanagement.

Zaire collapsed in the late 1990s, amid the destabilization of the eastern parts of the country in the aftermath of theRwandan genocideand growing ethnic violence. In 1996,Laurent-Désiré Kabila,the head of theAFDLmilitia, led apopular rebellionagainst Mobutu. With rebel forces making gains westward, Mobutu fled the country, leaving Kabila's forces in charge. The country's name was restored to the Democratic Republic of the Congo the following year. Mobutu died less than four months later, on September 7, 1997, while in exile inMorocco.

Etymology

The country's name,Zaïre,was derived from the name of theCongo River,sometimes calledZaireinPortuguese,which in turn was derived from theKikongowordnzereornzadi('river that swallows all rivers').^[7]The use ofCongoseems to have replacedZairegradually in English usage during the 18th century andCongowas the preferred English name in 19th-century literature, although references toZahirorZaireas the name used by the local population (i.e. derived from Portuguese usage) remained common.^[8]

History

Mobutu

In 1965,as in 1960,the division of power inCongo-Léopoldville(aformer Belgian colony) between President and Parliament led to a stalemate and threatened the country's stability.^[9]Joseph-Désiré Mobutuagain seized power.^[9]Unlike thefirst time,however, Mobutu assumed the presidency, rather than remaining behind the scenes.^[9]From 1965, Mobutu dominated the political life of the country, restructuring the state on more than one occasion, and claiming the title of "Father of the Nation".^[10]He announced the renaming of the country as the Republic of Zaire on 27 October 1971.^[11]

When, under theauthenticitépolicy of the early 1970s, Zairians were obliged to adopt "authentic" names, Mobutu dropped Joseph-Désiré and officially changed his name toMobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga,or, more commonly, Mobutu Sésé Seko, roughly meaning "the all-conquering warrior, who goes from triumph to triumph".^[12]

In retrospective justification of his1965 seizure of power,Mobutu later summed up the record of the First Republic as one of "chaos, disorder, negligence, and incompetence".^[10]Rejection of the legacy of the First Republic went far beyond rhetoric.^[10]In the first two years of its existence, the new regime turned to the urgent tasks of political reconstruction and consolidation.^[10]Creating a new basis of legitimacy for the state, in the form of a single party, came next in Mobutu's order of priority.^[10]

A third imperative was to expand the reach of the state in the social and political realms, a process that began in 1970 and culminated in the adoption of anew constitutionin 1974.^[10]By 1976, however, this effort had begun to generate its own inner contradictions, thus paving the way for the resurrection of a Bula Matari ( "the breaker of rocks" ) system of repression and brutality.^[10]

Constitutional changes

By 1967, Mobutu had consolidated his rule and proceeded to give the country a new constitution and a single party.^[13]The new constitution was submitted to popular referendum in June 1967 and approved by 98 per cent of those voting.^[13]It provided that executive powers be centralised in the president, who was to be head of state, head of government, commander in chief of the armed forces and the police, and in charge of foreign policy.^[13]

But the most far-reaching change was the creation of thePopular Movement of the Revolution(Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution—MPR) on 17 April 1967, marking the emergence of "the nation politically organised".^[14]Rather than government institutions being theemanation of the state,the state was henceforth defined as the emanation of the party.^[14]Thus, in October 1967, party and administrative responsibilities were merged into a single framework, thereby automatically extending the role of the party to all administrative organs at the central and provincial levels, as well as to thetrade unions,youth movements,andstudent organisations.^[14]

Three years after changing the country's name to Zaire, Mobutu promulgated anew constitutionthat consolidated his hold on the country. Every five years (seven years after 1978), the MPR elected a president who was simultaneously nominated as the only candidate for president of the republic; he was confirmed in office via a referendum. Under this system, Mobutu was reelected in 1977 and 1984 by implausibly high margins, claiming a unanimous or near-unanimous "yes" vote. The MPR was defined as the country's "single institution," and its president was vested with "plentitude of power exercise." Every five years, a single list of MPR candidates was returned to the National Assembly, with official figures showing near-unanimous support. All citizens of Zaire automatically became members of the MPR at birth. For all intents and purposes, this gave the president of the MPR—Mobutu—complete political control over the country.^{[citation needed]}

Totalitarian expansion

Mobutu Sese Seko,the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997

Translating the concept of "the nation politically organised" into reality implied a major expansion of state control ofcivil society.^[15]It meant, to begin with, the incorporation of youth groups and worker organisations into the matrix of the MPR.^[15]In July 1967, the Political Bureau announced the creation of theYouth of the Popular Revolutionary Movement(Jeunesse du Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution—JMPR), following the launching a month earlier of theNational Union of Zairian Workers(Union Nationale des Travailleurs Zaïrois—UNTZA), which brought together into a single organisational framework three preexisting trade unions.^[15]

Ostensibly, the aim of the merger, in the terms of the Manifesto of N'Sele, was to transform the role of trade unions from "being merely a force of confrontation" into "an organ of support for government policy", thus providing "a communication link between the working class and the state".^[15]Similarly, the JMPR was to act as a major link between the student population and the state.^[15]In reality, the government was attempting to bring under its control those sectors where opposition to the regime might be centred.^[15]By appointing key labour and youth leaders to the MPR Political Bureau, the regime hoped to harness syndical and student forces to the machinery of the state.^[15]Nevertheless, as has been pointed out by numerous observers, there is little evidence thatco-optationsucceeded in mobilising support for the regime beyond the most superficial level.^[15]

The trend toward co-optation of key social sectors continued in subsequent years.^[15]Women's associations were eventually brought under the control of the party, as was thepress,and in December 1971 Mobutu proceeded to emasculate the power of the churches.^[15]From then on, only three churches were recognised: theChurch of Christ in Zaire(L'Église du Christ au Zaïre), theKimbanguist Church,and theRoman Catholic Church.^[15]

Nationalisation of theuniversities of KinshasaandKisangani,coupled with Mobutu's insistence on banning all Christian names and establishing JMPR sections in all seminaries, soon brought the Roman Catholic Church and the state into conflict.^[15]Not until 1975, and after considerable pressure from theVatican,did the regime agree to tone down its attacks on the Roman Catholic Church and return some of its control of the school system to the church.^[15]Meanwhile, in line with a December 1971 law, which allowed the state to dissolve "any church or sect that compromises or threatens to compromise public order", scores of unrecognisedreligious sectswere dissolved and their leaders jailed.^[16]

Mobutu was careful also to suppress all institutions that could mobilise ethnic loyalties.^[16]Avowedly opposed to ethnicity as a basis for political alignment, he outlawed such ethnic associations as the Association of Lulua Brothers (Association des Lulua Frères), which had been organised inKasaiin 1953 in reaction to the growing political and economic influence in Kasai of the rivalLuba people,and Liboke lya Bangala (literally, "a bundle of Bangala" ), an association formed in the 1950s to represent the interests ofLingalaspeakers in large cities.^[16]It helped Mobutu that his ethnic affiliation was blurred in the public mind.^[16]Nevertheless, as dissatisfaction arose, ethnic tensions surfaced again.^[16]

Centralisation of power

Running parallel to the efforts of the state to control all autonomous sources of power, important administrative reforms were introduced in 1967 and 1973 to strengthen the hand of the central authorities in the provinces.^[16]The central objective of the 1967 reform was to abolish provincial governments and replace them with state functionaries appointed byKinshasa.^[16]The principle of centralisation was further extended to districts and territories, each headed by administrators appointed by the central government.^[16]

The only units of government that still retained a fair measure of autonomy—but not for long—were the so-called local collectivities, i.e.chiefdomsand sectors (the latter incorporating several chiefdoms).^[16]The unitary, centralised state system thus legislated into existence bore a striking resemblance to its colonial antecedent, except that from July 1972 provinces were called regions.^[16]

With the January 1973 reform, another major step was taken in the direction of further centralisation.^[16]The aim, in essence, was to operate a complete fusion of political and administrative hierarchies by making the head of each administrative unit the president of the local party committee.^[16]Furthermore, another consequence of the reform was to severely curtail the power of traditional authorities at the local level.^[16]Hereditary claims to authority would no longer be recognised; instead, all chiefs were to be appointed and controlled by the state via the administrative hierarchy.^[16]By then, the process of centralisation had theoretically eliminated all preexisting centres of local autonomy.^[16]

The analogy with the colonial state becomes even more compelling when coupled with the introduction in 1973 of "obligatory civic work" (locally known asSalongoafter the Lingala term for work), in the form of one afternoon a week of compulsory labor on agricultural and development projects.^[16]Officially described as a revolutionary attempt to return to the values ofcommunalismand solidarity inherent in the traditional society, Salongo was intended to mobilise the population into the performance of collective work "with enthusiasm and without constraint".^[17]

In reality, the conspicuous lack of popular enthusiasm for Salongo led to widespread resistance and foot dragging (causing many local administrators to look the other way).^[17]Although failure to comply carried penalties of one month to six months in jail, by the late 1970s most Zairians shirked their Salongo obligations.^[17]By resuscitating one of the most bitterly resented features of the colonial state, obligatory civic work contributed in no small way to the erosion of legitimacy suffered by the Mobutist state.^[17]

Growing conflict

In 1977 and 1978, Katangan rebels based inAngolalaunched two invasions,Shaba IandShaba II,into theKatanga Province(renamed "Shaba" in 1972). The rebels were driven out with military assistance from theWestern Bloc,particularly from theSafari Club.^{[citation needed]}

TheBattle of Kolwezi,fought in May 1978, resulted in anairborne operationin an aim of rescuing Zairian,BelgianandFrenchminers held as hostages by pro-CommunistKatanganguerrillas.

Pope John Paul IImade apapal tripto Zaire on 2 May 1980, on the centenary of Catholic evangelization. During his tour, he greeted over a million people, making him the first pontiff to visit Africa as a "messenger of peace". He left Zaire four days later on 6 May shortly after 9 people were trampled to death trying to attend mass.

In 1981, despite slow progress, Zaire launched an economic reform to revive its economy in order to keep up its rescheduled payment on the country's tremendous debt of $4.4 billion, which had recorded a small rate of economic growth in the last three quarters of 1980.

During the 1980s, Zaire remained a one-party state. Although Mobutu maintained control during this period, opposition parties, most notably theUnion for Democracy and Social Progress(Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social—UDPS), were active. Mobutu's attempts to quell these groups drew significant international criticism.^{[citation needed]}

As theCold Warcame to a close, internal and external pressures on Mobutu increased. In late 1989 and early 1990, Mobutu was weakened by a series of domestic protests, by heightened international criticism of his regime's human rights practices, by a faltering economy, and by government corruption, most notably his massiveembezzlementof government funds for personal use.^{[citation needed]}In June 1989, Mobutu visitedWashington, D.C.,where he was the first African head of state to be invited for a state meeting with newly elected U.S. PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush.^[18]

In May 1990, Mobutu agreed to the principle of amulti-party systemwith elections and a constitution. As details of a reform package were delayed, soldiers beganlooting Kinshasa in September 1991to protest their unpaid wages. Two thousand French and Belgian troops, some of whom were flown in on U.S. Air Force planes, arrived to evacuate the 20,000 endangered foreign nationals in Kinshasa.^{[citation needed]}

In 1992, after previous similar attempts, the long-promised Sovereign National Conference was staged, encompassing over 2,000 representatives from various political parties. The conference gave itself a legislative mandate and elected ArchbishopLaurent Monsengwo Pasinyaas its chairman, along withÉtienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba,leader of the UDPS, as prime minister. By the end of the year Mobutu had created a rival government with its own prime minister. The ensuing stalemate produced a compromise merger of the two governments into the High Council of Republic–Parliament of Transition (HCR–PT) in 1994, with Mobutu as head of state andKengo wa Dondoas prime minister. Although presidential and legislative elections were scheduled repeatedly over the next 2 years, they never took place.^{[citation needed]}

First Congo War and demise of Zaire

By 1996, tensions from the neighbouringRwandan Civil Warand genocide had spilled over to Zaire (seeHistory of Rwanda).^[19]RwandanHutumilitia forces (Interahamwe), who had fled Rwanda following the ascension of anRPF-led government, had been using Hutu refugee camps in eastern Zaire as bases for incursion against Rwanda. These Hutu militia forces soon allied with theZairian armed forces(FAZ) to launch a campaign against Congolese ethnic Tutsis in eastern Zaire, known as theBanyamulenge.In turn, these Zairian Tutsis formed a militia to defend themselves against attacks.^[19]When the Zairian government began to escalate its massacres in November 1996, the Tutsi militias erupted in rebellion against Mobutu, triggering theFirst Congo War.^[20]

The Tutsi militia was soon joined by various opposition groups and supported by several countries, including Rwanda and Uganda. This coalition, led byLaurent-Désiré Kabila,became known as the Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaïre (AFDL). The AFDL, now seeking the broader goal of ousting Mobutu, made significant military gains in early 1997, and by the middle of 1997 had almost completely overrun the country. The only thing that seemed to slow the AFDL forces down was the country's ramshackle infrastructure; irregularly used dirt paths and river ports were all that connected some areas to the outside world. Following failed peace talks between Mobutu and Kabila, Mobutu fled into exile in Morocco on 17 May. Kabila named himself president, consolidated power around himself and the AFDL, and marched unopposed into Kinshasa three days later. On 21 May, Kabila officially reverted the name of the country to theDemocratic Republic of the Congo.^{[citation needed]}

Government and politics

The country was governed by thePopular Movement of the Revolutionas aone-party stateas the only legally permitted party in the country, though the Congo had effectively been a one-party state since the MPR's formation. Despite the constitution nominally allowing for the existence of two parties, the MPR was the only party that was allowed to nominate a candidate for the1 November 1970 presidential election.Mobutu was confirmed in office by an implausible margin of over 10,131,000 votes against only 157 who voted "no." Atparliamentary electionsheld two weeks later, voters were presented with a single MPR list that was approved with over 99 per cent support.^{[citation needed]}

The president served as the head of state of Zaïre whose role was to appoint and dismiss cabinet members and determine their areas of responsibility.^[13]The ministers, as heads of their respective departments, were to execute the programs and decisions of the president.^[13]The president also was to have the power to appoint and dismiss the governors of the provinces and the judges of all courts, including those of theSupreme Courtof Justice.^[13]

The bicameral parliament was replaced by a unicameral legislative body called theLegislative Council.Governors of provinces were no longer elected by provincial assemblies but appointed by the central government.^[13]The president had the power to issue autonomous regulations on matters other than those pertaining to the domain of law, without prejudice to other provisions of the constitution.^[13]Under certain conditions, the president was empowered to govern by executive order, which carried the force of law.^[14]

Mobutism

The doctrinal foundation was disclosed shortly after its birth, in the form of theManifesto of N'sele,which was issued from the president's rural residence at N'sele, 60 km further up theCongo RiverfromKinshasa.In May 1967, it was made public.^[14]Nationalism, revolution, and authenticity were identified as the major themes of what came to be known as "Mobutism".^[14]

Nationalismimplied the achievement of economic and political independence.^[21]Revolution,described as a "truly national revolution, essentially pragmatic", meant "the repudiation of bothcapitalismandcommunism".^[21]Thus, "neither right nor left" became one of the legitimising slogans of the regime, along with "authenticity".^[21]

In the 1970s and 1980s, Mobutu's government relied on a selected pool of technocrats, often referred to as the "nomenklatura", from which the Head of State drew, and periodically rotated, competent individuals. They comprised the Executive Council and led the full spectrum of Ministries, Departments or, as governmental terminology shifted, Commissariats. Among these individuals were internationally respected appointees such as Djamboleka Lona Okitongono who was named Secretary of Finance, under Citizen Namwisi (Minister of Finance), and later became President of OGEDEP, the National Debt Management Office.^{[citation needed]}

Djamboleka became Governor of theBank of Zairein the final stage of Mobutu's government. His progress was fairly typical of the rotational pattern established by Mobutu, who retained the most sensitive ministerial portfolios (such as Defense) for himself.^{[citation needed]}

Administrative divisions

Zaire was divided into 8 regions with its capitalKinshasa.In 1988, the province of Kivu was split into three regions. They were renamed into provinces in 1997.

	1.Bandundu
	2.Bas-Congo
	3.Équateur
	4.Kasaï-Occidental
	5.Kasaï–Oriental
	6.Shaba
	7.Kinshasa
	8.Maniema
	9.North Kivu
	10.Orientale
	11.South Kivu

Economy

Thezaïrewas introduced to replace the franc as the new national currency. 100 makuta (singular likuta) equaled one zaïre. The likuta was also divided into 100 sengi. However this unit was worth very little, so the smallest coin was for 10 sengi.^{[citation needed]}The currency and the cities named above had actually already been renamed between 1966 and 1971.^{[citation needed]}

While the country began to stabilize after Mobutu took control, the economic situation began to decline, and by 1979, the purchasing power was only 4% of that in 1960.^[22]Starting in 1976 theIMFprovided stabilizing loans to his regime. Much of this money was embezzled by Mobutu and his circle.^[22]

According to the 1982 report by the IMF's envoyErwin Blumenthal,it was "alarmingly clear that the corruptive system in Zaire with all its wicked and ugly manifestations, its mismanagement and fraud will destroy all endeavors of international institutions, of friendly governments, and of the commercial banks towards recovery and rehabilitation of Zaire's economy".^[23]Blumenthal stated that there was "no chance" that creditors would ever recover their loans. Yet the IMF and theWorld Bankcontinued to lend money that was either embezzled, stolen, or "wasted on elephant projects".^[24]"Structural adjustment programmes" implemented as a condition of IMF loans cut support for health care, education, and infrastructure.^[22]

Culture

The concept of authenticity was derived from the MPR's professed doctrine of "authentic Zairian nationalism and condemnation of regionalism and tribalism".^[21]Mobutu defined it as being conscious of one's own personality and one's own values and of being at home in one's culture.^[21]In line with the dictates of authenticity, the name of the country was changed to the Republic of Zaire on 27 October 1971, and that of the armed forces to Zairian Armed Forces (Forces Armées Zaïroises—FAZ).^[21]^[25]

This decision was curious, given that the nameCongo,which referred both to theriver Congoand to the mediaevalKongo Empire,was fundamentally authentic to pre-colonial African roots, whileZaireis in fact a Portuguese corruption of another African word,Nzadi( "river", by Nzadi o Nzere, "the river that swallows all the other rivers", another name of the Congo river).^{[citation needed]}General Mobutu became Mobutu Sésé Seko and forced all his citizens to adoptAfricannames and many cities were also renamed.^{[citation needed]}

Some of the conversions are as follows:

Léopoldville becameKinshasa
Stanleyville becameKisangani
Élisabethville becameLubumbashi
Jadotville becameLikasi
Albertville becameKalemie

In addition, the adoption of Zairian, as opposed toWesternorChristian,names in 1972 and the abandonment of Western dress in favour of the wearing of theabacostwere subsequently promoted as expressions of authenticity.^[21]

Mobutu used the concept of authenticity as a means of vindicating his own brand of leadership.^[21]As he himself stated, "in our African tradition there are never two chiefs... That is why we Congolese, in the desire to conform to the traditions of our continent, have resolved to group all the energies of the citizens of our country under the banner of a single national party."^[26]

Critics of the regime were quick to point out the shortcomings of Mobutism as a legitimising formula, in particular its self-serving qualities and inherent vagueness; nonetheless, the MPR's ideological training centre, the Makanda Kabobi Institute, took seriously its assigned task of propagating through the land "the teachings of the Founder-President, which must be given and interpreted in the same fashion throughout the country".^[21]Members of the MPR Political Bureau, meanwhile, were entrusted with the responsibility of serving as "the repositories and guarantors of Mobutism".^[21]

Quite aside from the merits or weaknesses of Mobutism, the MPR drew much of its legitimacy from the model of the overarching mass parties that had come into existence in Africa in the 1960s, a model which had also been a source of inspiration for the MNC-Lumumba.^[21]It was this Lumumbist heritage which the MPR tried to appropriate in its effort to mobilise the Zairian masses behind its founder-president.^[21]Intimately tied up with the doctrine of Mobutism was the vision of an all-encompassing single party reaching out to all sectors of the nation.^[15]

Standards and abbreviations

Zaire'stop-level domainwas ".zr".It has since changed to".cd".^[27]

Zaire'sIOC codewasZAI,which the nation's athletes used at theOlympic Gamesand other international sporting events like theAll-Africa Games.It has since changed toCOD.

Notes

^The term "Kikongo" in the Constitution was actually referring to the Kituba language – which is known asKikongo ya letaby its speakers – not theKongo languageproper. The confusion arose from the fact that the government of the Zaire officially recognized and referred to the language simply as "Kikongo".
^Zaire became ade jureone-party state on 23 December 1970,^[3]but had been ade factoone-party state since 20 May 1967, the date on which theMPR(Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution) was established. Zaire formally adopted a multiparty system on 24 April 1990,^[4]when Mobutu delivered a speech proclaiming the end of the one-party system. The country adopted a three-party systemde jurewith the enactment of Law No. 90-002 of 5 July 1990, which amended its constitution accordingly, but retained the one-party system of the MPRde facto.^{[citation needed]}
^UK:/zaɪˈɪər/,US:/zɑːˈɪər/
^French:République du Zaïre,[ʁepyblikdyzaiʁ]

References

^Constitution de la République du Zaïre,article 5: "Sa devise est: Paix — Justice — Travail" Source:Journal Officiel de la République du Zaïre(N. 1 du 1^erjanvier 1983)
^^a ^bThe World Factbook 1986(PDF).Springfield, Virginia: Central Intelligence Agency. 1986. p. 271.Archived(PDF)from the original on 13 April 2021.
^Kaplan, Irving (ed.)Zaire: A Country StudyThird Edition, First Printing 1979
^Sandra W. Meditz and Tim Merrill (eds.)Zaire: A Country StudyFourth Edition 1993
^Services, United States Dept of State Office of Media (15 July 1975).Countries of the World and Their Leaders: The U.S. Department of State's Report on Status of the World's Nations, Combined with Its Series of Background Notes Portraying Contemporary Political and Economic Conditions, Governmental Policies and Personnel, Political Parties, Religion, History, Education, Press, Radio and TV, and Other Characteristics of Each Nation: Includes Central Intelligence Agency's List of Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments.Gale Research Company.ISBN 9780810310469– via Google Books.
^"Human Development Report 1990"(PDF).New York: Oxford University Press. 1990.Archived(PDF)from the original on 2 February 2014.Retrieved23 July2021.
^Forbath, Peter.The River Congo(1977), p. 19.
^James Barbot,An Abstract of a Voyage to Congo River, Or the Zair and to Cabinde in the Year 1700(1746). James Hingston Tuckey,Narrative of an Expedition to Explore the River Zaire, Usually Called the Congo, in South Africa, in 1816(1818). "Congo River, calledZahirorZaireby the natives "John Purdy,Memoir, Descriptive and Explanatory, to Accompany the New Chart of the Ethiopic Or Southern Atlantic Ocean,1822, p. 112.
^^a ^b ^cMeditz & Merrill 1994,p. 46.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^gMeditz & Merrill 1994,p. 44.
^Kisangani, Emizet Francois; Bobb, Scott F. (2009).Historical Dictionary of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Historical Dictionaries of Africa. Vol. 112 (3, illustrated ed.). Scarecrow Press. pp. li, 102.ISBN 9780810863255.
^Meditz & Merrill 1994,p. 45.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^hMeditz & Merrill 1994,p. 48.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^fMeditz & Merrill 1994,p. 49.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿMeditz & Merrill 1994,p. 51.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^pMeditz & Merrill 1994,p. 52.
^^a ^b ^c ^dMeditz & Merrill 1994,p. 53.
^""Zaire's Mobutu Visits America", by Michael Johns, Heritage Foundation Executive Memorandum #239, June 29, 1989 "(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 21 July 2006.
^^a ^bAbbott (2014),pp. 33–35.
^Abbott (2014),pp. 34–35.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^lMeditz & Merrill 1994,p. 50.
^^a ^b ^cDavid van Reybrouck(25 March 2014).Congo: The Epic History of a People.HarperCollins,2012. p. 374ff.ISBN 978-0-06-220011-2.
^Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja(1986).The Crisis in Zaire: Myths and Realities.Africa World Press, 1986. p. 226.ISBN 0-86543-023-3.
^Aikins Adusei (30 May 2009)."IMF and World Bank: Agents of Poverty or Partners of Development?".Modern Ghana.Retrieved30 March2015.
^Emizet Francois Kisangani; Scott F. Bobb (2010).Historical Dictionary of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Scarecrow Press. p. i.ISBN 9780810863255.Retrieved29 April2016.
^Young, Crawford; Turner, Thomas Edwin (1985).The rise and decline of the Zairian state.University of Wisconsin Press. p. 211.ISBN 9780299101107.Retrieved11 July2020.
^"IANA Report on Deletion of the.zr Top-Level Domain".Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.20 June 2001. Retrieved on 11 June 2009.

Works cited

Abbott, Peter (2014).Modern African Wars (4): The Congo 1960–2002.Oxford; New York City: Osprey Publishing.ISBN 978-1-78200-076-1..
Meditz, Sandra W.; Merrill, Tim, eds. (1994).Zaire: a country study(4th ed.). Washington, D.C.:Federal Research Division,Library of Congress.ISBN 0-8444-0795-X.OCLC 30666705.This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.{{cite encyclopedia}}:CS1 maint: postscript (link)

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