Mobutu Sese Seko

They will have a horror flick out next month about the freighter that sank N'leans.By swallowing McDonnell Douglas, Boeing will make the widest body in the world.A survey shows that 23 percent of Americans never read a newspaper, 46 percent never listen to radio news and 53 percent never truthfully answer stupid prying questions.Cheer up. Mobutu Sese Seko has returned to Kinshasa.Pub Date: 12/18/96

An international relief agency housed at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor is implementing a $40 million federal grant to restore public health in war-ravaged zones of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. IMA World Health, formerly known as Interchurch Medical Assistance Inc., has been active in African relief efforts since its founding in 1960. The nonprofit organization works around the globe through a worldwide network of a dozen church agencies. "It's a hidden jewel," said Sher Horosko, who moved to Westminster 11 years ago. Horosko learned of IMA's work last year before becoming its director of development and communications in January.

Tupac Amaru I in the 16th century and Tupac Amaru II in the 18th century were lost causes who caused mischief. It is fair to infer what Trey is about.Show no sympathy. The top FBI guy working for the Russians should have known a top KGB guy was helping our side.Mobutu Sese Seko heard of a part of Zaire he hadn't stolen and went back for it.So long, Ed-die, it was good to see you again.Pub Date: 12/20/96

THE DEATH RATTLE of the 32-year tyranny of Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire came when Gen. Nzimbi Ngbale donned civilian clothes and hopped a speedboat to sanctuary in neighboring Congo. If a last stand was going to be made, the presidential guard he commanded would have made it. The departure of President Mobutu from Kinshasa and announcement of his giving up power were anticlimax.Taking over an unresisting Kinshasa is a daunting challenge. It is a Third World megalopolis of some five million people, who need water and food and sanitation, reached by few roads, a mighty river and an airport.

The Zaire crisis will not end with President Mobutu Sese Seko's appointment of Nguza Karl-I-Bond as his fifth prime minister this year. The embattled dictator had promised that appointment to the opposition umbrella group, Sacred Union, which insists that Etienne Tshisekedi be prime minister until elections are held. Mr. Mobutu sacked Mr. Tshisekedi in October for independence and denying the president access to the treasury.Mr. Nguza, who has been vice president and ambassador to Washington, has broken with President Mobutu five times and returned to the fold as often.

WHETHER President Mobutu Sese Seko takes advantage of a South African offer to meet with Zairian rebels matters less and less as each hour passes. His misrule is coming to the end.In seven months, the rebels have seized more than half of Africa's third-largest nation. Yesterday, they captured Kikwit, a city on a major highway 250 miles east of the capital. "The next stop is Kinshasa," a rebel spokesman said.The U.S. position is revealing. After propping up the regime for so long, Washington now wants President Mobutu to resign so democratic elections can be held and the possible disintegration of Zaire avoided.

The international donor community acting through the IMF and World Bank can force African dictators to declare multi-party elections, but can't make them lose. Foreign pressure cannot make the playing field level. It cannot ensure that the election will even be held.President Daniel arap Moi of Kenya gave in to long and strong pressure from the United States and other donors, who withheld aid until he declared political parties legal, last December. With three quarreling opposition parties in place, he has dissolved parliament and scheduled an election for Dec. 7. If enough foreign observers pile in, the contest may be roughly fair.

THE DEATH RATTLE of the 32-year tyranny of Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire came when Gen. Nzimbi Ngbale donned civilian clothes and hopped a speedboat to sanctuary in neighboring Congo. If a last stand was going to be made, the presidential guard he commanded would have made it. The departure of President Mobutu from Kinshasa and announcement of his giving up power were anticlimax.Taking over an unresisting Kinshasa is a daunting challenge. It is a Third World megalopolis of some five million people, who need water and food and sanitation, reached by few roads, a mighty river and an airport.

The job of holding Zaire together was made more difficult, no matter who is attempting it, by the riots and looting in the capital Kinshasa, the mining center Kolwezi and other towns that erupted late last month. Food and medicine were stolen, factories wrecked, health care centers dismantled. AIDS may even have been spread by the theft of hospital research center refrigerators containing blood samples.Now that President Mobutu Sese Seko has appointed his sworn opponent, Etienne Tshisekedi, to be prime minister, only to threaten to fire him for trying to grab control of the military, confusion rather than either of these two politicians rules the country.

GOMA, Zaire -- On a lakeshore outside this once pleasant resort town lies a ruined palace, testimony to the opulent lifestyle of President Mobutu Sese Seko and the violence that is pushing his country into the annals of African suffering.Soldiers for one of several rebel armies now guard the sprawling mansion where Mobutu used to sit on ornate chairs with lions thrusting their gilded heads from the armrests. Above him was his own portrait, hammered out of local copper. In one of the bathrooms, there is still a gallon-size jar of French cologne with the label "Je Reviens" -- "I am coming back."

WHETHER President Mobutu Sese Seko takes advantage of a South African offer to meet with Zairian rebels matters less and less as each hour passes. His misrule is coming to the end.In seven months, the rebels have seized more than half of Africa's third-largest nation. Yesterday, they captured Kikwit, a city on a major highway 250 miles east of the capital. "The next stop is Kinshasa," a rebel spokesman said.The U.S. position is revealing. After propping up the regime for so long, Washington now wants President Mobutu to resign so democratic elections can be held and the possible disintegration of Zaire avoided.

Tupac Amaru I in the 16th century and Tupac Amaru II in the 18th century were lost causes who caused mischief. It is fair to infer what Trey is about.Show no sympathy. The top FBI guy working for the Russians should have known a top KGB guy was helping our side.Mobutu Sese Seko heard of a part of Zaire he hadn't stolen and went back for it.So long, Ed-die, it was good to see you again.Pub Date: 12/20/96

They will have a horror flick out next month about the freighter that sank N'leans.By swallowing McDonnell Douglas, Boeing will make the widest body in the world.A survey shows that 23 percent of Americans never read a newspaper, 46 percent never listen to radio news and 53 percent never truthfully answer stupid prying questions.Cheer up. Mobutu Sese Seko has returned to Kinshasa.Pub Date: 12/18/96

GOMA, Zaire -- On a lakeshore outside this once pleasant resort town lies a ruined palace, testimony to the opulent lifestyle of President Mobutu Sese Seko and the violence that is pushing his country into the annals of African suffering.Soldiers for one of several rebel armies now guard the sprawling mansion where Mobutu used to sit on ornate chairs with lions thrusting their gilded heads from the armrests. Above him was his own portrait, hammered out of local copper. In one of the bathrooms, there is still a gallon-size jar of French cologne with the label "Je Reviens" -- "I am coming back."

The international donor community acting through the IMF and World Bank can force African dictators to declare multi-party elections, but can't make them lose. Foreign pressure cannot make the playing field level. It cannot ensure that the election will even be held.President Daniel arap Moi of Kenya gave in to long and strong pressure from the United States and other donors, who withheld aid until he declared political parties legal, last December. With three quarreling opposition parties in place, he has dissolved parliament and scheduled an election for Dec. 7. If enough foreign observers pile in, the contest may be roughly fair.

NEW YORK--Here's a nice fantasy for you. The world's economists and scientists will get together and figure out the ways to maximize development while protecting the environment. That just requires the proper mix of money and technology, doesn't it. If developing countries only had the means, they could match the industrial success and environmental protection policies of the West.' right?Wrong. Tell it to the Poles or the former East Germans or the Russians. Their literacy, even when true statistics are known, is probably higher than the Americans'.

NEW YORK--Here's a nice fantasy for you. The world's economists and scientists will get together and figure out the ways to maximize development while protecting the environment. That just requires the proper mix of money and technology, doesn't it. If developing countries only had the means, they could match the industrial success and environmental protection policies of the West.' right?Wrong. Tell it to the Poles or the former East Germans or the Russians. Their literacy, even when true statistics are known, is probably higher than the Americans'.

An international relief agency housed at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor is implementing a $40 million federal grant to restore public health in war-ravaged zones of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. IMA World Health, formerly known as Interchurch Medical Assistance Inc., has been active in African relief efforts since its founding in 1960. The nonprofit organization works around the globe through a worldwide network of a dozen church agencies. "It's a hidden jewel," said Sher Horosko, who moved to Westminster 11 years ago. Horosko learned of IMA's work last year before becoming its director of development and communications in January.

The Zaire crisis will not end with President Mobutu Sese Seko's appointment of Nguza Karl-I-Bond as his fifth prime minister this year. The embattled dictator had promised that appointment to the opposition umbrella group, Sacred Union, which insists that Etienne Tshisekedi be prime minister until elections are held. Mr. Mobutu sacked Mr. Tshisekedi in October for independence and denying the president access to the treasury.Mr. Nguza, who has been vice president and ambassador to Washington, has broken with President Mobutu five times and returned to the fold as often.

The job of holding Zaire together was made more difficult, no matter who is attempting it, by the riots and looting in the capital Kinshasa, the mining center Kolwezi and other towns that erupted late last month. Food and medicine were stolen, factories wrecked, health care centers dismantled. AIDS may even have been spread by the theft of hospital research center refrigerators containing blood samples.Now that President Mobutu Sese Seko has appointed his sworn opponent, Etienne Tshisekedi, to be prime minister, only to threaten to fire him for trying to grab control of the military, confusion rather than either of these two politicians rules the country.