| | The Democratic Republic of the Congo is back, by popular demand! Until mid-May this resource-rich central African nation of 45 million people was known as Zaïre. Now it has reverted to the name stolen from it 26 years ago by Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who - with the connivance of the US and other western governments - also stole his people's wealth and plunged them into a decades-long nightmare of poverty and abuse of human rights. It was in 1971 that Mobutu - desperate to shore up a dubious legitimacy by playing on nationalist aspirations - decreed an old Portuguese mispronunciation to be an authentic African name. As US policymakers, Zairians and this author alike began to self-consciously substitute 'the Congo' for 'Zaïre' , 'the Congo' has been taking on a new reality of its own on the ground. |
