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Zaire Regional Relations
Any African state must be concerned about relations
with its
neighbors, since national borders usually divide ethnic
groups, and
neighboring states often shelter opposition parties.
Zaire's
immediate environment poses a particular challenge in that
Zaire
borders on nine other states.
Following the coup of 1965, one of Mobutu's early
objectives
was to transform Zaire's position in regional politics. He
dispatched a former Lumumbist to Ghana to explain and
justify the
coup. Kwame Nkrumah (shortly before he himself was
overthrown)
indicated that he was prepared to accept and support the
Mobutu
regime, if it would commit itself to nonalignment and
support a
pro-African policy.
A series of gestures during 1966-67 reinforced the
nationalist
image of the regime. Zaire broke relations with Portugal
and
declared Lumumba a "national hero." The Bakajika Law and
the UMHK
struggle conveyed a sense of assertion of Zairian economic
rights.
These moves helped to set the stage for the Mobutu
regime's
acceptance into the African family of nations, symbolized
by the
acceptance by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) of
Mobutu's
invitation to meet at Kinshasa in 1967. This acceptance in
turn
guaranteed that the fragmented remnants of the rebellious
forces
would be denied sanctuary.
By 1968 Zairian ambitions began to expand, the abortive
creation of the UEAC forming the first major initiative.
Mobutu
assumed an active role in African diplomacy. He served as
a member
of the multinational OAU team designed to bring about an
end to the
Nigerian civil war (1967-70) and then offered his services
to
reconcile Nigeria with the four African states that had
recognized
the secessionist state of Biafra. He proposed his services
to ease
the tense relations between Tanzania and Uganda in 1971.
Mobutu
also mediated disputes between Burundi and Tanzania,
created by
border violations by Burundi forces assaulting Hutu
refugees in
Tanzanian territory. In 1973 he spent no less than 150
days outside
Zaire, visiting twenty-six countries, including fourteen
in Africa.
Mobutu's active regional diplomacy was based on
intimate
personal relationships with other heads of state. Regular
"tripartite" consultations were held with the leaders of
Rwanda and
Burundi. The Zaire-Rwanda-Burundi relationship was
formalized in
1976 as the Economic Community of the Great Lakes
Countries
(Communauté Économique des Pays des Grands Lacs--CEPGL).
In 1972-75
there were also frequent triangular summits with the
leaders of
Tanzania and Zambia, largely devoted to southern African
problems.
Mobutu gave strong backing to Ugandan president Idi Amin
Dada in
his quest for African recognition and opposed the transfer
of the
1971 OAU summit from Kampala.
In the early years of the Second Republic, the only
neighboring
state with which relations were periodically troubled was
Congo.
Kinshasa did not easily forgive Brazzaville's role in
harboring
rebel headquarters and training camps. Amicable relations
had
barely been resumed when they were poisoned again by the
summary
execution in Zaire of former rebel leader Pierre Mulele,
who left
Brazzaville under an amnesty guarantee. A new crisis broke
out in
1972 when Zaire provided sanctuary and some arms for a
small group
of Congolese rebels who were largely eliminated by early
1973.
Through the entire period, the fact that Zaire supported
the FNLA
while Congo supported the MPLA in Angola was a source of
tension.
Despite all these irritants, Mobutu developed a close
personal
relationship with Congo's Marien Ngouabi, which was
maintained with
his successors.
Data as of December 1993
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