WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.000
[music]

00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:19.999
[music]

00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.999
With colonization well underway, Mobutu is
born in the Belgian Congo in the heart of the

00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:29.999
luxuriant equatorial forest.
It is a country of excesses

00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.999
with fabulous riches both
above and below ground.

00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:39.999
Mobutu grows up in a country
of legends, that of the

00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.999
Belgian King, Leopold II, the
conquering king, the colonizing king,

00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.999
who half a century earlier
had appropriated a territory

00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:55.000
80 times larger than his own
kingdom all for himself.

00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.999
[sil.]

00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:29.999
[music]

00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:32.999
Forcefully inducted into the
colonial army but (inaudible)

00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:34.999
undisciplined(ph) behavior

00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:39.999
studying under the missionaries, for
seven years, Mobutu learns submission

00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.999
and experiences humiliation.

00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:53.000
[music]

00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:39.999
Leaving the army I believe
after seven years in service,

00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.999
he became a journalist in a

00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.999
normal public newspaper if you
will, but he also worked nights

00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.999
writing articles for an
underground newspaper which was…

00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:59.999
favored independence.

00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.999
At 28, Mobutu has the

00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:10.000
rare privilege of being able to take a course as
journalist during the World Exhibition at Brussels.

00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.999
Back in the Congo, Mobutu is
one of the few journalist

00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:50.000
to witness the anti-colonial writing
and demonstrations by the Congolese.

00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.999
Not long after these events, Patrice
Lumumba, the Nationalist leader

00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:10.000
who\'s disciples already include Mobutu
is arrested by the colonel authorities.

00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:54.999
[sil.]

00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:59.999
A year later, released from prison, Patrice
Lumumba -the hero of the Congolese people

00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.999
arrives in Brussels to negotiate
the independence of his country.

00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:10.000
Mobutu is at the forefront
of those who welcome him.

00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.999
[sil.]

00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:39.999
Behind the scenes in the royal palace at the
time of the negotiations for independence,

00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:44.999
Mobutu finally discovers this young
Belgian monarch, King Baudouin

00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.999
who is the same age as him, but whose
destiny is already written in history.

00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.999
[sil.]

00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:59.999
But in the shadow of Patrice Lumumba,

00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:05.000
Mobutu says little and listens a lot.

00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:04.999
Well, I was at… stationed at the American Embassy in
Brussels at the time of the Round Table Conference.

00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.999
We were anxious. We as
government were anxious to

00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:14.999
gain some impression of these
future leaders. We really knew

00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.999
little or nothing about
them, afterwards that we…

00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.999
met the next day to discuss the various
people that we had met into a put…

00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.999
have it put on paper if you will,
to record our… our information.

00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:34.999
And the one name that
kept coming up was this

00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.999
young man by the name of Mobutu. Was amazing
now as I look back how money people

00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:45.000
spotted him as a potential leader.

00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:19.999
[sil.]

00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.999
The first republic of the independent Congo
is led by President Joseph Kasa-Vubu

00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:29.999
and Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba

00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
who when he forms his first government, names
Joseph Desiré Mobutu as secretary of State.

00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:40.000
[sil.]

00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.999
[music]

00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:49.999
He had to make all decisions.

00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.999
And I think, he was… it was
just too much for him.

00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:59.999
He… He was under constant pressure. He got
in the habit of keeping a bottle of whisky

00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.999
on his desk and he would take a shot, just
pick up the bottle and drink from it.

00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.999
And it was clear to me that he
was losing his mind that if

00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.999
he failed at this time, the Congo

00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.999
would fall into the hands of the Soviets and I
did not… certainly my country didn\'t want it,

00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.999
I didn\'t want it. It was the height
of the Cold War. And he kept ignoring

00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:29.999
this recommendation. And he… so I talk with
him, he pick up his bottle and drink from it.

00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.999
And I finally just snatched it away
and smashed it across his desk.

00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:40.000
In rather strong term said you either
stop drinking or… or you will fail.

00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:29.999
Only a few days after independence,
Mobutu has to face a mutiny

00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.999
from within the army. Born into disorder,

00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.999
confusion, and hate, the young Congolese
state sinks into bloody anarchy.

00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.999
Soon those regions richest in minerals,

00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:49.999
amongst them the province of
Katanga proclaims accession.

00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.999
This is fermented by the powerful
Union Minière which is mining copper,

00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.999
cobalt, and uranium. It\'s backed by
Belgium and by the white colonists.

00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
[music]

00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
In these times of Cold
War, the country explodes

00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.999
and sinks into violence, necessitating
the intervention of the United Nations.

00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.999
At first, Prime Minister Lumumba and
Colonel Mobutu try to bring about calm and

00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.999
so preserve the unity of the country.

00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.999
Very quickly

00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
Lumumba demonstrates to the world his spirit of
independence. He accuses the old colonial powers

00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.999
of being behind the unrest. Mobutu,
however, reveals to the world

00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.999
his allegiance to the Western powers. He accuses
Lumumba of being a communist sympathizer.

00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.999
It must have been about, somewhere about
between the 12th and the 15th of August

00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.999
that the United States adopted a position

00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.999
that it would be preferable
for a new government

00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.999
to come to power, i.e. that

00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
Lumumba should go. Decision was
made at a very high level.

00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
I was told at the time it came from the President
of the United States, but I have no way of proving,

00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:19.999
knowing or proving or
disproving that statement,

00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.999
that Lumumba should be physically removed.
This was never sent to me

00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.999
on paper. I received an
instruction that I am

00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.999
certain that a Joe… person who
would identify himself as Joe

00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.999
from Paris would arrive. I would
recognize him that he was a

00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
CIA officer that I would
recognize a senior CIA officer.

00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
And when I met him, I was to
take my instructions from him.

00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
And one day, I went out of
the embassy going somewhere

00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.999
and standing across the street was a
man that I recognized. And he told me

00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.999
that it had been decided that
I… that Lumumba had to go.

00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:10.000
And if he could not go politically, that
he… he had to be physically removed.

00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:23.000
Colonel Mobutu shows his hands in public.

00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.999
His soldiers surround the Prime Minister\'s
residence. Patrice Lumumba is now

00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:10.000
under house arrest.

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
[music]

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
Arrested by Mobutu after a failed escape attempt,
Lumumba is jailed with the blessing of the

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
Belgian and American ambassadors.

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:53.000
[music]

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
On the 17th of January 1961,

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
\"the parcel,\" the code name given to the
prisoner, is sent to the province of Katanga.

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
During this fateful journey

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:20.000
Lumumba and his companions
will be cruelly mistreated.

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
[music]

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
The official version of Lumumba\'s death at
the hands of villagers hides a much more

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
sinister reality. Savagely
murdered by the local authorities

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
as soon as he arrives in
Katanga, his body disappears,

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
undoubtedly buried somewhere in the bush.

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
[music]

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
With the Prime Minister
assassinated, chief of staff Mobutu

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:10.000
forces the President of the Republic,
Joseph Kasa-Vubu to share the leadership.

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
As commander in chief, Mobutu has to face a fresh
rebellion. In the central and eastern provinces

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
partisans of Patrice Lumumba and
then particular Pierre Mulele,

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
his faithful companion, launch a military
offensive against the central power and seize

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
two-thirds of the country. They\'re
backed by China and the Soviet Union.

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
[music]

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:15.000
Mabutu tries to organize
a counter-offensive.

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:38.000
[sil.]

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
[sil.]

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
During this civil war, Mobutu
receives military and logistical aide

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:10.000
from the west, principally from
Belgium and the United States.

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:33.000
[sil.]

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
Mobutu notches up a fresh victory

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
in his glorious record as military commander,
subtly he builds himself a reputation

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:18.000
as the peacemaker.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:58.000
[music]

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
Promoted to the highest functions
of military hierarchy,

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
Mobutu now dreams of absolute
power, power which however

00:26:55.000 --> 00:27:00.000
he\'ll have to share with the Prime Minister
and the President of the Republic.

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
[music]

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
But no one can imagine at the
time of this military pomp

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
that Mobutu will grant himself
absolute power just six days later.

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
He dismisses both Prime Minister Evariste Kimba and
the President of the Republic Joseph Kasa-Vubu

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
who\'s forced into retirement
in his native village

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:45.000
where he dies a few years later.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:45.000
[sil.]

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
[sil.]

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
The final irony,

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
five years after Lumumba\'s assassination
and six months after the coup,

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
Mobutu clears the name of his victim.
Why did Mobutu do?

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
Why did he make a national hero of Lumumba?

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
Pure… Purely cold politics.
Times had changed,

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
he wished to show that he
allied himself with the

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
real liberators of the
Congo, the men who had

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
brought about independence.
At the end of 1966,

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
most of the rebel leaders have abandoned all
resistance. The most radical among them,

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
Pierre Mulele finds shelter in Brazzaville,
capital of the neighboring country.

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
This ex-Minister of Education

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
of Lumumba\'s government accepts the offer of
amnesty from his old enemy General Mobutu.

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
[sil.]

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:15.000
Justin Bomboko, Minister of Foreign Affairs
is charged with bringing him back to Congo.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
Convinced that Mobutu would never go back on his
word, Pierre Mulele agrees to return, having no idea

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
of the treachery awaiting him. He is tortured,
and then murdered by Mobutu\' henchmen.

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:15.000
And so, one of the last Lumumbas leaves the
stage, one of the last rebels of the 60s.

00:34:55.000 --> 00:35:03.000
[music]

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:20.000
[music]

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:33.000
[music]

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:53.000
[music]

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:10.000
[music]

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:30.000
[music]

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:48.000
[music]

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
Standing at the top of the
Empire State Building,

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
Mobutu\'s dream comes true at last, to be
a great man among the worlds\' leaders.

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:28.000
[music]

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
On the 10th anniversary of
the country\'s independence,

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
President Mobutu invites the King of
Belgium, King Baudouin I, symbol of the

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
former colonial power for a state visit.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
[music]

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
Mobutu is all smiles,

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
smooth, fresh, and flashing. You
could say that in all aspects

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
he does his utmost to imitate
the Belgian monarch.

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:58.000
[music]

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
[music]

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
To consolidate his power, President Mobutu founds
the MPR, the Popular Movement of the Revolution,

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
one party, totally devoted to him.

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:55.000
He proclaims himself the Founding Father.

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
Membership of the party is
obligatory for everyone

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:50.000
including according to official slogans, one\'s
ancestors and even the unborn in their mother\'s wombs.

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
[non-English narration]

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
Wishing to speed up and
overtake history itself,

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
Mobutu radicalizes his revolution.
To fire the imagination

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
of the Congolese population, he re-baptizes
the country, the currency and the river.

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
Congo becomes Zaire. The
currency becomes Zaire.

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
The river becomes Zaire. It
is the era of the three Zs.

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
Christian names are henceforth prohibited.
The President of the Republic himself

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
sets the example, Joseph
Désiré Mobutu is no more.

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
Instead in his place, Mobutu Sese
Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga.

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
In other words, the all powerful warrior
who fires up all on his way and from

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:20.000
conquest to conquest remains invincible.

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
[sil.]

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
The revolution knows no respite. With the colonial
statues demolished and thrown into history\'s backyard,

00:43:55.000 --> 00:44:00.000
Mobutu establishes Mobutism with the
ideology of a one-party system.

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:13.000
[music]

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:28.000
[music]