|
Zaire Mobutu's Second Coming
Mobutu's second coup, on November 25, 1965, occurred in
circumstances strikingly similar to those that had led to
his first
takeover--a struggle for power between the incumbent
president,
Joseph Kasavubu, and Prime Minister Moïse Tshombe. The
KasavubuTshombe friction began to gain momentum during the
legislative
elections in the spring of 1965. The immediate task facing
the new
parliament was the election of a new president, whose role
was
defined by the constitution as the chief executive,
leaving the
prime minister in charge of the day-to-day tasks of
government.
Determined to seize the presidency from Kasavubu, Tshombe
had
organized a new party, the National Confederation of
Congolese
Associations (Confédération Nationale des Associations
Congolaises-
-Conaco), which in effect was little more than a loose
alliance of
forty-nine, primarily southern, parties from among the
more than
200 parties that mushroomed into existence to participate
in the
electoral process.
Although Conaco emerged triumphant from the March 1965
elections, with a total of 122 out of 167 parliamentary
seats,
Kasavubu decided to appoint Évariste Kimba, a leading
figure of the
anti-Tshombe forces, as prime minister-designate. Complex
maneuverings followed the nomination of Kimba. When the
time came
for a vote of confidence, on November 14, the Tshombe
coalition,
with its clear majority in parliament, managed to block
his
investiture by a vote of 121 to 134. Another candidate,
Victor
Nendaka, then sought the investiture, only to be faced
with further
obduracy from Kasavubu, who went on to renominate Kimba.
As in
1960, the constitutional impasse threatened the machinery
of
government with total paralysis.
The constitutional deadlock paved the way for Mobutu's
second
military takeover. On November 24, fourteen members of the
ANC high
command met in Léopoldville with Mobutu in an emergency
session.
The following day, the announcement was made that Kasavubu
and
Kimba had been removed from office as president and prime
ministerdesignate , and that Mobutu had been named as chief of
state by the
army. Colonel Léonard Mulamba became prime minister of the
new
"government of national union." Parliament, meanwhile,
approved by
acclamation the new government, which announced that it
could
remain in office for five years under a state of
emergency.
The new regime received considerable initial approval
from
other African states and from the United States. Indeed,
United
States support for the new regime was to prove remarkably
durable
(see Relations
with the West
, ch. 4).
Data as of December 1993
|
