Foreign Policy of Mobutu Sese Seko - Other Relations

Other Relations

Mobutu enjoyed a strong relationship with Rwanda under the late President Juvénal Habyarimana; in October 1990, Zaire intervened militarily (in concert with French and Belgian forces) to aid Habyarimana's government from the Rwandan Patriotic Front.

Another close ally (and personal friend) of Mobutu was Togolese strongman Gnassingbé Eyadéma. In the aftermath of Shaba II, Togo was one of the countries which contributed peacekeeping forces to Zaire. In 1986, Mobutu, in turn, sent two airborne companies to Lomé to stabilize the capital in the aftermath of an attempted coup against Eyadéma. After his overthrow in 1997, Mobutu settled briefly in Togo, where he was allowed to stay in the presidential palace; however, under pressure from his opponents, Eyadéma soon relocated Mobutu to Morocco, flying him there on his (Eyadéma's) private jet.

Among Mobutu's closest allies was Nicolae Ceauşescu, the Communist ruler of Romania. Relations were not just state-to-state, but party-to-party, between the MPR and the Romanian Communist Party. Many speculate that Mobutu's decision to "democratize" his regime was inspired, at least in part, by the fall of Ceauşescu's government.

Zaire's relations with several of its neighbors - including Angola, Zambia, Tanzania, and Uganda - were strained. Other countries with which Zaire had cool relations were Cuba and East Germany; Zaire severed diplomatic relations with both countries in the spring of 1977, due to their alleged support of anti-Mobutu rebels during Shaba I (although Mobutu did restore relations with Cuba two years later, so that Zaire could participate in the NAM summit held in Havana in that year).