Tags: President.
Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga (/məˈbuːtuː ˈsɛseɪ ˈsɛkoʊ/; born Joseph-Desiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (which Mobutu renamed Zaire in 1971) from 1965 to 1997.Installed and supported in office primarily by Belgium and the United States he formed an authoritarian regime amassed vast personal wealth and attempted to purge the country of all colonial cultural influence while enjoying considerable support by the United States due to his anti-communist stance.During the Congo Crisis Belgian and CIA-backed forces aided Mobutu in a coup against the nationalist government of Patrice Lumumba in 1960 to take control of the government.
