Press Review - La Voix du Zaïre

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La Voix du Zaïre - OZRT

OZRT - the Republic of Zaire's national broadcasting service. Founded in 1945, liberated in 1960, renamed in 1971 by President Mobutu.

Whether in Lingala or Kikongo, English or French, La Voix du Zaïre's press review brings you the best articles to be read in all Zaire.

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CITOYENS.
EMBRACE AUTHENTICITÉ.



EMBRACE ZAIRE!

'No Zairian Should Be Ashamed of his Culture' - Mobutu Sese Seko

KINSHASA, L1971 Citizens of our great republic have reacted with delight to the great decision of President Mobutu to lead the way in an authentic, African reaction to the opportunities of our independence. No longer should we fear to change that which was imposed upon us: from the personal sphere, to the national.

The very name of our country ought to represent us as it should: the mighty Zairian river that swallows all rivers is the soul and symbol of our country. A country's name in international quarters ought not to be a colonial hangover. The Republic of Zaire is the true, authentic expression of our national identiy and character; from our new flag, to the great La Zaïroise anthem that warms our hearts and fills the nation's homes with song and fellowship.

And it is, after all, a true sign for the optimistic future that awaits Zaire. Just as we can recapture the great name of the river Zaire from our colonial past, so too - as Mobutu Sese Seko says - can we repurpose our confidence, our culture, our resources, our country, and our people to the needs of Zaire, not the colonialist, not the Bolshevist, not the imperialist. Forwards, citizens, into the future - a future that shines bright for all Africa, and especially for those of us blessed by the wise leadership of Mobutu and the MPR!

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This article appeared in Salongo, a Kinshasa-based newspaper, following President Mobutu's announcement of aid to various refugee camps in Zaire.

"The Central African Refugee Crisis is no accident" - Mobutu

Chaos across the globe has driven many millions from their homes. Caused by regimes blind to the true natures and desires of their own peoples, or by bureaucrats blinded by ideologies of colonialism new or old, the world's attention has at last turned to refugees of all kinds appearing in our news. Far away on the Indian subcontinent, the ancient lands of the Bengalis are in the midst of great civil strife. The lands of the Levant are awash with refugees too - some Palestinian, others Jewish - all fleeing instability and feeling a strong desire for home. Even to our own east, in the Great Lakes, thousands have fled, fearing communal violence in the aftermath of the change of regime in Uganda. Some have arrived in our own country, with some strain on the eastern provinces.

It is right that the subject of refugees has become a matter of importance in international halls. The nations of the world, great and small, Zaire included, have it beholden upon us to give sanctuary to innocent civilians seeking peace and stability. But all too often - and this, too, is true of the recent refugee crises - we forget that to deal with this issue, we must create stability that stops them from fleeing in the first place.

The Zairian nation has known much of ethnic cleansing, murder, evictions and house-burning since the arrival of the white men. From Leopold's barbarisms in his "Congo Free State" that was anything but free; to the foreign-orchestrated anarchy in Shaba and all across the nation following our independence. Citizen Mobutu, our great president, did mention this of late when he visited some taking refuge in Kinshasa. Cabindans, Angolans, Ugandans, Sudanese, Rwandans and many others have been forced to seek a living in our country. And, as our great president said, "this refugee crisis is a tragedy, but it is one entirely man-made, as part of the continued anti-African and psychocolonial agenda."

And who can deny that these words ring true? The majority of refugees in Central Africa are there because of war; wars that are inventions of states seeking to keep us divided to take our wealth and people. One need only look at our border with occupied Angola. On our side, hundreds of thousands of the Esikongo who wish to return to their homeland, driven out in the 1960s by Portugal. On their side, thousands of civilians who fled the civil war caused by the colonialist in Shaba; and who are still oppressed by those mercenaries and Leopoldian lapdogs! Now the Portuguese put these "Katangans" to use to drive even more Angolans across into Zaire! For the only one who gains from displacement and chaos, is he who does not wish to see us grow in our own lands.

It is equally true to our south - in Zambia. To our east - in the Great Lakes region, beset by Bolshevist bandits, beleaguered by foreign agents driving fear and ethnic tensions. To our north - in the Sudan. The Republic of Zaire is proud to provide food, shelter, water to many of these people, provided they are indeed authentic refugees who do not seek to spread their chaos into our country. We are proud to stand with the refugee who opposed colonialism, and who nurses his wounds, and waits for his opportunity. But we cannot forget that it is colonialism which creates this chaos.

Surely, then, this renewed engagement with the refugee crisis should make us realise that we must all, in our great president Mobutu's words, become more authentically Zairian. Africa must be authentically African. Decolonisation of the state structures must be followed by decolonisation of the non-state structure; decolonisation of the non-state structure by decolonisation of the very mind. Then, and only then, will Africa be truly free from the spectre of chaos that would blight out inevitable march forwards, and Zaire is no doubt the leading light of Africa's renaissance, her renewal, and her rise!

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The following article appeared in Elima, a Kinshasa-based journal supportive of the government.

The Sino-Indian War is a lesson for Africa

China's successful crossing of the Himalayas and the air-lifting of Maoist armies into Bangladesh serve as a lesson in modern warfare, writes our army correspondent Lt KAUNDA CHIPU

PLA vehicles carry supplies across the Himalayan mountains. Red Chinese soldiers have penetrated deep into north-east India.

Fellow graduates of our Zairian military schools know that any teacher of military history will have an obsession with various military figures. Who among my class did not grow weary of hearing of Napoleon at Austerlitz, Ntshingwayo of Isandlwana, or Hannibal at Cannae? They seemed so far removed from our modern military training, so far removed from the world of the machine-gun, the fighter jet, and the landmine. As well hear how a stone club would stand up to a rocket launcher.

But just as Hannibal's crossing of the Alps with his elephants sent shockwaves through the classical Mediterranean, in our modern world the Chinese have sent their metal tanks over the Himalayas and struck terror into the hearts of north-east Indians. How wrong we were to doubt the importance of Hannibal - for India's blindness to the possibility of mass Chinese intervention is comparable surely to Rome's confidence that no Punic army could cross the Alps in winter.

India's intervention against reported atrocities in East Pakistan, and China's escalation of the matter into a continental war between Asia's two most populous nations, is an event that has repercussions for the world. China too may face a threat on her flank, depending on the Soviets. This and India's nuclear programme mean that atomic weapons are not so distant from the battlefield - particularly if both sides cannot reach a compromise. The three fronts - Kashmir, north-east India, and Bangladesh - could all become a desperate war of attrition, and India without aid seems doomed by the sheer size of forces arrayed against her.

Aircraft have been used in great numbers, but the air war is not yet settled. In the difficult terrain of the north-east of India, with few airfields, there are perhaps lessons for Africa.

Yet this brutal war might feel distant to the people of Africa. It is certainly on the other side of the world, and few if any Zairians reading this will be directly affected by the course of this conflict. Nonetheless, it serves up valuable lessons on the nature of warfare and geopolitics today - particularly for Africa.

The terrain in which the war is being fought is not so dissimilar to the terrain that predominates across our own region. Lush rainforests, treacherous mountains, mighty rivers and unpredictable weather can play havoc on armies. Indeed, they have saved Zaire in the past from coup attempts by neo-colonial forces in the 1960s. But this war does go to show that it is more than possible to turn such terrain to your advantage, and to advance. Any military officer who feels unnecessarily safe because of his campsite ought to think how secure the Indian Army felt camped in the highest mountains in the world.

This is also a war being fought not by the superpowers, but by major regional powers. Thus, it is a war where both sides are closer in strength of arms and equipment. India's conventional army faces a Maoist army focused on a people's war; the victor's doctrines will be analysed. And in Africa too, we can learn lessons from the logistical challenges facing both armies, as they fight off the enemy while feeding, clothing, and arming their troops on poor roads choked with refugees.

An Indian T-55 tank advances on encircled PLA positions in East Pakistan. Despite two Red Chinese units being airlifted in, East Pakistani resistance has all but crumbled.

A final lesson, perhaps, is in the changing nature of what might be termed imperialism. Certainly, China's intervention is surprising in it's scale. But if China is willing to intervene in such force in support of Pakistan; what of other client states in the Third World? This may change the calculations of the great powers in how they protect their allies, something with grave consequences for Zaire as we seek to oppose neo-imperialism and neo-colonialism from the far right of apartheid, and the far left of radical communism.

I will close my article, therefore, with a plea to my old tutors and teachers at the military colleges. When a Zairian student questions the difficulty of rebuilding our nation into the bastion of stability that she ought to be; or asks if it is possible to take out bandit forces who hide out in the mountains; quote to them Hannibal: I will either find a way, or make one.

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A leading article from Elima, the pro-government Kinshasa daily.

Mobutu returns home!

Celebrations and cheering crowds greeted the simultaneous arrival in Kinshasa of President Mobutu and the foreign ministers of Rwanda and Burundi yesterday. Fresh from diplomatic success in the north, our great leader issued an impassioned speech for African liberty and sovereignty to onlookers. In wise words worthy of our continent's leading statesman, he claimed that: "A new dawn is breaking on the African peoples... and those blinded by tyranny or colonialism must soon wake up!"

Speculation is rife within the MPR and wider political circles of the capital as to the president's next steps. Much has been made of the proposed Fort Lamy-Bangui railway line - and the benefits to Chad of improved rail links. But for the CAR itself, and Zaire, the improvements to the river trade also would be immeasurable, if the northern Sahel could be opened up to trade on Africa's terms. For too long, it was colonisers - from the east and west - who set the terms of our trade. We must make sure never again to allow this to pass, and regional bodies are surely one sure way of preventing any divide and conquer.

This is coupled with promising agreements on our eastern border with two states - Rwanda and Burundi. Densely populated neighbours of ours, they have need of trade partners and trade routes. If this is to be combined with the proposals for north-central Africa, then Zaire might utilise her position at Africa's heart for the benefit of all.

We therefore eagerly await the results of the latest pro-African policies of the MPR. It is surely to be praised that the party, the country, and the president himself has struck this new course in Zairian regional cooperation. The threats of totalitarian, ostensibly nationalist federalists are known; but working towards a parity and a unity of brother nations in Africa is a fine idea worth pursuing.

An extract from an editorial in the Shaba-based Mjumbe

Foreign Minister claims Portuguese accusations "self-centred colonial kleptocrat psychology laid bare"

The great majority of states, seeing the global need for growth and expansion in our economies and resource extractions, reacted with gladness at Zaire's first significant exports of crude oil. Hundreds are now employed both in offshore extraction, learning from major international corporations to bring the skills into our country. Hundreds more are employed at the refinery in Muanda, which has crucially been upgraded to process the heavy crude found in the region.

The same cannot be said for the stubbornest fools of the continent - Portugal's colonial bureaucrats in Angola. Not content with stripping Angola of her resources, starving her people, arming ex-colonial mercenaries from Shaba to kill and terrorise civilians, or committing grave violations of the conventions of war; now they accuse even countries such as Zaire. Watching greedily from occupied Cabinda, they claim that the oil extracted by Zaire is their's by virtue of nothing more than avarice. We have news for Portugal however - Zairian oil surveys have been conducted since 1956, and oil extraction will continue for many years longer than it took to get our industry up and running! This publication congratulates the foreign minister for his fine response.

Opinion: The Great Lakes Question

Readers know that we have not long stopped the radical tribalists from throwing the country into civil war. Still in our great nation of Zaire, there are some who would oppose national reconciliation, and thus even more so oppose regional peace and friendship! All who oppose the national advancement of Zaire are surely guilty of being misled by the neo-colonialists who on occasion find some filthy nook in which to hide. But like rats hidden aboard ship, they cannot stop the Zairian voyage! And we must surely end their threat, in order to better help the Rift Valley Lakes trade and infrastructure.

An interesting article in the French-language and pro-business daily, La Prospérité

Time to take aim at the rainforest?

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A great multitude of Zairian problems can perhaps be attributed to the colonialist: but that is often no satisfying answer to how to deal with the problem. Such is the case with the infrastructure of our nation; built by Europeans, for Europeans, with little regard for the people of this nation. The motives were purely financial and imperialist; but we now have an opportunity to put this right. Projects and resources may be utilised for the betterment of both the Zairian people, and the financial-economic stability of the Zairian nation today and tomorrow.

Therefore this paper today asks why not combine the global need for resources, with the Zairian need for roads and jobs. How many hectares of forest globally are ruined by illegal logging? Too many, the West will say. But here in Africa we have too many trees, and not enough roads. Why not strategically coordinate logging permits, to clear paths for the highways of our future?