1960
Zaire (Congo) achieves independence from Belgium. After an unexpected military coup against the first elected government in July, the United Nations sends a Chapter VII operation. Katanga, supported by Belgian forces, secedes. After a political clash between President Joseph Kasa-Vubu and Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, Colonel Joseph Mobutu, who commands the Congo army, temporarily seizes power and Lumumba is jailed near Kinshasa.
1961
Lumumba is transferred to Elizabethville (now Lubumbashi) and is almost assassinated. While Katanga is still in the process of seceding, Mobutu relinquishes power. Parliament reconvenes in Kinshasa and a new prime minister, Cyrille Adoula, is nominated by the congress.
1962
Parliament votes for the creation of twenty-two new provinces. The Congo becomes a quasi-federal state.
1963-64
End of the secession in Katanga; its president, Moise Tshombe, is forced to leave the Congo. Beginning of popular rebellions in the Congo against an ineffective administration in Leopoldville, which ostracizes the "nationalist opposition" claiming Lumumba's heritage. A foreign-led military operation is launched against the "rebel army." Tshombe returns to the Congo and is immediately designated as the new prime minister.
1965
Amid renewed political turmoil, induced by the approaching presidential election, Mobutu takes power in a coup d'état. A new era of nationalism ("Zairianization") begins, but accompanied by pacification in the country.
1973-75
Economic disarray results from government policies to seize foreign-owned commercial and industrial assets and distribute them to patrimonial clients. The precipitous fall of world copper prices in 1974 exacerbates the economic crisis.
1976
First in series of stabilization programs under the IMF and the World Bank, which last until 1987. After initially disappointing results, the World Bank and the IMF send their own people to key posts in the Bank of Zaire, the Customs Office, and the Ministries of Finance and Planning.
1977-78
After the FLNC invasion of Shaba (Shaba I), Mobutu allows multiple candidates for legislative seats, although all belong to the MPR. The National Legislative Council demonstrates some political independence by rejecting a presidential budget, due to excessive presidential spending, and after the elections it becomes more assertive in questioning ministers. Mobutu's "democratic reforms" terminate with the second invasion of Shaba in 1978 (Shaba II).
1979
"The Thirteen" arise as an opposition voice within the legislature, defying the government and holding the army responsible for massacres of diamond miners in Kasai-Oriental. Erwin Blumenthal, the World Bank's appointed manager of the Central Bank in Zaire, resigns in frustration.
1980
The Thirteen write an open letter to Mobutu critiquing the government. They are arrested and stripped of their seats.
1982
The Thirteen create the UDPS, which claims to be an opposition party--an explicit violation of Zaire's constitution and laws permitting only one party. Although most founding members are from Kasai, the party succeeds in obtaining a diverse ethnic and regional base.
1987
The UDPS agrees to dissolve and become a "tendency" within the MPR. A number of prominent members accept positions with government or state enterprises. Etienne Tshisekedi and Faustin Birindwa, among others, are soon detained and subject to internal exile and house arrest. Elections for the National Assembly are held (the last ones to date).
1988
Consolidation of the UDPS as an underground opposition movement. Periodic demonstrations and student protests are repressed violently by special forces. Tshisekedi remains under house arrest.
1990
The beginning of the political transition.
January. Mobutu attempts to fend off pressure for democratization by proposing "Popular Consultations." Instead, Zairians seize the opportunity to debate the affairs of the state for the first time in more than twenty years.
April 24. Mobutu announces a limited return to democracy. Tshisekedi and other political detainees are released. Zairians greet the announcement with jubilation.
May. Students in Lubumbashi are attacked in what Africa Watch determines is a routine disciplinary measure "slightly gone awry." Special Rapporteur Wako reports that there was organized official involvement.
November. The Troika's support for Mobutu, which has already been diminishing, dwindles further when the United States follows France and Belgium and cancels remaining economic aid.
According to Africa Watch: "Most long-term political detention has disappeared, an active free press has come into existence, and a number of significant human rights monitoring organizations have arisen. Nevertheless, the state keeps a stranglehold on the official media and periodically intervenes to intimidate journalists, opposition political leaders, and human rights activists."
1991
April. Mobutu agrees to a National Conference as demanded by the opposing parties, but no immediate action is taken.
July. The main opposition parties (UDPS, UFERI, PDSC) form the Union sacrée and immediately attract other opposition voices. Mobutu is unable to split this bloc, despite his strategy of appointing several "transitional governments" in rapid succession.
The opposition continues to call for a National Conference. Public pressure pushes Mobutu to agree to the conference, but he begins to invest heavily in the creation of new parties and groups loyal to him. Over two hundred political parties, some with no apparent base of support, appear. At the same time, hyperinflation increases at an almost unprecedented rate.
August. The National Conference opens but is unable to complete any substantive work due to constant shutdowns, interruptions, and delays caused by the military and squabbles among the participants.
September. The 31st Brigade, followed by the population of Kinshasa, goes on a looting spree in the capital. Looting spreads to other cities (except Bukavu) and destroys much of what remained of the modern sector of the economy. The brigade's actions are in response to the devaluation of the currency and meager wages in comparison with per diem allotments for delegates to the National Conference. Further clashes between security forces and the Union sacrée lead to the suspension of conference activities between September and November 1991. The violence and political turmoil prompt the withdrawal of almost all aid from foreign governments.
October. After intense negotiations, Mobutu accepts the Union sacrée opposition leader, Tshisekedi, as prime minister while retaining four ministries, including defense. Tshisekedi is soon removed because, according to Mobutu, he did not properly execute the oath of office; the opposition attributes the dismissal to Tshisekedi's effort to block Mobutu's control of the currency.
November. After the intervention of Senegal's president, Mobutu agrees to name a prime minister from the opposition, assumed by all to be Tshisekedi. Nguz Karl-i-Bond, a long-time Mobutu stalwart now leading the UFERI, breaks ranks with the Union sacrée and accepts the appointment. His ally, Kyungu wa Kumwanza, becomes governor of Shaba.
December. Mobutu's term of office expires on December 4. The National Conference reopens with some 2,000 participants representing political parties, public institutions, and civil society. Laurent Monsengwo Pesinya, the archbishop of Kisangani, and a moderate, is elected president--demonstrating the strength of opposition to Mobutu. When the conference launches itself on a path of genuine transition, Karl-i-Bond suspends it, fueling great public support for the opposition.
1992
Renewed conflicts result in 750,000 displaced persons in Zaire, according to the UN Human Rights Commission. The main areas of turbulence are Shaba and North Kivu. The government abandons the IMF's economic recovery plan; inflation averages 33 percent per month.
January. Soldiers take over the radio station, raising the specter of a coup. The defense minister mounts a televised trial, promising to prove that the soldiers were linked to the opposition. Instead, defense lawyers provided by human rights groups turn the trial against the government, winning those groups widespread popularity among rank-and-file soldiers.
February. One million people march in Kinshasa in support of the National Conference. The March of Hope, as it is called and which is organized by the lay Christian community, is suppressed by soldiers.
March. With pressure from the Troika after the March of Hope, the National Conference reconvenes.
May. Foreign oil companies are regulated by the regime, ostensibly to prevent a rise in oil prices. (Tshisekedi rescinds these regulations in October when he becomes prime minister.) The copper and cobalt industries operate at less than 50 percent capacity.
August-November. The Sovereign National Conference names Tshisekedi prime minister and adopts a program for the transition that attempts to end the political impasse by redefining the duties and powers of the president, the prime minister, and the courts. Mobutu eventually accepts Tshisekedi but not the redefinition of powers. The first full-scale "ethnic cleansing" officially backed by the local authorities occurs in Likasi (Shaba). The Katangese are further aggrieved by the protection given by international organizations to fleeing Kasaians.
December. Tshisekedi struggles for control over the Central Bank and the currency, precipitating a new crisis. The National Conference adjourns with a declaration that its work will be continued by a transitional legislature, the 453 members of the HCR. The conference also proposes a timetable for elections in August 1994. The HCR continues to support Tshisekedi, but in the coming months the armed forces intervene and seek to stop the work of the HCR.
1993
The Troika engage in intensive negotiations, and three measures are discussed: the denial of visas to Mobutu supporters, a boycott of weapons shipments, and a freeze of Mobutu's assets. Only the first two are adopted. Vital jobs formerly held by foreigners remained unfilled: unemployment is estimated at 80 percent and monthly inflation averages almost 38 percent.
January. Looting by army units recurs in Kinshasa. Part of their motive is that salaries are paid with new five-million-zaire notes, imposed by Mobutu over the objections of Tshisekedi. The notes are refused throughout the country except in Shaba and parts of Equateur, leading to trafficking in banknotes and different exchange rates for various domestic currencies.
The population does not participate in the pillaging, and instead is targeted by the soldiers. In an attack on the French embassy, the French ambassador is killed.
February-April. The transition process appears to come to an end. Ethnic violence in Kivu and Shaba increases. The U.S. State Department estimates that at least 1.8 million Zairians (5.2 percent of the population) are suffering from acute malnutrition. Reportedly, children are being abandoned by their families--rare in an extended family system.
Belgium seizes 14.5 million tons of five-million-zaire notes after Tshisekedi informs the Belgian authorities of aircraft landing at Ostend.
The Troika tries to establish a coherent response that will compel Mobutu to respect the transitional process. Mobutu plays for time and fires Tshisekedi.
A month later, one of the UDPS copresidents resigns and the opposition is shaken, with many criticizing Tshisekedi for intransigence and an inability to compromise.
Mobutu convenes a conclave and issues a new transitional institutional framework. In a legally questionable move, Birindwa is appointed prime minister.
Soldiers obstruct the HCR from performing its work. Two separate and parallel governments develop: Birindwa occupies the ministerial offices, while Tshisekedi has no office but remains the legitimate executor of the decisions of the National Conference. The existence of two prime ministers, two constitutions, and two cabinets leads to the complete paralysis of the state machinery.
July. Lakhdar Brahimi is sent as the UN Secretary-General's special envoy to Zaire after Tshisekedi asks for, but is refused, a UN peacekeeping force. This mission fails, as had an earlier one by the OAU and another by the president of Namibia. The opposition is divided between moderates and hard-liners; Frederic Kibassa Maliba heads the Union sacrée.
October. Mobutu, Karl-i-Bond, and the opposition finally come to an agreement under the "Protocol of Agreement," which is designed to merge the two governments. Negotiations resume on a single constitution, a single parliament (the HCR is to be replaced by a Transition Parliament, the HCR-PT), and elections. All agreements eventually break down.
Hoping to stop hyperinflation, Birindwa launches a reform of the currency by introducing a new banknote. But the note loses 75 percent of its value within three weeks; the effect is cataclysmic on the rural poor and does nothing to quell inflation.
November. The World Bank suspends all projects in Zaire; the United States closes the USAID mission.
December. After another currency devaluation and scattered rioting, Shaba Governor Kyungu wa Kumwanza declares "total autonomy."
1994
The average monthly inflation rate rises to almost 47 percent.
January. Mobutu dissolves the HCR and dismisses both governments, announcing that a new joint parliament will choose a new prime minister. Tshisekedi refuses to go along. France indicates that it would support a third route, in effect bypassing Tshisekedi.
February. A U.S. State Department report concludes that violations of human rights in Zaire are at the worst level since the early 1960s.
Mobutu's willingness to negotiate gains him increasing legitimacy with the West, which perceives the opposition as intransigent and divided. The HCR reconvenes but succumbs to procedural wrangling.
March. The USAID mission reports on increasing decentralization in Zaire. Médecins Sans Frontières finds one in ten children malnourished and one in forty starving. The government provides virtually no public services and has less than $250,000 in the Treasury.
April. The HCR accepts the Transitional Constitution, which provides for the election of a new prime minister. Mobutu signs the accord.
June. After a deadlock over the naming of a prime minister (who must come from the opposition), Kengo wa Dondo is elected, although without the required consensus. Kengo is considered to have the backing of Western diplomats.
July. Prime Minister Kengo opens the media to the opposition, freezes all Bank of Zaire withdrawals, releases political prisoners (although new arrests continue), curtails embassies abroad, and suspends the governor of the Bank of Zaire. His proposals include granting autonomy to the Bank of Zaire, revisions of the tax system, stronger customs controls, and measures to curtail tax evasion.
Other decisions are to restore relations with the World Bank and the IMF and to pay arrears. His ambitious program meets with enthusiasm but some skepticism; the regime's abuses appear to continue.
August. Kengo visits Shaba on a goodwill mission. Mobutu remains in office, cooperating with Kengo over the Rwandan refugee crisis. In gratitude, France expresses a readiness to resume aid to Zaire. Belgium, too, is tentatively willing to resume cooperative relationships.
September. A World Bank team begins an audit of Zairian projects.
November. The UN Secretary-General recommends dispatching 5,000 UN peacekeepers to help cope with the influx of refugees into Zaire from Rwanda. The Security Council rejects the proposal.
December. A National Electoral Commission is accepted.
1995
March. Lebanese businessmen are expelled by Kengo. The UN Center for Human Rights announces that it will open an office in Zaire.
July. Elections are scheduled but never held. In mid-July Kengo announces that he will consult the "political class" to bolster his government against the radical opposition. However, Kengo merely reshuffles his cabinet, and his "new government" includes no new members from the opposition.
At the end of July, the army kills between ten and forty demonstrators at a march organized by the PALU, a party associated with the radical opposition and that is pressing for Kengo's resignation.
August. A rally organized by the Union sacrée attracts fewer people than expected. At the end of the month, Zaire expels 10,000 to 20,000 Burundian and Rwandan refugees from camps in Kivu. This decision follows the decision of the Security Council to lift the arms embargo on the new Rwandan government.
September. Zaire's minister of foreign affairs insists that all Rwandan and Burundian refugees must leave Zaire by December 31. Mobutu meets with Jimmy Carter in Faro, Portugal. According to the Carter Center, Mobutu agrees that force will no longer be used to repatriate refugees and that the process of returning the refugees will be discussed with the UNHCR, Burundi, and Rwanda. Mobutu also promises to support efforts by the National Election Commission to conduct a "fair, safe, and transparent election in Zaire." Special security forces are to enforce election laws and procedures under the authority of the electoral commission. The costs are to be borne by Zaire and the international community.
October. The European Union decides to invest $114 million in Zaire over a period of five years, with the funds to be given directly to local NGOs in Kivu, Kasai, and around Kinshasa; the aid is to be used for local infrastructure, public health, and education.
A European Union mission to evaluate Zaire's ability to hold elections issues a report that notes infrastructural collapse and questions the willingness of the "political class" to lead the electoral process. A parliamentary session opens; on the agenda are elections and administrative reform.
November. The FPC (the ruling coalition) and the Union sacrée appoint the forty-four members of the NEC.
A new U.S. ambassador, Daniel H. Simpson, arrives in Kinshasa to fill a post vacant for two years. Under the auspices of Jimmy Carter, a summit on the Great Lakes crisis is held in Cairo, with the presidents of several central African countries in attendance.
December. Armed confrontations occur in Masisi (in North Kivu) between combatants from Hunde-Nyanga local groups and Hutus (ex-FAR and Interhamwe militias) backed by the Zairian army. Kengo announces that he is still determined to repatriate Rwandan refugees "very soon."
1996
January. The Kengo government's plan to privatize part or all of several state enterprises is criticized by both the radical opposition and Mobutu, whose office declares that only an elected government would be justified in making such a move.
Talks between the government and UNHCR on the repatriation of Rwandan refugees are inconclusive. Bishop Monsengwo resigns as chairman of the HCR-PT.
February. The government announces a program to cut supplies to Rwandan refugees, surround the refugee camps, and prohibit all economic activities in the camps.
Sixteen thousand employees of ONATRA (the state-owned transport enterprise) strike to protest privatization plans. The government, which is on the verge of splitting, postpones a decision on privatization.
March. The NEC appoints Bayona, a member of the FPC, as its chairman. Kibasa Maliba is ejected from his party, the UDPS.
A European Union mission in Kinshasa expresses concern about political conditions and respect for the rule of law during the electoral process.
April. Reports circulate of confrontations in South Kivu between Rwandan and Zairian armies.
The HCR-PT begins a session during which debate shifts from the adoption of electoral laws to the investigation of governmental action and the question of forming a new government.
May. France announces the renewal of cooperation programs with Zaire.
Chairman Bayona accuses the government of interfering with the work of the NEC.
June. The Kengo government, unpopular with the public at large, faces a severe parliamentary challenge, but survives thanks to support from the MPR, Mobutu's party.
The Zairian representative to the United Nations files a complaint with the Security Council against Uganda for its reported attack on the Zairian city of Bunagana.
July. The NEC reschedules the electoral process; the vote will now take place not in December 1996 but in 1997.
Fifty thousand people attend a UDPS demonstration protesting against the government and calling for respect of the decisions of the 1992 Sovereign National Conference.
The government claims that military supplies intended for the Rwandan army in Uganda have been found in a plane chartered by humanitarian agencies in Goma.
August. Prime Minister Kengo visits Belgium to discuss the renewal of cooperation programs, which have been suspended for six years.
A local NGO is suspended in South Kivu. The members of the NGO, most of whom belong to the Banyamulenge, are accused of preparing attacks against Zaire with Rwandan backing.
September. Kengo issues a decree relating to electoral registration, prompting another complaint from the NEC that the government is trying to appropriate the commission's prerogatives. The NEC also claims that the government has funded less than 5 percent of the NEC's budget. An opposition leader, Nzongola, resigns from the NEC, accusing the NEC, the government, and the "political class" of lack of will to lead the electoral process.
The government announces that its monthly payments to the IMF will rise from $3.5 million to $5 million.
October. Rwandan soldiers, Banyamulenge combatants, and Zairian rebels attack Fizi, Uvira, and Mwenga, beginning a conquest of North and South Kivu. In Kinshasa students lead three days of demonstrations against both Rwanda and the government. The army chief of staff accuses the government of failing to fund the army. France calls for a multinational force to intervene for humanitarian purposes.
November. Meeting with Mobutu in France, opposition leader Tshisekedi calls for a new government led by himself and for negotiations with Laurent Kabila, the declared rebel leader.
The government appoints a new chief of staff, General Baramoto, known to be close to Mobutu. Bemba Saolona, a member of parliament and chairman of the Zairian Businessmen Association, declares the government incapable of handling the situation in eastern Zaire and calls for a new government of national unity.
Rebel troops continue their success, seizing control of the province of Haut-Zaire.
For 1997 events, check http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/1243/zachron.htm
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