Zaire

Republic of Zaire
*République du Zaïre* (French)
*Repubilika ya Zaïre* (Kituba)
*Republíki ya Zaïre* (Lingala)
*Jamhuri ya Zaïre* (Swahili)
*Ditunga dia Zaïre* (Luba-Lulua)
Republic of Zaire République du Zaïre (French); Repubilika ya Zaïre (Kituba); Republíki ya Zaïre (Lingala); Jamhuri ya Zaïre (Swahili); Ditunga dia Zaïre (Luba-Lulua)
1971–1997
	Flag Emblem
	Motto: Paix — Justice — Travail ; "Peace — Justice — Work"
	Anthem: La Zaïroise; "The Song of Zaire";
Capital and largest city	Kinshasa; 4°19′S 15°19′E
Official languages	French
Recognised national languages	Lingala · Kikongo ya leta · Swahili · Tshiluba
Ethnic groups	See Ethnic groups section below
Religion (1986)	50% Roman Catholic; 20% Protestant; 10% Kimbanguism; 10% Islam; 10% Others (Baluba, Bantu);
Demonym(s)	Zairian
Government	Unitary Mobutist one-party presidential republic under a totalitarian military dictatorship
President
• 1965–1997	Mobutu Sese Seko
Prime Minister
• 1977–1979 (first)	Mpinga Kasenda
• 1997 (last)	Likulia Bolongo
Legislature	Legislative Council
Historical era	Cold War
• Coup d'état	24 November 1965
• Established	27 October 1971
• Constitution promulgated	15 August 1974
• Mobutu overthrown	18 May 1997
• Death of Mobutu	7 September 1997
Area
• Total	2,345,409 km2 (905,567 sq mi)
• Water (%)	3.32
Population
• 1971	18,400,000
• 1997	46,498,539
GDP (nominal)	1983 estimate
• Total	$83 billion
HDI (1990 formula)	0.294; low
Currency	Zaïre (ZRN)
Time zone	UTC+1 to +2 (WAT and CAT)
Driving side	right
Calling code	+243
ISO 3166 code	ZR
Internet TLD	.zr
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
MONUSCO
Today part of	Democratic Republic of the Congo
	The term "Kikongo" in the Constitution was actually referring to the Kituba language – which is known as Kikongo ya leta by its speakers – not the Kongo language proper. The confusion arose from the fact that the government of the Zaire officially recognized and referred to the language simply as "Kikongo".; Zaire became a de jure one-party state on 23 December 1970, but had been a de facto one-party state since 20 May 1967, the date on which the MPR (Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution) was established. Zaire formally adopted a multiparty system on 24 April 1990, when Mobutu delivered a speech proclaiming the end of the one-party system. The country adopted a three-party system de jure with the enactment of Law No. 90-002 of 5 July 1990, which amended its constitution accordingly, but retained the one-party system of the MPR de facto.;

Zaire (/zɑːˈɪər/ ^ⓘ, also UK: /zaɪˈɪər/), officially the Republic of Zaire (French: République du Zaïre, [ʁepyblik dy zaiʁ]), was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 1997. Zaire was located in Central Africa and was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa (after Sudan and Algeria), and the 11th-largest country (from 1965 to 1997) in the world. With a population of over 23 million inhabitants, Zaire was the most populous officially Francophone country in Africa, as well as one of the most populous in Africa.

The country was a one-party totalitarian military dictatorship, run by Mobutu Sese Seko and his ruling Popular Movement of the Revolution party. Zaire was established following Mobutu's seizure of power in a military coup in 1965, following five years of political upheaval following independence from Belgium known as the Congo Crisis. Zaire had a strongly centralist constitution, and foreign assets were nationalized. The period is sometimes referred to as the Second Congolese Republic.

A wider campaign of Authenticité, ridding the country of the influences from the colonial era of the Belgian Congo, was also launched under Mobutu's direction. Weakened by the termination of American support after the end of the Cold War, Mobutu was forced to declare a new republic in 1990 to cope with demands for change. By the time of its downfall, Zaire was characterised by widespread cronyism, corruption and economic mismanagement.

Zaire collapsed in the late 1990s, amid the destabilization of the eastern parts of the country in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide and growing ethnic violence. In 1996, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, the head of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL) militia, led a popular rebellion against Mobutu. With rebel forces making gains westward, Mobutu fled the country, leaving Kabila's forces in charge as the country restored its name to the Democratic Republic of the Congo the following year. Mobutu would go on to die less than four months later while in exile in Morocco.

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[2] The term "Kikongo" in the Constitution was actually referring to the Kituba language – which is known as Kikongo ya leta by its speakers – not the Kongo language proper. The confusion arose from the fact that the government of the Zaire officially recognized and referred to the language simply as "Kikongo".

[6] Zaire became a de jure one-party state on 23 December 1970, but had been a de facto one-party state since 20 May 1967, the date on which the MPR (Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution) was established. Zaire formally adopted a multiparty system on 24 April 1990, when Mobutu delivered a speech proclaiming the end of the one-party system. The country adopted a three-party system de jure with the enactment of Law No. 90-002 of 5 July 1990, which amended its constitution accordingly, but retained the one-party system of the MPR de facto.