Jean Nguza Karl-i-Bond (August 4, 1938 – July 27, 2003) was a prominent Zairian politician.

Biography

Early years and career in Zaire

Born in Musumba,

Lualaba District Lualaba District was a district of the pre-2015 Katanga Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The district dates back to the days of the Congo Free State and the Belgian Congo. The original Lualaba District was merged into Katanga in 1 ...

, a member of the Lunda tribe and a nephew of the Katangan leader,

Moise Tshombe Moise is a given name and surname, with differing spellings in its French and Romanian origins, both of which originate from the name Moses: Moïse is the French spelling of Moses, while Moise is the Romanian spelling. As a surname, Moisè and Mo ...

, Nguza was a pock-marked child who rose rapidly through government posts and gained the favour of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...

. Nguza received a master's degree in international relations from the

Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (french: Université de Louvain, link=no; nl, Universiteit Leuven, link=no) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of ...

, Belgium and returned to Zaire to serve as Foreign Minister from 1972–1974 and 1976–1977, as well serving as political director of the MPR, the country's only legal political party. Fluent in six

African languages The languages of Africa are divided into several major language families: * Niger–Congo or perhaps Atlantic–Congo languages (includes Bantu and non-Bantu, and possibly Mande and others) are spoken in West, Central, Southeast and Southern A ...

as well as English, French,

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

, and German, Nguza's stature within Zaire and in the international community was such that he was considered a possible successor to Mobutu as President of Zaire. However, in 1977, he fell out of favor with Mobutu, who accused Nguza of attempting to seduce the first lady while simultaneously plotting high treason, and was imprisoned and sentenced to death. According to Nguza, Mobutu personally threatened to shoot him. Many believe that Nguza's sole crime was having been mentioned in the foreign press (during the

Shaba I Shaba I was a conflict in Zaire's Shaba (Katanga) Province lasting from March 8 to May 26, 1977. The conflict began when the Front for the National Liberation of the Congo (FNLC), a group of about 2,000 Katangan Congolese soldiers who were vete ...

invasion in 1977) as a possible successor to Mobutu. During his interrogation, Nguza was subjected to torture which included the insertion of a metal tube into his penile shaft, through which jets of air were introduced, causing the blood vessels to rupture, and the application of electrical shocks to his testicles. The torture is said to have left him impotent. A year later, following international pressure, Nguza received a presidential pardon and was again named Foreign Minister in 1979. He became First State Commissioner of Zaire in 1980.

Exile

In 1981, while on a private visit to

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

with his wife, Nguza fled into exile, where he attempted to unite the exiled Zairean opposition and testified against Mobutu in front of

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

hearings, outlining, in graphic detail, Mobutu's theft of hundreds of millions of dollars from the country's treasury and its subsequent deposit in foreign banks. Nguza published ''Mobutu ou l'Incarnation du Mal Zairois'', which was highly critical of the regime. Even so, Mobutu forgave him, invited him back home, and appointed him as ambassador to

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

in 1986. After the proclamation of the Third Republic, and the subsequent legalization of opposition parties in 1990, Nguza started his own party, the '' Union of Federalists and Independent Republicans''. He later replaced

Étienne Tshisekedi Étienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba (14 December 1932 – 1 February 2017) was a Congolese politician and the leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), the main opposing political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC ...

as Prime Minister, after Tshisekedi tried to block Mobutu from accessing cash at the central bank. Nguza was regarded by other members of the Sacred Union (of which his party was a member) as a "traitor" because of this, and he subsequently left the Sacred Union. His party formed a new coalition, the Alliance of Patriotic Forces, which was committed to political reform but rejected "extremist" stances. The relationship between Tshisekedi and Nguza deteriorated considerably, and armed clashes, many taking on ethnic dimensions and resulting in considerable loss of life, broke out between their respective supporters, further contributing to the instability and chaos prevalent in the country. After

Laurent Kabila Laurent may refer to: *Laurent (name), a French masculine given name and a surname **Saint Laurence (aka: Saint ''Laurent''), the martyr Laurent **Pierre Alphonse Laurent, mathematician **Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent, amateur astronomer, discoverer ...

seized power, Nguza fled into

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. He suffered a cardiac arrest in 1995 and was forced to undergo medical care for many years. Nguza returned to Zaire (by then renamed the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

) to die, where he did so at a private clinic in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

References

Sources

Books

* Elliot, Jeffrey M., and

Mervyn M. Dymally Mervyn Malcolm Dymally (May 12, 1926 – October 7, 2012) was an American politician from California. He served in the California State Assembly (1963–66) and the California State Senate (1967–75) as the 41st Lieutenant Governor of Califor ...

(eds.). ''Voices of Zaire: Rhetoric or Reality.'' Washington Institute Press. * Harden, Blaine. ''Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent.'' Houghton Mifflin Company. * Meredith, Martin. ''The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair, a History of Fifty Years of Independence.'' Public Affairs. * Nguza Karl-i-Bond, Jean. '' Mobutu ou l'Incarnation du Mal Zairois.'' Bellew Publishing Co Ltd. * Wrong, Michela. ''In The Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo.'' Perennial. * Young, Crawford, and Thomas Turner. ''The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State.'' University of Wisconsin Press.

External links