KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Young people stand beneath large photographs of Mobutu Sese Seko at the national museum in Kinshasa, drawn to images of a ruler who once made Zaire visible on the world stage.
Mobutu, a charismatic and notoriously corrupt dictator, seized power in a 1965 coup and held the country with an iron grip for more than three decades. At his height he mingled with royalty and world leaders and presided over landmark moments such as the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.
Today, amid persistent political instability and long-running armed conflicts, a surprising nostalgia for the relative order of Mobutu’s years has taken hold. An exhibit dedicated to his life, organized by his son Nzanga Mobutu, recently opened in Kinshasa and has drawn crowds from pop stars to politicians.
“To be sure, his reign wasn’t appreciated by everyone,” said Marie-Ange Makeya, an 18-year-old architecture and urbanism student visiting the show. “But at least the country was respected, and there was no war,” she added — a sentiment echoed by many visitors despite Mobutu’s reputation as an archetypal Cold War authoritarian.
Mobutu fashioned a one-party state and a personality cult: state television often opened with his image in the clouds, and he launched campaigns to reshape national identity, banning Western-style suits and names. Backed by Western powers for his anti-communist stance, he promoted Zaire as a stable partner while enriching himself — building an ornate jungle palace, flying luxury goods on Concorde jets, and cultivating an opulent public image.
Yet that era’s relative stability contrasts sharply with the violence that followed his fall. In the mid-1990s, after the Cold War ended, a rebellion that began in the east spread across the country. Mobutu fled Kinshasa in 1997 and died months later in exile in Morocco. From 1997, Congo was engulfed in successive regional wars that some estimates say cost 3–5 million lives. Conflict has continued in the east, flaring again in recent years: Rwanda-backed M23 rebels captured two major eastern cities in early 2025 and now control territories in the mineral-rich region.
Congo remains among the world’s poorest countries. According to the World Bank, over 70 percent of the roughly 120 million people live on under $2.15 a day.
At the Kinshasa exhibit, photographs show Mobutu in his trademark black glasses, leopard-skin hat and ebony cane, alongside historic figures such as John F. Kennedy, John Paul II and Queen Elizabeth II — an image intended to convey that he made the country matter internationally. Visitors include Congolese pop stars, politicians across the spectrum and even Mike Tyson, who came to Kinshasa to mark the Rumble anniversary.
Juvenal Munubo, a politician from eastern Congo invited to the exhibit, acknowledged Mobutu’s controversy but said people remember the national unity and stability of his rule. “We recognize that the DRC was much more stable than it is now,” he said.
Nzanga Mobutu said the exhibit aims primarily to inform young Congolese about that era. “Whether he was a dictator or not a dictator, I mean: What do you want? Should we let our country be attacked and our women raped?” he told reporters, arguing that Mobutu brought discipline and the capacity to respond to external threats.
The show’s popularity has also had symbolic resonance: President Félix Tshisekedi visited the exhibition. His appearance was notable because his father, Etienne Tshisekedi, was once one of Mobutu’s fiercest opponents, and Félix spent part of his youth in exile.
Some observers worry that elements of “Mobutu-ism” are reappearing in contemporary politics. In September, some Congolese politicians swore oaths of fealty to President Tshisekedi — a ritual reminiscent of Mobutu’s era. For those yearning for order, the memory of the so-called Leopard of Zaire still prowls the corridors of power.