ABSTRACT
Villa del Mar was one of twenty villas, mansions, and ranches amassed by Mobutu Sese Seko in Belgium, Cote d’Ivoire, Switzerland, Morocco, and elsewhere, whose combined value by the time of his downfall amounted to around $37 million In addition to the numerous homes, Mobutu owned a hotel and a coffee plantation in Brazil. The momentum for US action accelerated, as if Mobutu’s CIA-backed coup, which overthrew Lumumba on 15 September 1960, was the key to a political solution to the country’s domestic crisis. For Zaire and Mobutu, Angola was a chance to leap onto the world stage as a major Cold War player, in a game offering the potential of establishing a regional political dispensation that would hold the key to southern and central African development. In June 1967, the International Monetary Fund granted Zaire a one-year standby credit of $27 million Such was the health of the world copper market, the country did not use the money.
