In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo

Format:	Paperback 336 pages

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Synopsis

A story of grim comedy amid the apocalypse and a celebration of the sheer indestructibility of the human spirit in a nation run riot: Michela Wrong's vision of Congo/Zaire during the Mobutu years is incisive, ironic and revelatory. Mr Kurtz, the colonial white master, brought evil to the remote upper reaches of the Congo River. A century after Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' was first published, Michela Wrong revisits the Congo during the turbulent era of Mobutu Sese Seko. From the heart of Africa comes grotesque confusion: pink-lipsticked rebel soldiers mingle with track-suited secret policemen in hotels where fin de siecle dinner parties are ploughing through vintage wines rather than leave them to the new regime. Congo, the African country richest in natural resources, has institutionalised kleptomania. Everyone is on the take. Someone has even swiped one of the uranium rods from the country's only nuclear reactor. Having presided over unprecedented looting of the country's wealth, Mobutu, like Kurtz, retreated deep within the jungle to his palace of marble floors and gold taps. A hundred years on and nothing has changed.

Book details

Published
09/12/2000

Publisher
Fourth Estate Ltd

ISBN
9781841154220

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Jacket review

'A stylish account of the absurd as well as the tragic.' Sunday Times 'This book will become a classic.' Economist

UK Kirkus review

In the early 1970s, the Congo shone like a beacon of black pride at the very heart of Africa. Its leader, Mobutu Sese Seko began reshaping the country in the image of his forefathers (beginning with its name). After years of brutal colonialism and coups, Mobutu brought a semblance of stability to the country. The west, who knew a friendly tyrant when they saw one, backed him to the hilt, and to handed out cash. The story of Mobutu is not merely one of despotism, but of the wilful ignorance of Western powers and international moneylenders. It is they, says the author, who are ultimately responsible for leaving an entire country - one of Africa's largest and richest - drained of its wealth, and owing billions. The 'Heart of Darkness' comparisons Wrong is so keen to foster seem a bit laboured. In fact the book perpetuates as many myths as it dispels. A better comparison - one that Wrong herself makes in the closing pages - is with 'Animal Farm.' Mobutu has gone, she says, but Mobutism lives on, in the form of Laurent Kabila -'the creatures outside looked from pig to man and from man to pig...but already it was impossible to say which was which.' (Kirkus UK)