Gbadolite

Coordinates: 4°17′N 21°01′E / 4.283°N 21.017°E / 4.283; 21.017
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Gbadolite
Provincial capital and
UTC+1 (WAT)
ClimateAm

Gbadolite or Gbado-Lite (pronounced

Nord-Ubangi Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town is located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) south of the Ubangi River at the border to the Central African Republic and 1,150 kilometres (710 mi) northeast of the national capital Kinshasa. Gbadolite was the ancestral home and residence of Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, later self-styled as Mobutu Sese Seko where airport, colleges, malls, supermarkets and libraries were built by the President in a program of modernization. Gbadolite is where Mobutu led the summit that would produce the Gbadolite Declaration
, a short lived ceasefire in the Angolan Civil War, in 1989.

History

Mobutu built Gbadolite into a luxurious town often nicknamed "

Mama Mobutu
.

Two palaces were built outside Gbadolite at

Mobutu
and guests. The three-story palace in Gbadolite was used primarily for public functions.

Mobutu also built a nuclear bunker that could house more than 500 people and was the largest in Africa; this was the only nuclear bunker in Central Africa. The bunker was connected to the Ubangui River by a secret tunnel, giving access to the military harbour at the village of N'dangi.[5]

When

Laurent Kabila successfully led a rebellion and ousted Mobutu in 1997, Gbadolite was raided, and most of what was in the palaces was looted.[6]
The palaces are now being overrun by vegetation.

In 1998, the

Mouvement de Libération du Congo) rebel group, led by Jean-Pierre Bemba
, captured Gbadolite from Kabila's government and it became the MLC's headquarters.

Gallery

  • Site of the former Mobutu palace (ransacked)
    Site of the former Mobutu palace (ransacked)
  • Soldiers belonging to opposition forces in Gbadolite
    Soldiers belonging to opposition forces in Gbadolite

See also

References

  1. ^
    MONUC. 2006-05-29. Archived from the original
    on 2006-07-25. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
  2. ^ Kapalata, André-Teddy (1 April 2023). "L'invité". Journal Francais (Interview) (in French) (7 and 8 am ed.). Gbadolite: Radio Okapi. 14:09 minutes in. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Ville de Gbadolite". CAID. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  4. ^ "Legacy of corrupt and ruthless dictator who built Versailles in the jungle". The Independent. London. May 5, 1997. Retrieved December 17, 2010.
  5. ^ L'Express, 22 December 2008, page 13
  6. ISBN 1-84115-421-0
    .

Bibliography

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Gbadolite.

4°17′N 21°01′E / 4.283°N 21.017°E / 4.283; 21.017

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gbadolite&oldid=1199688322"