Documentation for Special Presidential Division
June 11, 1990
Africa News
The stories say commandos from the Special Presidential Division -- an elite unit recruited from Mobutu's home region and trained by Israeli advisors -- were dispatched from Kinshasa to the Lubumbashi campus, bearing lists of suspected anti-government activists. On the night of May 11, the accounts say, the troops sealed off the university, cut electric lines, assaulted students with knives and bayonets, and set fire to dormitory rooms. A statement issued May 30 by nine Zairean opposition parties and organizations charged that at least 63 people died during the police action. The raid was believed to be a reprisal for student attacks on suspected campus police agents.
Aug. 1, 1990
IPS-Inter Press Service
On May 9, continued Professor...a group working for the "special presidential division" posing as students was uncoveredby students.
The group was brought in front of a "student tribunal" which found lists in the groups bedrooms of some 23 "subversive" students who were to be eliminated...
"The bulk of the victims of the massacre on May 11 were those whose names appeared on the list," ...an indication for him that the massacre was premeditated.
On the day of the massacre, the professor claims that the university campus was blockaded by the army and civil guards...electricity was cut and President Mobutu's special army who had arrived on board the evening's flight, aided by those students who had disguised their real identity within the campus, carried out the massacre of "subversive" students
Dec. 13, 1990
Christian Science Monitor
But how willing is Mobutu to relinquish power? His rural base is strong. He has a formidable private militia of 15,000 trained in Israel and run by Mobutu's nephew.
Feb. 1, 1991
U.S. Dept. of State Dispatch
the Special Presidential Division (DSP), have at times been used to check internal dissent and have been responsible for arbitrary harassment, physical mistreatment, and unauthorized detention of ordinary citizens as well as opposition activists.
Oct. 2, 1991
Agence France Presse
the elite special presidential division, Mobutu's well-trained and powerfully armed personal bodyguard
Oct. 3, 1991
Agence France Presse -- English
The elite special presidential division (DSP) frequently attempts to stop journalists taking pictures in the capital. One man with a back wound seen by an AFP reporter Thursday said he had been stabbed by a soldier with a bayonet at an opposition meeting
Oct. 30, 1991
The Guardian
Next in size is the 12,000-strong Civil Guard, headed by General Baramoto, brother-in-law to Mr Mobutu. But it is the Special Presidential Division (DSP), with 6,500 under arms, which represents the strong arm of Mr Mobutu's rule.
Both the Civil Guard and the DSP are answerable to the president, while the FAZ is controlled by the ministry of defence.
Senior army officers are largely from Mr Mobutu's Equateur region and have been trained by France, Belgium, China, and Egypt. South Africa now has a military training role, while Israel is responsible for training the DSP.
Feb. 1, 1992
Human Rights Report
[Membership:]
The President has been careful to divide political offices among ethnic groups, but members of his own Ngbandi tribe are disproportionately represented at the highest levels of the security and intelligence services. In addition, the Special Presidential Division, the best equipped and trained element of the armed services, is overwhelmingly dominated by members of the President's ethnic group.
Feb. 4, 1993
NPR
As many as 1,000 people reportedly died in week-long bloodshed in Zaire's capital of Kinshasa this week where mutinous troops have apparently gained the upper hand. They've been battling Mobutu's special presidential division, known in Zaire as the D.S.P. Recruited from Mobutu's own ethnic group and paid directly by him, the D.S.P. has kept Mobutu in power. But this week, the presidential guard has been unable to contain regular troops who rioted this week after paid with worthless money printed by Mobutu.. apparent D.S.P. setbacks threaten Mobutu's survival.
.... The army itself has very little power except for the D.S.P. The D.S.P. has been the most effective group of forces. It's been the supporter of Mobutu's power, and if the D.S.P. is fading then Mobutu is fading.
Feb. 4, 1993
The Financial Post
Mobutu stays at his palace in Gbadolite, near his birthplace in northern Zaire, surrounded by advisers and guarded by men of his 10,000-strong Special Presidential Division.
His political survival depends as never before on the Israeli-trained DSP, some 80% of whose commanders and soldiers are from tribes in his Equateur province, according to Zairean security sources.
So far the DSP have not let him down. Last week they crushed a wild uprising by regular troops in Kinshasa who mutinied over their miserable pay in the astronomical banknotes.
Scores, perhaps hundreds, of the mutineers were mown down by the well-trained and well-armed DSP, but fighting erupted again on Tuesday night.
Feb. 12, 1993
The Washington Post
Mobutu's well-armed Special Presidential Division uses tanks and trucks to haul away the contents of the wealthier homes belonging to foreigners or members of the opposition. Then, during the night...go on a killing orgy against the rest of the army and their families. Thus does Mobutu "restore order," leaving hundreds of dead and wounded in a city where there is no medical care and now no food.
In response to the killing of the French ambassador and the continued threat of murder and mayhem, French and Belgian troops were once more briefly dispatched to protect their citizens in Kinshasa. Prime Minister Tshisekedi has called for the intervention of foreign troops. The High Council of the Republic, the democratic transitional parliament headed by Archbishop Monsengwo, has been forbidden by Mobutu to meet. .
How does Mobutu stay in power?
(1) He uses his Special Presidential Division to enforce his will against the rest of the army and the population
March 12, 1993
NPR
Mobutu lifted the ban on opposition political parties in 1990 and agreed to a democratic transition, but he bought off several parties and tried to block a special national, constitutional convention which detailed the abuses of his regime. When the assembly tried to strip away his powers, Mobutu brought out his Israeli-trained, special presidential division, his own personal army, triggering the current political stalemate.
May 6, 1993
Christian Science Monitor
But Mobutu, the country's dictatorial head of state for the past 28 years, continues to rule by retaining the loyalty of the the 20,000-strong Special Presidential Division (DSP) and practicing his brand of political patronage, brutal repression, and a policy of divide-and-rule along ethnic lines.
Feb. 1, 1994
Associated Press Worldstream
President Mobutu Sese Seko, ... has built, the Special Presidential Division headed by his brother-in-law was implicated in many human rights abuses.
It charged Mobutu's government with using a variety of brutal techniques including murder and unlawful detention against opposition politicians, labor officials, journalists and human rights monitors.
June 28, 1994
The Washington Post
According to Amnesty International and other rights groups, security forces have eradicated many of Mobutu's political opponents. Military intelligence forces and local militias killed between 12 and 350 students at the University of Lubumbashi in 1990, the United Nations and several rights groups reported, and 30 to 60 people were killed by Mobutu's Presidential Guard during a church-organized "march for hope" in Kinshasa, the capital, in 1992, Africa Watch alleged.
Jan. 26, 1997
The Virginian-Pilot
[1ST MENTION]
February 1978: At least 800 members of the Kasongo religious community massacred by Mobutu's elite personal guard. Recent reports put the toll as high as 2,000.
Feb. 1, 1997
Department of State Human Rights Country Reports
President Mobutu's authority rests on his control of key security forces, which
include the Civil Guard, a police force with paramilitary and antiterrorist
capabilities, and the 7,000-member Special Presidential Division (DSP). Both
remain under the command of Mobutu loyalist generals. There exist, in addition
, the regular armed forces and a gendarmerie.
March 21, 1997
The Washington Post
Gen. Etienne N'zimbi, a Mobutu relative who commands the Special Presidential Division, a presidential guard also recruited from Equateur that answers directly to Mobutu.
March 24, 1997
Africa News
AFP reports the soldiers of the Special Presidential Division fought with retreating Zairean soldiers
April 8, 1997
Federal News Service
Mobutu's two infamous private militias, the DSP (the Special Presidential Division) and the Civil Guard, will have to be disbanded. A police force must be created and a plan to restructure the army must be adopted. The nearly non-existent Zairian army is a very burdensome legacy from Belgian colonization.
April 27, 1997
The Washington Post
The Special Presidential Division (DSP), which is recruited largely from Mobutu's northern home region of Equateur and is the most loyal and best-equipped branch of the military, is said to have 5,000 troops in Kinshasa and could make a last stand to save the Mobutu government.
