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SV Mobutu arrives and greeted by General Bumba, walks up to dais (3 shots)
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SCU soldier salutes
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SV Mobutu inspects Guard of Honour then sits down (3 shots)
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SV children and crowd cheering
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SV General Bumba speaks to troops (3 shots)
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SV Mobutu speaks to General Bumba
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SV PAN armoured cars pass by in parade (2 shots)
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SV Mobutu looking at parade
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SV troops march past (2 shots)
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Initials DS/1601



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire and other senior Government officials and military commanders watched a big military parade at Kokolo Camp, near Kinshasa, last Monday (18 November). The parade was held to mark the fourteenth anniversary of the founding of Zaire's armed forces.

President Mobutu reviewed the parade with Lieutenant General Bumba Moaso Djogi, a senior officer of the Zaire Armed Froces who made a speech to commemorate Armed Froces Day. In his speech, General Bumba listed the achievements made by Zaire under President Mobutu's leadership. He pointed out that Zaire's armed forces were among the most powerful in Africa.

SYNOPSIS: In Zaire, a big miliary parade was held at Kokolo Camp near Kinshasa on Monday to mark the fourteenth anniversary of the founding of Zaire's Armed Forces. The parade was reviewed by fort-three-year-old President Mobutu Sese Seko.

President Mobutu is one of the leading statesmen of African and the Third World and is playing an increasingly active role in African affairs with Zaire bordering on nine other states. Last August, President Mobutu decreed that the official ideology of Zaire should be "Mobutuism".

A speech to mark Armed Forces Day was made by Lieutenant General Bumba Moaso Djagi. The General thanked President Mobutu for coming to review the parade and listed the achievements made by the armed forces under the President's guidance. he pointed out that Zaire's armed forces were a guarantee of the nation's sovereignty, and among the most powerful in Africa. Since his bloodless coup in 1965, President Mobutu has used his troops to unify and establish order in Zaire.

From its independence in 1960 until President Mobut took over, Zaire was the scene of secessionist movements and Civil Wasr. Its armed forces then were weak and suffered at the hands of foreign mercenaries. Today, Zaire has one of the most powerful armed forces in Africa equipped with the most modern equipment.

Zaire's new-found unity and the strenght of its armed forces have enabled President Mobutu to make his presence felt on the international scene. President Mobutu is deeply inbvolved in the decolonisation of Angola and bitterly opposes the Rhodesian regime and the South African Government's policies of apartheid. Zaire's wealth and the strenght of its armed forces will play a major role in Africa's future.