Authenticité (Zaire) renaming of the nation from the Republic of the Congo to Zaire, a Portuguese mispronunciation of the Kikongo word "nzere" or "nzadi", which translates as "the river that swallows all rivers." It is generally unknown why the head of state chose a Portuguese colonial name instead of an authentic Congolese name. A biography about the President by "Le Monde" journalist Jean-Pierre Langellier, however, traces the naming of the currency "zaire" back to a dinner Mobutu had with his economic adviser Jacques de Groote and Belgian anthropoligst Jan Vansina, where the latter came up with the term as it believably designates,
Zaire two governments into the High Council of Republic–Parliament of Transition (HCR–PT) in 1994, with Mobutu as head of state and Kengo wa Dondo as prime minister. Although presidential and legislative elections were scheduled repeatedly over the next 2 years, they never took place. By 1996, tensions from the neighbouring Rwandan Civil War and genocide had spilled over to Zaire (see History of Rwanda). Rwandan Hutu militia forces (Interahamwe), who had fled Rwanda following the ascension of an RPF-led government, had been using Hutu refugee camps in eastern Zaire as bases for incursion against Rwanda. These Hutu militia forces soon allied