Zaire’s president used 'witches and sorcerers' to cure illness '

The French newspaper "Jeune Afrique” revealed on Tuesday that Zaire’s late President Mobutu Sese Seko believed in witches and sorcerers and used them more frequently than any other African leader. When he was diagnosed with a  fatal disease in the mid-nineties he sought the help of Mauritanian and Senegalese witch doctors to heal him and to assist in the elimination of the armed opposition, according to the French daily. The revelations came after a lengthy investigation published in the newspaper about the existence of sorcery in the political class in the African continent. The report stressed that African political leaders and heads of state were getting help from witches in order to stay in power, to liquidate their competitors, or to cover up violations and corrupt files.