They endured 31 years of a stupid, vicious
dictatorship while cooking up the best music
and tastiest caterpillars on the continent.
Now, the people of Zaire are about to get
their own names back.

BY PETER ROSENBLUM | There is one sure thing about the war that is currently raging in the middle of Africa: We are all going to need new world maps pretty soon, because there isn't going to be a country called Zaire for long. Twenty-five years ago, a dictator named Mobutu Sese Seko made up the name, made up his own name and made everyone make up new names. Now people want their old names back.

It makes you wonder whether map makers are involved in fomenting revolution. It took 30 years for the people of Zaire to rise up. They lived through the most venal dictatorship. They invented a word to describe Mobutu's government: "kleptocracy," a government of thieves. You could feel sorry for the Zairians, blame them or blame the others who supported the dictatorship. But you also had to admire their skill in coping, their legendary débrouillardaise -- literally, their ability to make it through the fog. Not only did they survive 31 years of dictatorship, they produced the continent's finest music, the tastiest caterpillars and a crop of youth absurdly committed to building a new, rational society.

This is what I thought about the day journalists started calling to ask me about President Mobutu and the country still known as Zaire. After years of traveling back and forth to the country, I have become an "expert" on human rights and politics in Zaire, one of the cursed talking heads on TV who deprives you of local sports results in order to give you news of faraway disaster. "Try the caterpillars," I wanted to tell the journalists, "they are delicious." Not that they are the best example of Zairian genius, but to get to the caterpillars you have to get to the Zairians first. The press had other things in mind. NBC wanted to know about Mobutu's sex habits, an interesting subject I didn't know enough about. But I responded earnestly to their questions: I kept telling the tale of horrors that is entirely true. The news even ran a segment where I used the word "seduce" (although in reference to politicians, not women). But none of the joy of Zaire was there.