The Special Presidential Division (DSP; French Division Spéciale Présidentielle) was an elite praetorian guard unit created by Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko in 1985"Report on the situation of human rights in Zaire, prepared by the Special Rapporteur, Mr. Roberto Garretón, in accordance with Commission resolution 1994/87", United Nations Economic and Social Council and charged with his personal security.
History It was initially called the Special Presidential Brigade (French: Brigade spéciale présidentielle) before being enlarged into a division in 1986, and was one of several competing forces directly linked to the president, along with the Civil Guard and ."The Stalled Transition", Human Rights Watch, 1997 Trained by Israeli advisors, the DSP was among the few units paid adequately and regularly.Zaire: A Country Study, "Army"
It was commanded by Mobutu's cousin, General Etienne Nzimbi Ngbale Kongo wa Basa.Martin Meredith (2005) The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair, a History of Fifty Years of Independence, New York: Public Affairs, p. 535 The soldiers were recruited only from Mobutu's own tribe. The force was used to deal with internal opponents or suspected opponents. People were taken away, tortured, imprisoned without trial, exiled to another part of the country, or simply disappeared.
After the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) invaded northern Rwanda which lead to the Rwandan Civil War, Mobutu sent several hundred DSP troops to assist the government of Juvénal Habyarimana.Linda Melvern, Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwandan Genocide, Verso: New York, 2004, , p. 14Zaire: A Country Study, "Zaire as a Military Aid Donor" In 1993, the DSP was sent to quell unrest in Masisi, North Kivu but inflamed the situation after it sided with the Hutu residents against the indigenous Bahunde.Mahmood Mamdani (2001) When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, pp. 252-253 It also shipped cobalt from Shaba Province to Zambia. (Reno 1997, 48) A 1996 United Nations report noted that Prime Minister Étienne Tshisekedi and his staff were subject to routine surveillance and harassment by DSP soldiers."Communication No 542/1993 : Democratic Republic of the Congo. 16/04/96.", Human Rights Committee on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 April 1996
Notes and references
Further reading Gérard Prunier, From Genocide to Continental War: The "Congolese" Conflict and the Crisis of Contemporary Africa, C. Hurst & Co, 2009,