Gbadolite
| Gbadolite | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Coordinates | 4 ° 17 ′ N , 21 ° 0 ′ E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Democratic Republic of Congo | ||
| North Ubangi | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | CD-NU | ||
| Residents | 50,489 (2005) | ||
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Gbadolite ( G'badolite ) is a city in the north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has 50,489 inhabitants (as of 2005). It is the capital of North Ubangi Province .
Gbadolite is surrounded by rainforest and can practically only be reached by plane. There are no paved roads to other major cities.
geography
Gbadolite is located on the Ubangi River , which forms the border between the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
history
Gbadolite was the hometown of the former president of Zaïre, Mobutu Sese Seko . During his tenure, Mobutu developed Gbadolite into a residential city, starting in the 1970s. Not only were palaces built for himself and his family, he also turned Gbadolite into a second capital next to Kinshasa , where buildings were built for all ministries - just on a smaller scale. So Mobutu was able to rule from Gbadolite in an emergency.
Mobutu built three palaces in Gbadolite. These gave the city the nickname "Versailles of the jungle":
- the largest palace has 3 floors, decorated with fine marble and jade and was used for public occasions
- Mobutu's private residence, built in the Gaudí style
- a palace in the style of Chinese pagodas , built by the Chinese
The palace complexes were splendidly furnished. Among other things, they housed a palace church with a church organ from the Oberlinger brothers , a small amphitheater , two swimming pools with a view of the Ubangi River and spacious gardens with fountains.
Among the, for a city of Congolese standards, extraordinary facilities also include:
- An airport with a small terminal (which has a gold-plated dome ) whose runway the Concorde could use (Mobutu chartered these occasionally)
- Two power plants ; one is a hydropower plant that is powered by the hydropower of the Ubangi
- A hospital with German doctors
- A four-lane boulevard including street lighting that connects the city with the palaces
- a motel
- a farm run by the Swiss , on which livestock was raised with European cattle.
After Mobutu was expelled in 1997 , Gbadolite was captured by rebels. The city was completely looted. Today all palaces are overgrown and abandoned. In the Second Congo War , Gbadolite was the seat of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo , whose leader is the businessman Jean-Pierre Bemba .