Monument to President Laurent Kabila

Monument to President Laurent Kabila
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

It takes some serious dictatorial chutzpah to upstage Mobutu Sese-Seko, Africa’s most famous Big Man. But after Mobutu’s overthrow in 1996, Laurent Kabila managed not only to whittle the DRC’s diamond-rich economy away to nothing, but also oversaw the bloodiest conflict since World War II -- the DRC civil war -- in which almost 4 million people died. After Kabila’s assassination in 2001, his son, Joseph, took the reins and has maintained this affectionate monument to dear old dad.