KINSHASA, 8 November 2003 — “The Leopard” pads the streets of Congo’s capital again.

A few years ago in Kinshasa, wearing a shirt showing former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in his trademark leopard skin hat and thick-framed spectacles might have provoked insults at best and at worst a lynching.

These days the shirts are worn freely by some of Mobutu’s former cronies as they return to the Democratic Republic of Congo, hoping to gain a foothold in the revived political scene after a peace deal to end one of Africa’s most ruinous wars.

“We had to flee on tiptoe but now we have come back through the main entrance,” beamed Banza Mukalayi, a former top Mobutu aide and minister, who escaped in a boat when the dictator was ousted in 1997.

Banza ended up joining the rebel camp, but has now returned as vice minister for infrastructure in a coalition government.

“It was good to see everybody back,” he said in Kinshasa.

The Mobutu followers who fled across the Congo River and into exile as their leader’s reign ended were some of the richest refugees ever seen in Africa.

They crammed chandeliers and huge television sets into canoes, determined to save some spoils.

Mobutu himself amassed a fortune by siphoning the wealth of the vast country he renamed Zaire through personal accounts to maintain a lavish lifestyle, pay off rivals and destroy enemies.

His 32-year rule in the resource-rich former Belgian colony became synonymous with corruption, mismanagement and brutality.

And for some people, the Mobutists will forever be associated with this kind of behavior.

“Most of the former Mobutists are coming back because they are broke. They have missed money and power and privilege,” said one senior Congolese banker.

Mobutu died in exile in Morocco just months after being forced to flee by rebels led by Laurent Kabila, who ruled until he was murdered in 2001.

The return of the Mobutists now has been encouraged by President Joseph Kabila, who took over after his father’s death and has negotiated a peace deal with rebels who started a new multi-fronted war in 1998.

Under the peace deal, all sides to that conflict have been given seats in a transition government designed to shepherd Congo to elections over the next two years.

Francois Lumumba, son of independence leader Patrice Lumumba, says the return of the Mobutists is part of the new reality.

“The proportion of Mobutists around has certainly increased. We will see what happens, it will depend on how they respect the new government,” he said.

Among those back on the scene with political ambitions is Mobutu’s 33-year-old son Nzanga.

“I was very happy with the welcome I received from the president and the people,” Nzanga said in his luxurious hotel suite, dressed in a shirt decorated with his father’s face.

He knows his name is not enough to guarantee automatic political success but in any case, he wants to represent the future rather than the past.

“I think it is time for a new generation of politicians in this country. The political culture has to change,” he said.

Although Nzanga Mobutu is a natural candidate to head a dynastic revival, many analysts believe that the old Mobutists are too divided and opportunistic to pose a real threat.

“The Mobutists were not politicians with scruples. They simply had the brains and position to ingratiate themselves with the system they found themselves in,” said one Western diplomat.

“The Mobutists are returning home to take advantage of a new political scene in a way similar to how the Soviets readapted when their empire collapsed,” the diplomat added.

It’s not just the politicians who are coming back.

Kinshasa’s decaying Grand Hotel, built by Mobutu and synonymous with the decadence of the era, has seen an influx of businessmen and deal makers from the old days.

“Those Mobutists who are still moneyed are eyeing the possibility of elections in two years’ time as a way of buying their way in again,” said the senior banker.

If proof was needed that times have changed, it can be found at Kinshasa’s docks, where the former dictator’s luxury yacht lies among rusting barges.

Mobutu’s lavish part-time residence is now a headquarters for Kabila’s presidential guard, who lounge in their black fatigues among potted plants on the scrubbed decks.

“This boat now belongs to President Kabila. Mobutu has no claim to this,” barked a young soldier.

“Mobutu is long gone.”