Mobutu Sese Seko (born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997), often shortened to Mobutu was a ruler and dictator of Zaire from 1971 until his overthrow on 17 May 1997 which forced him to leave Kinshasa for Morocco in exile, while the rebel leader Laurent Kabila and his guerilla fighters known as Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo (AFDL) when he described Mobutu as King Mobutu and Africa's Evil King, but ruled as President of Zaire along with his ruling party as the MPR. His villainous actions in Africa was known for widespread corruption, nepotism, totalitarianism, kleptocracy, outlawed ethnic associations, repressing and detaining dissidents as well as poverty, hardship and human rights abuses when he orders one of his secret police to hunt down political enemies.