1975 GOLD ZAIRE 100 ZAIRES NGC MINT STATE 66 ONLY 1415 MINTED "CONSERVATION SERIES - THE LEOPARD"

REPUBLIC OF ZAIRE (1971-1997)

PRESIDENCY OF JOSEPH-DÉSIRÉ MOBUTU (1965-1997)

CONSERVATION SERIES - THE LEOPARD

CERTIFIED BY NGC MINT STATE 66

OBV: 3/4 FACING PORTRAIT LEFT OF PRESIDENT MOBUTU.

REV: A LEOPARD WALKING RIGHT; DENOMINATION BENEATH.

KM # 11

  AS PART OF JOSEPH-DÉSIRÉ MOBUTU (b. 1930, d. 1997) DE-COLONIALISATION PROGRAM HE RENAMED THE COUNTRY ZAÏRE, AND HIMSELF MOBUTU SESE SEKO KUKU NGBENDU WA ZA BANGA (MOBUTU SESO SEKO). AS HIS REGIME WAS WEAKENED BY DOMESTIC PROTESTS, INTERNATIONAL CRITISICM OVER HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND REGIONAL REBELLIONS, MOBUTU AGREED TO A MULTI-POLITICAL PARTY SYSTEM, ELECTIONS AND A CONSTITUTION IN 1990. IN 1991, FAILURE TO MAKE GOOD ON THE PROMISES, ECONOMIC DETERIORATION AND FAILURE TO PAY HIS SOLDIERS, LED TO AN ARMY REVOLT AND LOOTING BY THE MILITARY. FRENCH AND BELGIAN TROOPS WERE FLOWN IN BY THE U.S. AIR FORCE TO EVACUATE SOME 20,000 FOREIGN NATIONALS. A SOVEREIGN NATIONAL CONFERENCE WAS FINALLY STAGED IN 1992, MADE UP OF 2,000 DELEGATES FROM MANY POLITICAL PARTIES,  BUT THEIR REFORMS CAME TO NAUGHT WHEN MOBUTU CREATED A SEPARATE RIVAL GOVERNMENT AND PRIME MINISTER, WITH HIM AS HEAD OF STATE. BY 1996, THE RWANDAN CIVIL WAR HAD SPILLED OVER THE BORDER INTO ZAIRE TO STRIKE AT HUTU REFUGEE CAMPS. THE GENOCIDE SPONSORED BY RWANDA AGAINST THE HUTU WAS COUNTERED BY A HUTU ALLIANCE WITH THE ZAIRIAN ARMED FORCES. MASSACRES OF THE ETHNIC TUTSIS IN EASTERN ZAIRE ESCALATED IN 1996, UNTIL THE TUTSI REBELLED AGAINST MOBUTU IN WHAT BECAME THE FIRST CONGO WAR. THE TUTSI MILITIA, JOINED BY OPPOSITION GROUPS FROM SEVERAL NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES, FORMED A COALITION TO OUST MOBUTU. MOBUTU FLED THE COUNTRY IN 1997. HE DIED THREE MONTHS LATER IN MORROCO OF PROSTATE CANCER. THE NAME ZAÏRE WAS CHANGED BACK TO DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO BY LAURENT-DÉSIRÉ LABILA WHO SEIZED POWER AND WENT ON TO BECOME "ANOTHER MOBUTU", UNTIL HIS ASSASSINATION BY A BODYGUARD IN 2001.

THE LEOPARD (PANTHERA PARDUS), ON THE REVERSE OF THIS CONSERVATION SERIES COIN, IS THE SMALLEST OF THE "BIG CATS", AND IS MORE OFTEN FOUND IN TREES, AN UNEQUALLED CLIMBER COMPARED TO OTHER LARGE FELINES. LEOPARDS OFTEN DRAG THE CARCASSES OF THEIR PREY UP INTO THE BRANCHES WITH THEM.

 HUNTING AND LOSS OF HABITAT HAVE PLACED THE LEOPARD ON THE INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION'S RED LIST AS "NEAR THREATENED". ITS HABITAT RANGE IS LIMITED TO SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, WITH POPULATION FRAGMENTS SPORADIC THROUGHOUT THE SUBCONTINENT OF INDIA, SRI LANKA, INDOCHINA, MALAYSIA, INDONESIA AND CHINA.

 THE FUR OF THE LEOPARD IS MOST EASILY RECOGNIZABLE BY THE DENSLEY PATTERNED SMALL ROSETTE-SHAPED MARKINGS OR "SPOTS" COVERING THE COAT, ALTHOUGH GREAT COLOR AND MARKING VARIATIONS EXIST. STEALTHY AND ADAPTABLE, IT IS AN OPPORTUNISTIC HUNTER WITH LARGE SKULLS AND POWERFUL JAW MUSCLES THAT ENABLE IT TO TAKE DOWN AND MOVE HEAVY PREY.

CONTAINS 33.437 GRAMS OF 900 FINE GOLD

0.9675 OZ AGW

34 MM IN DIAMETER

ONLY 1,415 MINTED