Dying Days In The Dinosaurs' Watering Hole

Maybe it is just the twisted vision of the travelling journalist, but African capitals seem to specialise in symbolic hotels which, for months or years, act as microcosms of their countries' tumultuous histories. They are buildings where atrocities are committed, coup d'etats consecrated, embryonic rebel governments lodged - and when the troubled days are over, they still somehow offer croissants, coffee and CNN in most rooms.

In Burundi, it is the Novotel, where the drowning-deep swimming pool is a reminder that long-limbed Tutsis run the country. In Rwanda, it is the Milles Collines, where the management fought to stop its guests being taken out and slaughtered by Hutu militiamen during the genocide. In Zaire, whatever the attractions of the more conveniently located Memling, the honour undoubtedly falls to the Hotel Intercontinental.

 

As much a symbol of President Mobutu's regime as his leopard-skin hat, it is a distorted mirror of the capital as it awaits the rebels' arrival and the end of an era. It was Kinshasa's first five-star hotel, set up with a 50 per cent stake by the Zairean government, which recognised a cash cow when it saw one. Before the economic crisis really began to bite, it was a favourite watering hole for the dinosaurs''