The
Democratic Republic of the Congo ( ), known until
1997 as Zaire
, is
a country located in Central Africa,
with a small length of Atlantic coastline. It is the third
largest
country
in Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is, with a UN
estimated population of 66,020,000, the nineteenth most populous
nation in the world, and the fourth most populous nation in Africa,
as well as the most populous
country
where French is an official language.
In order
to distinguish it from the neighbouring Republic of the
Congo
, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is often
referred to as DR Congo, DROC,
DRC, or RDC, or is called
Congo-Kinshasa after the capital Kinshasa
(in contrast
to Congo-Brazzaville
for its neighbour).
The
Democratic Republic of the Congo was formerly, in turn, the
Congo Free
State
, Belgian Congo,
Congo-Léopoldville
, Congo-Kinshasa, and Zaire
(or
Zaïre in French). Though it is located in the
Central African UN subregion, the nation is
economically and regionally affiliated with
Southern Africa as a member of the
Southern African
Development Community (SADC).
The
Democratic Republic of the Congo borders the Central African
Republic
and Sudan
on the
North; Uganda, Rwanda
, and
Burundi
on the East;
Zambia
and Angola
on the
South; the Republic of
the Congo
on the West; and is separated from Tanzania by Lake Tanganyika
on the East. The country enjoys access to the ocean
through a stretch of Atlantic
coastline at Muanda
and the
roughly nine-kilometre wide mouth of the Congo river
which opens into the Gulf of Guinea
.
The
Second Congo War, beginning in
1998, devastated the country, involved seven foreign armies and is
sometimes referred to as the "African World War". Despite the
signing of peace accords in 2003, fighting continues in the east of
the country. In eastern Congo, the prevalence of rape and other
sexual violence is described as the worst in the world. The war is
the world's deadliest conflict since
World
War II, killing 5.4 million people.
History
Congolese Early History
A wave of early peoples is identified in the Northern and
North-Western parts of Central Africa during the second millennium
BP (
Before Present). They produced
food (pearl millet), maintained domestic livestock, and developed a
kind of
arboriculture mainly based on
the
oil palmFrom BP to BP, starting from a
nucleus area in South Cameroon on both banks of the Sanaga River,
the first
Neolithic peopling of northern
and western Central Africa can be followed south-eastwards and
southwards.In D.R. Congo the first villages in the vicinity of
Mbandaka and the Tumba Lake are known as the 'Imbonga Tradition',
from around BP. In Lower Congo, north of the Angolan border, it is
the 'Ngovo Tradition' around BP that shows the arrival of the
Neolithic wave of advance.
In Kivu, across the country to the east, the '
Urewe Tradition' villages first appeared about BP.
The few
archaeological sites known in Congo are a western extension of the
'Urewe' Culture which has been found chiefly in Uganda, Rwanda
, Burundi
, and Western
Kenya
and Tanzania. From
the start of this tradition, the people knew iron smelting, as is
evidenced by several iron-smelting furnaces excavated in Rwanda and
Burundi.
The
earliest evidence further to the west is known in Cameroon, and
near to the small town of Bouar
in Central Africa. Though further studies
are needed to establish a better chronology for the start of iron
production in
Central Africa, the
Cameroonian data places iron smelting north of the
Equatorial Forest around BP to BP. This
technology developed independently from the previous Neolithic
expansion, some 900 years later. As fieldwork done by a German team
shows, the Congo River network was slowly settled by food-producing
villagers going upstream in the forest. Work from a Spanish project
in the Ituri area further east suggests villages reached there only
around BP.
The supposedly Bantu-speaking Neolithic, and then iron-producing,
villagers added to and displaced the indigenous
Pygmy populations (also known in the region as the
"Batwa" or "Twa") into secondary parts of the country.
Subsequent migrations
from the Darfur
and Kordofan regions of Sudan
into the
north-east, as well as East Africans
migrating into the eastern Congo added
to the mix of ethnic groups. The Bantu-speakers imported a
mixed economy made up of agriculture, small-stock raising, fishing,
fruit collecting, hunting and arboriculture before BP; iron-working
techniques, possibly from
West Africa,
are a much later addition. The villagers established the Bantu
language family as the primary set of tongues for the
Congolese.
The Congo Free State (1877–1908)

Force Publique soldiers in the Belgian
Congo in 1918.
European exploration and administration took place from the 1870s
until the 1920s. It was first led by
Sir Henry Morton Stanley, who
undertook his explorations under the sponsorship of
King Leopold II of Belgium.
Leopold had designs on what was to become the Congo as a colony. In
a succession of negotiations, Leopold, professing humanitarian
objectives in his capacity as chairman of the
Association Internationale
Africaine, played one European rival against the
other.
Leopold formally acquired rights to the Congo territory at the
Conference of Berlin in 1885.
He made
the land his private property and named it the Congo Free
State
. Leopold's regime began various
infrastructure projects, such as construction of the railway that
ran from the coast to the capital of Leopoldville (now Kinshasa).
It took years to complete. Nearly all such projects were aimed at
increasing the capital which Leopold and his associates could
extract from the colony, leading to exploitation of Africans.
In the Free State, colonists brutalized the local population to
produce
rubber, for which the spread of autos
and development of rubber tires created a growing international
market.
The sale of rubber made a fortune for
Leopold, who built several buildings in Brussels
and Ostend
to honour
himself and his country. To enforce the rubber quotas, the
army, the
Force Publique
(FP), was called in. The Force Publique made the practice of
cutting off the limbs of the natives as a means of enforcing rubber
quotas a matter of policy; this practice was widespread. During the
period 1885–1908, between 5 and 15 (the commonly accepted figure is
about 10) million Congolese died as a consequence of exploitation
and diseases. A government commission later concluded that the
population of the Congo had been "reduced by half" during this
period. The actions of the Free State's administration sparked
international protests led by
E.
D. Morel and
British diplomat/Irish patriot
Roger
Casement, whose 1904 report on the Congo condemned the
practice. Famous writers such as
Mark
Twain also protested, and
Joseph
Conrad's novella
Heart of
Darkness was set in Congo Free State.
In 1908, the Belgian parliament, despite initial reluctance, bowed
to international pressure (especially that from Great Britain) and
took over the Free State as a Belgian colony from the king. From
then on, it was called the
Belgian
Congo and was under the rule of the elected Belgian
government.
Political crisis (1960–1965)
In May 1960 in a growing nationalist movement, the
Mouvement National
Congolais or MNC Party, led by
Patrice Lumumba, won the parliamentary
elections. The party appointed Lumumba as Prime Minister. The
parliament elected
Joseph Kasavubu,
of the
Alliance des Bakongo (ABAKO) party as President.
Other parties that emerged included the
Parti Solidaire Africain (or
PSA) led by
Antoine Gizenga, and the
Parti National du Peuple (or PNP) led by Albert Delvaux
and
Laurent Mbariko. (Congo 1960,
dossiers du CRISP, Belgium) The Belgian Congo achieved independence
on June 30, 1960 under the name "Republic of Congo" or "Republic of
the Congo" ("République du Congo").
Shortly after independence, the provinces
of Katanga
(led by Moise Tshombe)
and South Kasai engaged in secessionist
struggles against the new leadership. Most of the 100,000
Europeans who had remained behind after independence fled the
country, opening the way for Congolese to replace the European
military and administrative elite.
As the French colony of Middle Congo (Moyen Congo) also chose the
name "Republic of Congo" upon achieving its independence, the two
countries were more commonly known as "Congo-Léopoldville" and
"Congo-Brazzaville", after their capital cities. Another way they
were often distinguished during the 1960s, such as in newspaper
articles, was that "Congo-Léopoldville" was called “The Congo” and
"Congo-Brazzaville" was called simply “Congo”. In 1966, Joseph
Mobutu changed the country's official name to "Democratic Republic
of the Congo". In 1971 it was changed again to "Republic of
Zaïre".
On September 5, 1960, Kasavubu dismissed Lumumba from office.
Lumumba declared Kasavubu's action "unconstitutional" and a crisis
between the two leaders developed. (cf.
Sécession au
Katanga - J.Gerald-Libois -Brussels- CRISP)Lumumba had
previously appointed
Joseph Mobutu
chief of staff of the new Congo army,
Armee Nationale
Congolaise . Taking advantage of the leadership crisis
between Kasavubu and Lumumba, Mobutu garnered enough support within
the army to create mutiny. With financial support from the United
States and Belgium, Mobutu paid his soldiers privately. The
aversion of Western powers to communism and leftist ideology
influenced their decision to finance Mobutu's quest to maintain
"order" in the new state by neutralizing Kasavubu and Lumumba in a
coup by proxy.
On January 17, 1961, Katangan forces and Belgian paratroops,
supported by the United States' and Belgium's intent on copper and
diamond mines in Katanga and South Kasai, kidnapped and executed
Patrice Lumumba. Amidst widespread confusion and chaos, a temporary
government was led by technicians (Collège des Commissaires) with
Evariste Kimba. The Katanga secession
was ended in January 1963 with the assistance of UN forces. Several
short-lived governments, of
Joseph Ileo,
Cyrille Adoula, and
Moise Tshombe, took over in quick succession.
(See the book
The Assassination of Lumumba by Ludo de
Witte.)
Zaire (1971–1997)
Following five years of instability and civil unrest,
Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, now
Lieutenant General, overthrew Kasavubu in
a 1965
coup. He had the support of the United
States because of his staunch opposition to Communism. Western
powers appeared to believe this would make him a roadblock to
Communist schemes in Africa. Historians have also argued that
Western support for Mobutu was related to his allowing businesses
to export the many natural resources of Zaire without worrying
about environmental, labour, or other regulations. A one-party
system was established, and Mobutu declared himself head of state.
He periodically held elections in which he was the only
candidate.Relative peace and stability was achieved; however,
Mobutu's government was guilty of severe
human rights violations, political repression,
a
cult of personality and
corruption. (Mobutu demanded every Congolese bank note printed with
his image, hanging of his portrait in all public buildings, most
businesses, and on billboards; and it was common for ordinary
people to wear his likeness on their clothing.) Corruption became
so prevalent the term "le mal Zairois" or "Zairean Sickness" was
coined, reportedly by Mobutu himself. By 1984, Mobutu was said to
have $4 billion (USD), an amount close to the country's national
debt, deposited in a personal
Swiss
bank account. International aid, most often in the form of
loans, enriched Mobutu while he allowed national infrastructure
such as roads to deteriorate to as little as one-fourth of what had
existed in 1960. With the embezzlement of government funds by
Mobutu and his associates, Zaire became a "
kleptocracy."

Bank note of Zaire.
In a campaign to identify himself with African nationalism,
starting on June 1, 1966, Mobutu renamed the nation's cities:
Léopoldville became Kinshasa [the country was now Democratic
Republic of The Congo – Kinshasa], Stanleyville became
Kisangani, Elisabethville became Lubumbashi, and Coquihatville
became Mbandaka. This renaming campaign was completed in the 1970s.
In 1971, Mobutu renamed the country the
Republic of Zaire,
its fourth name change in 11 years and its sixth overall. The Congo
River was renamed the Zaire River. In 1972, Mobutu renamed himself
Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za
Banga (roughly translated as The Great Unstoppable Warrior who
goes from Victory to Victory).
During
the 1970s and 1980s, Mobutu was invited to visit the United States
on several occasions, meeting with U.S.
Presidents
Richard Nixon,
Ronald Reagan and
George H. W. Bush.
In June 1989, Mobutu was the first African head of state invited
for a state visit with newly elected President Bush. Following the
collapse of the Soviet
Union, however, U.S. relations with Mobutu cooled, as he was no
longer deemed necessary as a
Cold War ally.
Opponents within Zaire stepped up demands for reform. This
atmosphere contributed to Mobutu's declaring the Third Republic in
1990, whose constitution was supposed to pave the way for
democratic reform. The reforms turned out to be largely cosmetic.
Mobutu continued in power until the conflict forced him to flee
Zaire in 1997. Thereafter, the nation chose to reclaim its name of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, since the name
Zaire
carried such strong connections to the rule of Mobutu.
Rwandan/Ugandan Invasions and Civil Wars
By 1996,
tensions from the neighboring Rwanda
war and
genocide had spilled over to Zaire
.
Rwandan
Hutu militia forces (
Interahamwe), who had fled Rwanda following the
ascension of a
Tutsi-led government, had been
using Hutu refugees camps in eastern Zaire as a basis for incursion
against Rwanda. These Hutu militia forces soon allied with the
Zairian armed forces (FAZ) to launch a campaign against Congolese
ethnic Tutsis in eastern Zaire. In turn, a coalition of Rwandan and
Ugandan armies invaded Zaire under the cover of a small group of
Tutsis militia to fight the Hutu militia, overthrow the government
of Mobutu, and ultimately control the mineral resources of Zaire.
They were soon joined by various Zairean politicians who have been
unsuccessfully opposing the dictatorship of Mobutu for many years,
and saw an opportunity for them in the invasion of Zaire by two of
the region's strongest military forces. This new expanded coalition
of two foreign armies and some longtime opposition figures, led by
Laurent-Desire Kabila, became
known as the
Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du
Congo-Zaïre (AFDL). They were seeking the broader goal of
ousting Mobutu and controlling his country's wealth. In May 1997,
Mobutu left the country, and Kabila marched into Kinshasa, naming
himself president and reverted the name of the country to the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
A few months later, President
Laurent-Desire Kabila thanked all the
foreign military forces that helped him to overthrow Mobutu, and
asked them to return back to their countries because he was very
fearful and concerned that the Rwandan military officers who were
running his army were plotting a coup d'état against him in order
to give the presidency to a Tutsi who would be reporting directly
to the President of Rwanda Paul Kagame. This move was not well
perceived by the Rwandan and Ugandan governments, who wanted to
control their big neighbor. Consequently, Rwandan troops in RDC
retreated to Goma and launched a new militia group or rebel
movement called the
Rassemblement
Congolais pour la Democratie (RCD), led by Tutsis, to fight
against their former ally President
Laurent-Desire Kabila. To
counterbalance the power and influence of Rwanda in DRC, the
Ugandan troops instigated the creation of another rebel movement
called the
Movement
for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), led by the Congolese warlord
Jean-Pierre Bemba, son of
Congolese billionaire Bemba Saolona. The two rebel movements
started the second war by attacking the DRC's still fragile army in
1998, backed by Rwandan and Ugandan troops. Angola, Zimbabwe and
Namibia became involved militarily on the side of the government to
defend a fellow SADC member. Kabila was assassinated in 2001 and
was succeeded by his son
Joseph, who
upon taking office called for multilateral peace talks to end the
war. In February 2001 a peace deal was brokered between Kabila,
Rwanda and Uganda, leading to the apparent withdrawal of foreign
troops.
UN peacekeepers,
MONUC, arrived in April 2001. The conflict was
reignited in January 2002 by ethnic clashes in the northeast, and
both Uganda and Rwanda then halted their withdrawal and sent in
more troops. Talks between Kabila and the rebel leaders led to the
signing of a peace accord in which Kabila would share power with
former rebels. By June 2003 all foreign armies except those of
Rwanda had pulled out of Congo. Much of the conflict was focused on
gaining control of substantial natural resources in the country,
including
diamonds,
copper,
zinc, and
coltan.
DR Congo had a
transitional
government until the election was over. A constitution was
approved by voters, and on July 30, 2006 the Congo held its
first
multi-party elections since independence in 1960. After this
Joseph Kabila took 45% of the votes
and his opponent Jean-Pierre Bemba took 20%.
That was the origin
of a fight between the two parts from August 20-22, 2006 in the
streets of the capital, Kinshasa
. Sixteen people died before police and the
UN mission MONUC took control of the city. A new election was held
on October 29, 2006, which Kabila won with 70% of the vote. Bemba
made multiple public statements saying the election had
"irregularities," despite the fact that every neutral observer
praised the elections. On December 6, 2006 the Transitional
Government came to an end as Joseph Kabila was sworn in as
President.
The fragility of the state has allowed continued conflict and human
rights abuses. In the ongoing
Kivu
conflict, the
Democratic Forces
for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) continues to threaten the
Rwandan border and the
Banyamulenge,
and Rwanda supports RCD-Goma rebels against Kinshasa; a rebel
offensive at the end of October 2008 caused a refugee crisis.
In
Ituri
, where MONUC
has proved unable to contain the numerous militia and groups
driving the Ituri conflict. In
the northeast,
Joseph Kony's
LRA moved from their original bases in Uganda, where
they have fought a 20-year rebellion, and South Sudan to DR Congo
in 2005 and set up camps in the Garamba National Park.
In northern Katanga
, the Mai-Mai created by
Laurent Kabila slipped out of the control of Kinshasa. The
war is the world's deadliest conflict since
World War II, killing 5.4 million people.
The impact of armed conflict on civilians
In 2009 people in the Congo are still dying at a rate of an
estimated 45,000 per month, and 2,700,000 people have died since
2004. This death toll is due to widespread disease and famine;
reports indicate that almost half of the individuals killed are
children under the age of 5. The aftermath of the war has gutted
the country. This death rate has prevailed since efforts at
rebuilding the nation began in 2004.
The long and brutal conflict in the DRC has caused massive
suffering for civilians, with estimates of millions dead either
directly or indirectly as a result of the fighting. There have been
frequent reports of weapon bearers killing civilians, destroying
property, committing widespread sexual violence, causing hundreds
of thousands of people to flee their homes or otherwise breaching
humanitarian and human rights law. An estimated 200,000 women have
been raped.
Few people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been
unaffected by the armed conflict. A survey conducted in 2009 by the
ICRC and Ipsos shows that three quarters (76%) of the people
interviewed have been affected in some way - either personally or
due to the wider consequences of armed conflict.
In 2003, Sinafasi Makelo, a representative of
Mbuti pygmies, told the UN's
Indigenous People's Forum that during the war, his people were
hunted down and eaten as though they were game animals. In
neighbouring North Kivu province there has been
cannibalism by a group known as
Les
Effaceurs ("the erasers") who wanted to clear the land of
people to open it up for mineral exploitation. Both sides of the
war regarded them as "subhuman" and some say their flesh can confer
magical powers.
Geography
The Congo
is situated at the heart of the west-central portion of sub-Saharan Africa and is bounded by
(clockwise from the southwest) Angola
, the South
Atlantic Ocean, the Republic of Congo
, the Central African Republic
, the Sudan
, Uganda, Rwanda
, Burundi
, Tanzania across Lake
Tanganyika
, and
Zambia
. The
country straddles the
Equator, with
one-third to the North and two-thirds to the South. The size of
Congo, , is slightly greater than the combined areas of Spain,
France, Germany, Sweden, and Norway.
As a result of its equatorial location, the Congo experiences large
amounts of precipitation and has the highest frequency of
thunderstorms in the world. The annual rainfall can total upwards
of in some places, and the area sustains the second largest rain
forest in the world (after that of the
Amazon).
This massive expanse of lush jungle
covers most of the vast, low-lying central basin of the river, which slopes toward the
Atlantic
Ocean
in the West. This area is surrounded by plateaus
merging into savannas in the south and southwest, by mountainous
terraces in the west, and dense grasslands extending beyond the Congo River
in the north. High, glaciated mountains are
found in the extreme eastern region.
The
tropical climate has also produced
the Congo River
system
which dominates the region topographically along
with the rainforest it flows through, though they are not mutually
exclusive. The name for the Congo state is derived in part
from the river. The river basin (meaning the Congo River and all of
its myriad tributaries) occupies nearly the entire country and an
area of nearly .
The river and its tributaries (major
offshoots include the Kasai
, Sangha, Ubangi, Aruwimi, and Lulonga)
form the backbone of Congolese economics and transportation.
They have a dramatic impact on the daily lives of the people.
The
sources of the Congo are in the highlands and mountains of the
East African Rift, as well as
Lake
Tanganyika
and Lake Mweru
. The river flows generally west from Kisangani
just below Boyoma Falls
, then gradually bends southwest, passing by
Mbandaka
, joining with the Ubangi
River, and running into the Pool Malebo
(Stanley Pool). Kinshasa
and Brazzaville
are on opposite sides of the river at the Pool (see
NASA image). Then the river narrows and falls through a
number of cataracts in deep canyons (collectively known as the
Livingstone
Falls
), and then running past Boma
into the
Atlantic Ocean. The river also has the second-largest flow
and the second-largest
watershed of
any river in the world (trailing the
Amazon in both respects). The river and a
45 km wide strip of land on its north bank provide the
country's only outlet to the Atlantic.
The previously mentioned
Great Rift
Valley, in particular the Eastern Rift, plays a key role in
shaping the Congo's geography. Not only is the northeastern section
of the country much more mountainous, but due to the rift's
tectonic activities, this area also
experiences low levels of
volcanic
activity.
The geologic activity in this area also
created the famous African Great Lakes
, three of which lie on the Congo's eastern
frontier: Lake
Albert
(known previously as Lake Mobutu), Lake Edward
, and Lake Tanganyika
. Perhaps most important of all, the Rift
Valley has exposed an enormous amount of
mineral wealth throughout the south and east of the
Congo, making it accessible to mining. Cobalt, copper, cadmium,
industrial and gem-quality diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese,
tin, germanium, uranium, radium, bauxite, iron ore, and coal are
all found in plentiful supply, especially in the Congo's
southeastern Katanga region.
On
January 17, 2002 Mount
Nyiragongo
erupted in Congo, with the lava running out at and
wide. One of the three streams of lava flowed
through the nearby city of Goma
, killing 45
and leaving 120,000 homeless. Four hundred thousand people
were evacuated from the city during the eruption.
The lava poisoned the
water of Lake
Kivu
, killing fish. Only two planes left the
local airport because of the possibility of the explosion of stored
petrol. The lava passed the airport but ruined the runway,
entrapping several airplanes.
Six months after the 2002 eruption, nearby
Mount
Nyamuragira
also erupted, and again more recently in
2006. Both volcanos remain active.
World Wildlife Fund ecoregions located in the Congo include:
Provinces and territories
Formerly
the country was divided into eleven provinces, Kinshasa
, Province
Orientale, Kasai-Oriental,
Kasai-Occidental, Maniema, Katanga
, Sud-Kivu,
Nord-Kivu, Bas-Congo, Équateur
and Bandundu. However, the constitution
approved in 2005 divided the country into 26 fairly autonomous
provinces, including the capital, Kinshasa
to be formed by 18 February 2009. It seems
however that the former 11 provinces are still the legal
administrative entities. The country is further subdivided into 192
territories (fr.
territoires, sing.
territoire).

A new provincial map of Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
The provinces are subdivided into
territories.
Population of major cities (2008)
City |
Population (2008) |
Kinshasa |
7,500,000 |
Mbuji-Mayi |
2,500,000 |
Lubumbashi |
1,700,000 |
Kananga |
1,400,000 |
Kisangani |
1,200,000 |
Kolwezi |
1,100,000 |
Mbandaka |
850,000 |
Likasi |
600,000 |
Boma |
600,000 |
Government
After four years of
interim between two
constitutions that established different political institution at
the various levels of all branches of government, as well as
different administrative divisions of the country, politics in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo are settling into a stable
presidential democratic
republic.
The transitional constitution established a system composed of a
bicameral legislature with a
Senate and a
National
Assembly. The Senate has, among other things, the charge of
drafting the new constitution of the country. The executive branch
is vested in a 60-member cabinet, headed by a
pentarchy of a
President,
and four vice presidents. The President is also the Commander-in
Chief of the Armed forces. The unusual organization of the
executive — considering the large number of vice
presidents — has earned it the very official nickname of "The
1 + 4".
The transition constitution also established a relatively
independent judiciary, headed by a Supreme Court with
constitutional interpretation powers.
The 2006 constitution, also known as the
Constitution of the
Third Republic, came into effect in February 2006. It has
concurrent authority, however, with the transitional constitution
until the inauguration of the elected officials who will emerge
from the July 2006 elections. Under this constitution, the
legislature will remain bicameral; the executive will be
concomitantly undertaken by a President and the government; and the
latter will be led by a Prime Minister, appointed from the party
with the majority at the National Assembly. The government –
not the President – is responsible to the Parliament.
The provincial governments will gain new powers, under the new
decentralized model, with the creation of provincial parliaments,
with oversight over the Governor, head of the provincial
government, whom they elect.
The new constitution also sees the disappearance of the Supreme
Court, which is divided into three new institutions. The
constitutional interpretation prerogative of the Supreme Court will
be held by the
Constitutional
Court.
Economy

Evolution of GDP.
The economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a nation
endowed with resources of vast potential wealth, has declined
drastically since the mid-1980s. The two recent conflicts (the
First and
Second Congo Wars), which began in 1996,
have dramatically reduced national output and government revenue,
have increased external debt, and have resulted in deaths of more
than five million people from war, and associated
famine and disease. Foreign businesses have curtailed
operations due to uncertainty about the outcome of the conflict,
lack of infrastructure, and the difficult operating environment.
The war has intensified the impact of such basic problems as an
uncertain legal framework, corruption, inflation, and lack of
openness in government economic policy and financial operations.
Malnutrition affects approximately two
thirds of the country's population. Conditions improved in late
2002 with the withdrawal of a large portion of the invading foreign
troops.
A
number of International Monetary Fund
and World Bank
missions have met with the government to help it develop a coherent
economic plan, and President Joseph Kabila has begun implementing
reforms. Much economic activity lies outside the GDP data. A
United Nations
Human Development Index report shows human development to be
one of the worst in decades.
The Congo is the world's largest producer of
cobalt ore, and a major producer of
copper and industrial
diamonds. It has significant deposits of
tantalum, which is used in the fabrication of
electronic components in computers and mobile phones. In 2002,
tin was discovered in the east of the country,
but, to date, mining has been on a small scale . Smuggling of
coltan and
cassiterite, the ores of
tantalum and
tin, respectively,
has helped fuel the war in the Eastern Congo. Katanga Mining
Limited, a London-based company, owns the Luilu Metallurgical
Plant, which has a capacity of 175,000 tonnes of copper and 8,000
tonnes of cobalt per year, making it the largest cobalt refinery in
the world. After a major rehabilitation program, the company
restarted copper production in December 2007 and cobalt production
in May 2008.It has one of the ten last ranks among the countries on
the
Corruption Perception
Index.
In 2007, The World Bank decided to grant the Democratic Republic of
Congo up to $1.3 billion in assistance funds over the next three
years.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is in the process of becoming a
member of the
Organization
for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (
OHADA).
Demographics

Congolese woman in fashion shop.
The
United Nations 2007 estimated the
population at 62.6 million people, having increased rapidly despite
the war from 46.7 million in 1997. As many as 250 ethnic groups
have been identified and named. The most numerous people are the
Kongo,
Luba,
and
Mongo. About 600,000
Pygmies are the aboriginal people of the DR Congo.
Although seven hundred local languages and dialects are spoken, the
linguistic variety is bridged both by widespread use of
French and intermediary languages such as
Kongo,
Tshiluba,
Swahili, and
Lingala.
Status of women
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women in 2006 expressed concern that in the
post-war transition period, the promotion of women’s human rights
and gender equality is not seen as a priority.
In eastern Congo, the prevalence and intensity of rape and other
sexual violence is described as the worst in the world. A 2006
report by the African Association for the Defence of Human Rights
prepared for that committee provides a broad overview of issues
confronting women in the DRC in law and in daily life.They have
been raped during warfare and kept as slaves for soldiers. When the
women are released, most killed themselves or checked into a
hospital where they would die.
The war has made the life of women more precarious. Violence
against women seems to be perceived by large sectors of society to
be normal. In July 2007, the International Committee of the Red
Cross expressed concern about the situation in eastern DRC. A
phenomenon of 'pendulum displacement' has developed, where people
hasten at night to safety. According to the UN Special Rapporteur
on Violence, Yakin Ertürk, who toured eastern Congo in July 2007,
violence against women in North and South Kivu included
“unimaginable brutality”. "Armed groups attack local communities,
loot, rape, kidnap women and children and make them work as sexual
slaves," Ertürk said.
Religion
Christianity is the majority religion in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, followed by about 80% of the population. Denominations
include
Roman Catholic 50%,
Protestant 20%,
Kimbanguist 10%. Kimbanguism was seen as a
threat to the colonial regime and was banned by the Belgians.
Kimbanguism, officially "the church of
Christ on Earth by the prophet Simon Kimbangu", now has about three
million members, primarily among the Bakongo of Bas-Congo
and Kinshasa
.The largest concentration of Christians
following
William Branham is in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it is estimated that there
are up to 2,000,000 followers.Sixty-two of the Protestant
denominations in the country are federated under the umbrella of
the
Church of Christ in
Congo or CCC (in French,
Église du Christ au Congo or
ECC). It is often simply referred to as 'The Protestant Church',
since it covers most of the 20% of the population who are
Protestants.
Of the remaining 20% of the population, half are
Muslim, and the rest follow traditional beliefs or
syncretic sects. Islam was introduced and mainly spread by Arab
traders/merchants. Traditional religions embody such concepts as
monotheism,
animism,
vitalism,
spirit and
ancestor worship,
witchcraft, and sorcery and vary widely among
ethnic groups. The syncretic sects often merge Christianity with
traditional beliefs and rituals, and may not be accepted by
mainstream churches as part of Christianity.
Languages

Major Bantu languages in the
Congo.
There are an estimated total of 242 languages spoken in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. Out of these, only four have the
status of national languages:
Kikongo (
Kituba),
Lingala,
Tshiluba and
Swahili.
Lingala was made the official
language of the colonial army, the "
Force
Publique" under Belgian colonial rule. But since the recent
rebellions, a good part of the army in the East also uses
Swahili where it is prevalent.
French is the official language of
the country. It is meant to be an ethnically neutral language, to
ease communication among the many different ethnic groups of the
Congo.
When the country was a Belgian colony, it had already instituted
teaching and use of the four national languages in primary schools,
making it one of the few African nations to have had literacy in
local languages during the European colonial period.
Culture
The
culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo reflects the
diversity of its hundreds of ethnic
groups and their differing ways of life throughout the
country — from the mouth of the River Congo
on the coast, upriver through the rainforest and savanna in
its centre, to the more densely populated mountains in the far
east. Since the late 19th century, traditional ways of life
have undergone changes brought about by
colonialism, the struggle for independence, the
stagnation of the
Mobutu
era, and most recently, the
First
and
Second Congo Wars. Despite
these pressures, the
customs and
cultures of the Congo have retained much of their individuality.
The country's 60 million inhabitants are mainly rural. The 30
percent who live in urban areas have been the most open to
Western influences.
Another notable feature in Congo culture is its
sui generis music.
The DROC has blended
its ethnic musical sources with Cuban
rumba, and merengue to give birth to soukous. Influential figures of soukous and
its offshoots:
N'dombolo and
Rumba rock, are
Franco
Luambo,
Tabu Ley,
Lutumba Simaro,
Papa
Wemba,
Koffi Olomide, Kanda Bongo,
Ray Lema, Mpongo Love, Abeti Masikini,
Reddy Amisi, [Pasnas] Pepe Kalle and
Nyoka
Longo.
Other African nations produce music genres that are derived from
Congolese soukous. Some of the African bands sing in
Lingala, one of the main languages in the DRC. The
same Congolese soukous, under the guidance of "le sapeur",
Papa Wemba, has set the tone for a generation of
young men always dressed up in expensive designers' clothes.
The Congo is also known for its art. Traditional art includes masks
and wooden statues. Notable contemporary artists and fashion
designers are
Odette Maniema
Krempin and Chéri Samba.
Education

A classroom in Democratic Republic of
the Congo.
The
education system in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo is governed by three
government ministries: the
Ministère de l’Enseignement Primaire, Secondaire et
Professionnel (MEPSP), the
Ministère de l’Enseignement
Supérieur et Universitaire (MESU) and the
Ministère des
Affaires Sociales (MAS).
The educational system in the DRC is similar
to that of Belgium
. In 2002, there were over 19,000
primary schools serving 160,000 students;
and 8,000
secondary schools
serving 110,000 students.
However, primary school education in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo is neither compulsory, free nor universal, and many children
are not able to go to school because parents were unable to pay the
enrollment fees. Parents are customarily expected to pay teachers'
salaries. In 1998, the most recent year for which data are
available, the gross primary enrollment rate was 50 percent. Gross
enrollment ratios are based on the number of students formally
registered in primary school and therefore do not necessarily
reflect actual school attendance. In 2000, 65 percent of children
ages 10 to 14 years were attending school. As a result of the
6-year civil war, over 5.2 million children in the country receive
no education.
Flora and fauna
The
rainforests of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo contain great
biodiversity, including many rare and
endemic species, such as the
common chimpanzee and the
bonobo (formerly known as the Pygmy Chimpanzee), the
forest elephant,
mountain gorilla,
okapi and
white rhino.
Five of
the country's national parks are
listed as World Heritage Sites:
the Garumba
, Kahuzi-Biega
, Salonga
and Virunga
National Parks, and the Okapi
Wildlife Reserve
. The civil war and resultant poor economic
conditions have endangered much of this biodiversity. Many park
wardens were either killed or could not afford to continue their
work.
All
five sites are listed by UNESCO
as World
Heritage In Danger. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is
the most biodiverse African country.
Over the past century or so, the DRC has developed into the center
of what has been called the
Central
African "
bushmeat" problem, which is
regarded by many as a major
environmental, as well as,
socio-economic crisis. "Bushmeat" is another
word for the meat of wild animals. It is typically obtained through
trapping, usually with wire snares, or otherwise with shotguns,
poisoned arrows or arms originally intended for use in the DRC's
numerous military conflicts.
The "bushmeat crisis" has emerged in the DRC mainly as a result of
the poor living conditions of the Congolese people and a lack of
education about the dangers of eating it. A rising population
combined with deplorable economic conditions has forced many
Congolese to become dependent on bushmeat, either as a means of
acquiring income (hunting the meat and selling), or are dependent
on it for food.
Unemployment and
urbanization throughout Central Africa
have exacerbated the problem further by turning cities like the
urban sprawl of Kinshasa
into the prime market for commercial
bushmeat.
This combination has caused not only widespread endangerment of
local fauna, but has forced humans to trudge deeper into the
wilderness in search of the desired animal meat. This overhunting
results in the deaths of more animals and makes resources even more
scarce for humans. The hunting has also been facilitated by the
extensive logging prevalent throughout the Congo's
rainforests (from corporate
logging, in addition to farmers clearing out forest
in order to create areas for
agriculture), which allows
hunters much easier access to previously unreachable
jungle terrain, while simultaneously eroding away at the
habitats of animals.
Deforestation is accelerating in Central
Africa.
A case that has particularly alarmed conservationists is that of
primates. The Congo is inhabited by three
distinct great ape populations — the
Common chimpanzee (
Pan
troglodytes) and the
bonobo (
Pan
paniscus) and the
gorilla as well. It
is the only country in the world in which bonobo are found in the
wild. The chimpanzees, along with gorillas, are the closest living
evolutionary relatives to humans. Much concern has been raised
about
Great ape extinction. Because
of hunting and habitat destruction, the chimpanzee and the gorilla,
both of whose population once numbered in the millions have now
dwindled down to only about 200,000 per species. Gorillas,
chimpanzees, and bonobos are all classified as by the
World Conservation Union, as well
as the
okapi, which is also native to the area
geography.
Transport
Ground transport in the Democratic Republic of Congo has always
been difficult. The terrain and climate of the
Congo Basin present serious barriers to road and
rail construction, and the distances are enormous across this vast
country. Furthermore, chronic economic mismanagement and internal
conflict has led to serious under-investment over many years.
On the other hand, the Democratic Republic of Congo has thousands
of kilometres of
navigable waterways, and traditionally water transport has
been the dominant means of moving around approximately two-thirds
of the country.
All air carriers certified by the Democratic Republic of the Congo
have been banned from European Union airports by the European
Commission, because of inadequate safety standards.
See also
References
- See "Rumblings of war in heart of Africa" by Abraham
McLaughlin and Duncan Woodside The Christian Science
Monitor 23 June 2004 and "World War Three" by Chris Bowers My Direct
Democracy 24 July 2006
- Prevalence of Rape in E.Congo Described as Worst in
World
- The deadliest war in the world
- Congo War driven crisis kills 45,000 a
month
- Hochschild, Adam (1999), King Leopold's Ghost, Mariner
Books.
- King Leopold's Ghost, Adam Hochschild (1999) ISBN
0-618-00190-5 Houghton Mifflin Books
- " Jungle Shipwreck". Time. July 25, 1960
-
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/united_nations_congo.htm
- "Hearts of Darkness", allacademic.com
- "Zaire's Mobutu Visits America," by Michael Johns,
Heritage Foundation Executive Memorandum #239, June 29,
1989.
- Country Profiles
- Congo terror after LRA rebel raids
- thousands flee LRA in DR Congo
-
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/world/africa/23congo.html
- The Program for Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research, "IHL
and Sexual Violence" Accessed at
http://ihl.ihlresearch.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewpage&pageid=2104
- " The victims' witness". The Guardian. May 9, 2008.
- DRC, Opinion survey 2009, by ICRC and
Ipsos
- Pygmies struggle to survive. Times Online.
December 16, 2004.
- DR Congo Pygmies 'exterminated'. BBC News. July 6,
2004.
- The government is getting ready so that next year one
reach 26 provinces
-
Full text of constitution
- " Pygmies want UN tribunal to address
cannibalism". Smh.com.au. May 23, 2003.
- "Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo)", Adherents.com -
Religion by Location. Sources quoted are CIA Factbook
(1998), 'official government web site' of Democratic Republic
of Congo. Retrieved 25 may 2007.
- the World Factbook
- "International Religious Freedom Report 2005",
United States Department of
State
- referenced by the European Christian orientalist Timothy
Insoll. The Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa By Timothy
Insoll
- "Congo, Democratic Republic of the". 2005 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child
Labor. Bureau of International
Labor Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor (2006).
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in
the public
domain.
- , WWF, 2001.
- Deforestation accelerating in Central Africa,
June 8, 2007
- List of airlines banned within the EU (24 July
2008) - Official EC list
Further reading
- Mealer, Bryan: "All Things Must Fight To Live",2008. ISBN
1-59691-345-2
- Butcher, Tim: Blood River
— A Journey To Africa's Broken Heart, 2007. ISBN
0-7011-7981-3
- Clark, John F., The African Stakes of the Congo War,
2004
- Drummond, Bill and Manning, Mark, The Wild Highway,
2005
- Edgerton, Robert, The Troubled Heart of Africa: A History
of the Congo. St. Martin's Press, December 2002.
- Hochschild, Adam, King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed,
Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa, 1998.
- Joris, Lieve, translated by Waters, Liz, The Rebels'
Hour, Atlantic, 2008
- Kingsolver, Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible.
HarperCollins, 1998.
- Larémont, Ricardo René, ed. 2005. Borders, nationalism and
the African state. Boulder, Colorado and London: Lynne Rienner
Publishers.
- Lemarchand, Reni and Hamilton, Lee; Burundi: Ethnic
Conflict and Genocide. Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1994.
- Melvern, Linda, Conspiracy to
Murder: The Rwandan Genocide and the International Community.
Verso, 2004
- Mwakikagile, Godfrey, Nyerere and Africa: End of an
Era, Third Edition, New Africa Press, 2006, "Chapter Six:
Congo in The Sixties: The Bleeding Heart of Africa," pp. 147 –
205, ISBN 978-0-9802534-1-2; Mwakikagile, Godfrey, Africa and
America in The Sixties: A Decade That Changed The Nation and The
Destiny of A Continent, First Edition, New Africa Press, 2006,
ISBN 978-0-9802534-2-9.
- Nzongola-Ntalaja, Georges, The Congo from Leopold to
Kabila: A People's History, 2002
- O'Hanlon, Redmond, Congo Journey, 1996
- O'Hanlon, Redmond, No Mercy: A Journey into the Heart of
the Congo, 1998
- Renton, David; Seddon, David; Zeilig, Leo. The Congo:
Plunder and Resistance, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84277-485-4
- Rorison, Sean, Bradt Travel Guide: Congo — Democratic
Republic/Republic, 2008
- Tayler, Jeffrey, Facing the Congo, 2001.
- Turner, Thomas, The Congo Wars: Conflict, Myth and
Reality, 2007
- Wrong, Michela, In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on
the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo
External links
- Government
- General
- Tourism
- Documentaries
- News coverage of the conflict