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Democratic Republic of the Congo

Coordinates: 3°S 24°E / 3°S 24°E / -3; 24

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)[b] is a country in Central Africa bordered to the west by the South Atlantic Ocean. By area, the DRC is the second-largest country in Africa and the 11th-largest in the world. With a population of around 108 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populous officially Francophone country in the world. The national capital and largest city is Kinshasa, which is also the nation's economic center. The country is bordered to the Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania (across Lake Tanganyika), Zambia, Angola, and the Cabinda exclave of Angola.

Democratic Republic of the Congo
République démocratique du Congo (French)
Repubilika ya Kôngo ya Dimokalasi (Kituba)
Republíki ya Kongó Demokratíki (Lingala)
Jamhuri ya Kidemokrasia ya Kongo (Swahili)
Ditunga dia Kongu wa Mungalaata (Luba-Lulua)
Motto: "Justice – Paix – Travail" (French)
"Justice – Peace – Work"
Anthem: Debout Congolais (French)
"Arise, Congolese"
Capital
and largest city
Kinshasa
4°19′S 15°19′E / 4.317°S 15.317°E / -4.317; 15.317
Official languagesFrench
Recognised national languages
Religion
(2020)[1]
  • 2.5% Traditional faiths
  • 1.5% Islam
  • 1.0% Others / None
Demonym(s)Congolese
GovernmentUnitary semi-presidential republic
• President
Félix Tshisekedi
Sama Lukonde
LegislatureParliament
Senate
National Assembly
Formation
• Colonised
17 November 1879
1 July 1885
15 November 1908
30 June 1960[2]
20 September 1960
• Named Democratic Republic of the Congo
1 August 1964
27 October 1971
17 May 1997
18 February 2006
Area
• Total
2,345,409 km2 (905,567 sq mi) (11th)
• Water (%)
3.32
Population
• 2022 estimate
108,407,721[3] (14th)
• Density
46.3/km2 (119.9/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)2022 estimate
• Total
$63.91 billion[4] (90th)
• Per capita
$1,328[4] (188th)
GDP (nominal)2022 estimate
• Total
$128.54 billion[4] (86th)
• Per capita
$660 [4] (190th)
Gini (2012) 42.1[5]
medium
HDI (2021) 0.479[6]
low · 179th
CurrencyCongolese franc (CDF)
Time zoneUTC+1 to +2 (WAT and CAT)
Date formatdd/mm/yyyy
Driving sideright
Calling code+243
ISO 3166 codeCD
Internet TLD.cd

Centered on the Congo Basin, the territory of the DRC was first inhabited by Central African foragers around 90,000 years ago and was reached by the Bantu expansion about 3,000 years ago.[8] In the west, the Kingdom of Kongo ruled around the mouth of the Congo River from the 14th to 19th centuries. In the northeast, center and east, the kingdoms of Azande, Luba, and Lunda ruled from the 16th and 17th centuries to the 19th century. King Leopold II of Belgium formally acquired rights to the Congo territory in 1885 and declared the land his private property, naming it the Congo Free State. From 1885 to 1908, his colonial military forced the local population to produce rubber and committed widespread atrocities. In 1908, Leopold ceded the territory, which thus became a Belgian colony.

Congo achieved independence from Belgium on 30 June 1960 and was immediately confronted by a series of secessionist movements, which culminated in the seizure of power by Mobutu Sese Seko in a 1965 coup d'état. Mobutu renamed the country Zaire in 1971 and imposed a harsh personalist dictatorship until his overthrow in 1997 by the First Congo War.[2] The country then had its name changed back and was confronted by the Second Congo War from 1998 to 2003, which resulted in the deaths of 5.4 million people.[9][10][11][12] The war ended under President Joseph Kabila who governed the country from 2001 to 2019, under whom human rights in the country remained poor and included frequent abuses such as forced disappearances, torture, arbitrary imprisonment and restrictions on civil liberties.[13] Following the 2018 general election, in the country's first peaceful transition of power since independence, Kabila was succeeded as president by Félix Tshisekedi, who has served as president since.[14] Since 2015, the Eastern DR Congo has been the site of an ongoing military conflict in Kivu.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is extremely rich in natural resources but has suffered from political instability, a lack of infrastructure, corruption, and centuries of both commercial and colonial extraction and exploitation, followed by more than 60 years of independence, with little widespread development.[15] Besides the capital Kinshasa, the two next largest cities, Lubumbashi and Mbuji-Mayi, are both mining communities. The DRC's largest export is raw minerals, with China accepting over 50% of its exports in 2019.[2] In 2021, DR Congo's level of human development was ranked 179th out of 191 countries by the Human Development Index.[16] As of 2018, following two decades of various civil wars and continued internal conflicts, around 600,000 Congolese refugees were still living in neighbouring countries.[17] Two million children risk starvation, and the fighting has displaced 4.5 million people.[18] The country is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, African Union, East African Community, COMESA, Southern African Development Community, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, and the Economic Community of Central African States.

Etymology

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is named after the Congo River, which flows throughout the country. The Congo River is the world's deepest river and the world's second-largest river by discharge. The Comité d'études du haut Congo ("Committee for the Study of the Upper Congo"), established by King Leopold II of Belgium in 1876, and the International Association of the Congo, established by him in 1879, were also named after the river.[19]

The Congo River was named by early European sailors after the Kingdom of Kongo and its Bantu inhabitants, the Kongo people, when they encountered them in the 16th century.[20][21] The word Kongo comes from the Kongo language (also called Kikongo). According to American writer Samuel Henry Nelson: "It is probable that the word 'Kongo' itself implies a public gathering and that it is based on the root konga, 'to gather' (trans[itive])."[22] The modern name of the Kongo people, Bakongo, was introduced in the early 20th century.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been known in the past as, in chronological order, the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, the Republic of the Congo-Léopoldville, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Zaire, before returning to its current name the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[2]

At the time of independence, the country was named the Republic of the Congo-Léopoldville to distinguish it from its neighbour the Republic of the Congo-Brazzaville. With the promulgation of the Luluabourg Constitution on 1 August 1964, the country became the DRC but was renamed to Zaire (a past name for the Congo River) on 27 October 1971 by President Mobutu Sese Seko as part of his Authenticité initiative.[23]

The word Zaire is from a Portuguese adaptation of a Kikongo word nzadi ("river"), a truncation of nzadi o nzere ("river swallowing rivers").[24][25][26] The river was known as Zaire during the 16th and 17th centuries; Congo seems to have replaced Zaire gradually in English usage during the 18th century, and Congo is the preferred English name in 19th-century literature, although references to Zaire as the name used by the natives (i.e. derived from Portuguese usage) remained common.[27]

In 1992, the Sovereign National Conference voted to change the name of the country to the "Democratic Republic of the Congo", but the change was not made.[28] The country's name was later restored by President Laurent-Désiré Kabila when he overthrew Mobutu in 1997.[29] To distinguish it from the neighboring Republic of the Congo, it is sometimes referred to as Congo (Kinshasa) or Congo-Kinshasa.

History

Early history

The geographical area now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo was populated as early as 90,000 years ago, as shown by the 1988 discovery of the Semliki harpoon at Katanda, one of the oldest barbed harpoons ever found, believed to have been used to catch giant river catfish.[30][31]

Bantu peoples reached Central Africa at some point during the first millennium BC, then gradually started to expand southward. Their propagation was accelerated by the adoption of pastoralism and of Iron Age techniques. The people living in the south and southwest were foraging groups, whose technology involved only minimal use of metal technologies. The development of metal tools during this time period revolutionized agriculture. This led to the displacement of the hunter-gatherer groups in the east and southeast. The final wave of the Bantu expansion was complete by the 10th century, followed by the establishment of the Bantu kingdoms, whose rising populations soon made possible intricate local, regional and foreign commercial networks that traded mostly in slaves, salt, iron and copper.

Congo Free State (1877–1908)

 
View of Leopoldville Station and Port in 1884

Belgian exploration and administration took place from the 1870s until the 1920s. It was first led by Henry Morton Stanley, who undertook his explorations under the sponsorship of King Leopold II of Belgium. The eastern regions of the precolonial Congo were heavily disrupted by constant slave raiding, mainly from Arab–Swahili slave traders such as the infamous Tippu Tip, who was well known to Stanley.[32]

Leopold had designs on what was to become the Congo as a colony.[33] In a succession of negotiations, Leopold, professing humanitarian objectives in his capacity as chairman of the front organization Association Internationale Africaine, actually played one European rival against another.[citation needed]

King Leopold formally acquired rights to the Congo territory at the Conference of Berlin in 1885 and made the land his private property. He named it the Congo Free State.[33] Leopold's regime began various infrastructure projects, such as the construction of the railway that ran from the coast to the capital of Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), which took eight years to complete.

In the Free State, colonists coerced the local population into producing rubber, for which the spread of automobiles and development of rubber tires created a growing international market. Rubber sales made a fortune for Leopold, who built several buildings in Brussels and Ostend to honor himself and his country. To enforce the rubber quotas, the Force Publique was called in and made the practice of cutting off the limbs of the natives a matter of policy.[34]

During the period of 1885–1908, millions of Congolese died as a consequence of exploitation and disease. In some areas the population declined dramatically – it has been estimated that sleeping sickness and smallpox killed nearly half the population in the areas surrounding the lower Congo River.[34]

News of the abuses began to circulate. In 1904, the British consul at Boma in the Congo, Roger Casement, was instructed by the British government to investigate. His report, called the Casement Report, confirmed the accusations of humanitarian abuses. The Belgian Parliament forced Leopold II to set up an independent commission of inquiry. Its findings confirmed Casement's report of abuses, concluding that the population of the Congo had been "reduced by half" during this period.[35] Determining precisely how many people died is impossible, as no accurate records exist.

Belgian Congo (1908–1960)

 
1908 photograph of a married Christian couple.

In 1908, the Belgian parliament, in spite of initial reluctance, bowed to international pressure (especially from the United Kingdom) and took over the Free State from King Leopold II.[36] On 18 October 1908, the Belgian parliament voted in favour of annexing the Congo as a Belgian colony. Executive power went to the Belgian minister of colonial affairs, assisted by a Colonial Council (Conseil Colonial) (both located in Brussels). The Belgian parliament exercised legislative authority over the Belgian Congo. In 1923 the colonial capital moved from Boma to Léopoldville, some 300 kilometres (190 mi) further upstream into the interior.[37]

 
Force Publique soldiers in the Belgian Congo in 1918. At its peak, the Force Publique had around 19,000 Congolese soldiers, led by 420 Belgian officers.

The transition from the Congo Free State to the Belgian Congo was a break, but it also featured a large degree of continuity. The last governor-general of the Congo Free State, Baron Théophile Wahis, remained in office in the Belgian Congo and the majority of Leopold II's administration with him.[38] Opening up the Congo and its natural and mineral riches to the Belgian economy remained the main motive for colonial expansion – however, other priorities, such as healthcare and basic education, slowly gained in importance.

Colonial administrators ruled the territory and a dual legal system existed (a system of European courts and another one of indigenous courts, tribunaux indigènes). Indigenous courts had only limited powers and remained under the firm control of the colonial administration. The Belgian authorities permitted no political activity in the Congo whatsoever,[39] and the Force Publique put down any attempts at rebellion.

The Belgian Congo was directly involved in the two world wars. During World War I (1914–1918), an initial stand-off between the Force Publique and the German colonial army in German East Africa turned into open warfare with a joint Anglo-Belgian-Portuguese invasion of German colonial territory in 1916 and 1917 during the East African campaign. The Force Publique gained a notable victory when it marched into Tabora in September 1916 under the command of General Charles Tombeur after heavy fighting.

After 1918, Belgium was rewarded for the participation of the Force Publique in the East African campaign with a League of Nations mandate over the previously German colony of Ruanda-Urundi. During World War II, the Belgian Congo provided a crucial source of income for the Belgian government in exile in London, and the Force Publique again participated in Allied campaigns in Africa. Belgian Congolese forces under the command of Belgian officers notably fought against the Italian colonial army in Ethiopia in Asosa, Bortaï[40] and Saïo under Major-General Auguste-Eduard Gilliaert.[41]

Independence and political crisis (1960–1965)

 
The leader of ABAKO, Joseph Kasa-Vubu, first democratically elected President of Congo-Léopoldville
 
Patrice Lumumba, first democratically elected Prime Minister of the Congo-Léopoldville, was murdered by Belgian-supported Katangan separatists in 1961

In May 1960, a growing nationalist movement, the Mouvement National Congolais led by Patrice Lumumba, won the parliamentary elections. Lumumba became the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, then known as the Republic of the Congo, on 24 June 1960. The parliament elected Joseph Kasa-Vubu as president, of the Alliance des Bakongo (ABAKO) party. Other parties that emerged included the Parti Solidaire Africain led by Antoine Gizenga, and the Parti National du Peuple led by Albert Delvaux and Laurent Mbariko.[42]

The Belgian Congo achieved independence on 30 June 1960 under the name "République du Congo" ("Republic of Congo" or "Republic of the Congo" in English). As the neighboring French colony of Middle Congo (Moyen Congo) also chose the name "Republic of Congo" upon achieving its independence, the two countries are more commonly known as "Congo-Léopoldville" and "Congo-Brazzaville", after their capital cities.

Shortly after independence the Force Publique mutinied, and on 11 July the province of Katanga (led by Moïse Tshombe) and South Kasai engaged in secessionist struggles against the new leadership.[43][44] Most of the 100,000 Europeans who had remained behind after independence fled the country,[45] opening the way for Congolese to replace the European military and administrative elite.[46] After the United Nations rejected Lumumba's call for help to put down the secessionist movements, Lumumba asked for assistance from the Soviet Union, who accepted and sent military supplies and advisers. On 23 August, the Congolese armed forces invaded South Kasai. Lumumba was dismissed from office on 5 September 1960 by Kasavubu who publicly blamed him for massacres by the armed forces in South Kasai and for involving Soviets in the country.[47] Lumumba declared Kasavubu's action unconstitutional, and a crisis between the two leaders developed.[48]

On 14 September, Colonel Joseph Mobutu, with the backing of the US and Belgium, removed Lumumba from office. On 17 January 1961, Lumumba was handed over to Katangan authorities and executed by Belgian-led Katangan troops.[49] A 2001 investigation by Belgium's Parliament found Belgium "morally responsible" for the murder of Lumumba, and the country has since officially apologised for its role in his death.[50]

On 18 September 1961, in ongoing negotiations of a cease-fire, a plane crash near Ndola resulted in the death of Dag Hammarskjöld, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, along with all 15 passengers, setting off a succession crisis. Amidst widespread confusion and chaos, a temporary government was led by technicians (the Collège des commissaires généraux). Katangan secession ended in January 1963 with the assistance of UN forces. Several short-lived governments of Joseph Ileo, Cyrille Adoula, and Moise Kapenda Tshombe took over in quick succession.

Meanwhile, in the east of the country, Soviet and Cuban-backed rebels called the Simbas rose up, taking a significant amount of territory and proclaiming a communist "People's Republic of the Congo" in Stanleyville. The Simbas were pushed out of Stanleyville in November 1964 during Operation Dragon Rouge, a military operation conducted by Belgian and American forces to rescue hundreds of hostages. Congolese government forces fully defeated the Simba rebels by November 1965.[51]

Lumumba had previously appointed Mobutu chief of staff of the new Congo army, Armée Nationale Congolaise.[52] Taking advantage of the leadership crisis between Kasavubu and Tshombe, Mobutu garnered enough support within the army to launch a coup. A constitutional referendum the year before Mobutu's coup of 1965 resulted in the country's official name being changed to the "Democratic Republic of the Congo."[2] In 1971 Mobutu changed the name again, this time to "Republic of Zaire".[53][23]

Mobutu dictatorship and Zaire (1965–1997)

 
Mobutu Sese Seko and Richard Nixon in Washington, D.C., 1973.

Mobutu had the staunch support of the United States because of his opposition to communism; the U.S. believed that his administration would serve as an effective counter to communist movements in Africa.[54] A single-party system was established, and Mobutu declared himself head of state. He periodically held elections in which he was the only candidate. Although relative peace and stability were achieved, Mobutu's government was guilty of severe human rights violations, political repression, a cult of personality and corruption.

By late 1967 Mobutu had successfully neutralized his political opponents and rivals, either through co-opting them into his regime, arresting them, or rendering them otherwise politically impotent.[55] Throughout the late 1960s, Mobutu continued to shuffle his governments and cycle officials in and out of the office to maintain control. Joseph Kasa-Vubu's death in April 1969 ensured that no person with First Republic credentials could challenge his rule.[56] By the early 1970s, Mobutu was attempting to assert Zaire as a leading African nation. He traveled frequently across the continent while the government became more vocal about African issues, particularly those relating to the southern region. Zaire established semi-clientelist relationships with several smaller African states, especially Burundi, Chad, and Togo.[57]

Corruption became so common the term "le mal Zairois" or "Zairian sickness",[58] meaning gross corruption, theft and mismanagement, was coined, reportedly by Mobutu.[59] 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-quarter of what had existed in 1960. Zaire became a kleptocracy as Mobutu and his associates embezzled government funds.

 
Mobutu with the Dutch Prince Bernhard in Kinshasa in 1973

In a campaign to identify himself with African nationalism, starting on 1 June 1966, Mobutu renamed the nation's cities: Léopoldville became Kinshasa (the country was known as Congo-Kinshasa), Stanleyville became Kisangani, Elisabethville became Lubumbashi, and Coquilhatville became Mbandaka. In 1971, Mobutu renamed the country the Republic of Zaire,[23] its fourth name change in eleven years and its sixth overall. The Congo River was renamed the Zaire River.

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.[60] Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union 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 armed forces forced him to flee in 1997. "From 1990 to 1993, the United States facilitated Mobutu's attempts to hijack political change", one academic wrote, and "also assisted the rebellion of Laurent-Desire Kabila that overthrew the Mobutu regime."[61]

In September 1997, Mobutu died in exile in Morocco.[62]

Continental and civil wars (1996–2007)

 
Belligerents of the Second Congo War

By 1996, following the Rwandan Civil War and genocide and the ascension of a Tutsi-led government in Rwanda, Rwandan Hutu militia forces (Interahamwe) fled to eastern Zaire and used refugee camps as bases for incursions against Rwanda. They allied with the Zairian Armed Forces to launch a campaign against Congolese ethnic Tutsis in eastern Zaire.[63]

A coalition of Rwandan and Ugandan armies invaded Zaire to overthrow the government of Mobutu, launching the First Congo War. The coalition allied with some opposition figures, led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, becoming the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo. In 1997 Mobutu fled and Kabila marched into Kinshasa, naming himself as president and reverting the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[64][65]

Kabila later requested that foreign military forces return to their own countries. Rwandan troops retreated to Goma and launched a new Tutsi-led rebel military movement called the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie to fight Kabila, while Uganda instigated the creation of a rebel movement called the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo, led by Congolese warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba.[citation needed] The two rebel movements, along with Rwandan and Ugandan troops, started the Second Congo War by attacking the DRC army in 1998. Angolan, Zimbabwean, and Namibian militaries entered the hostilities on the side of the government.

Kabila was assassinated in 2001.[66] His son Joseph Kabila succeeded him [67] and called for multilateral peace talks. UN peacekeepers, MONUC, now known as MONUSCO, arrived in April 2001. In 2002-03 Bemba intervened in the Central African Republic on behalf of its former president, Ange-Félix Patassé.[68] Talks led to a peace accord under which Kabila would share power with former rebels. By June 2003 all foreign armies except those of Rwanda had pulled out of Congo. A transitional government was set up until after the election. A constitution was approved by voters, and on 30 July 2006 DRC held its first multi-party elections. These were the first free national elections since 1960, which many believed would mark the end to violence in the region.[69] However, an election-result dispute between Kabila and Bemba turned into a skirmish between their supporters in Kinshasa. MONUC took control of the city. A new election took place in October 2006, which Kabila won, and in December 2006 he was sworn in as president.

 
Refugees in the Congo

Continued conflicts (2008–2018)

Kivu conflict

 
People fleeing their villages due to fighting between FARDC and rebel groups, North Kivu, 2012

Laurent Nkunda, a member of Rally for Congolese Democracy–Goma, a Rally for Congolese Democracy branch integrated to the army, defected along with troops loyal to him and formed the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), which began an armed rebellion against the government. They were believed[by whom?] to be again backed by Rwanda as a way to tackle the Hutu group, Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). In March 2009, after a deal between the DRC and Rwanda, Rwandan troops entered the DRC and arrested Nkunda and were allowed to pursue FDLR militants. The CNDP signed a peace treaty with the government in which it agreed to become a political party and to have its soldiers integrated into the national army in exchange for the release of its imprisoned members.[70] In 2012 Bosco Ntaganda, the leader of the CNDP, and troops loyal to him, mutinied and formed the rebel military March 23 Movement (M23), claiming the government had violated the treaty.[71]

 
Government troops near Goma during the M23 rebellion in May 2013

In the resulting M23 rebellion, M23 briefly captured the provincial capital of Goma in November 2012.[72][73] Neighboring countries, particularly Rwanda, have been accused of arming rebels groups and using them as proxies to gain control of the resource-rich country, an accusation they deny.[74][75] In March 2013, the United Nations Security Council authorized the United Nations Force Intervention Brigade to neutralize armed groups.[76] On 5 November 2013, M23 declared an end to its insurgency.[77]

Additionally, in northern Katanga, the Mai-Mai created by Laurent Kabila slipped out of the control of Kinshasa with Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga's Mai Mai Kata Katanga briefly invading the provincial capital of Lubumbashi in 2013 and 400,000 persons displaced in the province as of 2013.[78] On and off fighting in the Ituri conflict occurred between the Nationalist and Integrationist Front and the Union of Congolese Patriots who claimed to represent the Lendu and Hema ethnic groups, respectively. In the northeast, Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army moved from their original bases in Uganda and South Sudan to DR Congo in 2005 and set up camps in the Garamba National Park.[79][80]

The war in the Congo has been described as the bloodiest war since World War II.[15] On 8 December 2017, fourteen UN soldiers and five Congolese regular soldiers were killed in a rebel attack at Semuliki in Beni territory. The rebels were thought to be Allied Democratic Forces.[81] UN investigations confirmed that aggressor in the December attack.[82]

In 2009, The New York Times reported that people in the Congo continued to die at a rate of an estimated 45,000 per month[83] – estimates of the number who have died from the long conflict range from 900,000 to 5,400,000.[84] The death toll is caused by widespread disease and famine; reports indicate that almost half of the individuals who have died are children under five years of age.[85] There have been frequent reports of weapon bearers killing civilians, of the destruction of property, of widespread sexual violence,[86] causing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes, and of other breaches of humanitarian and human rights law. One study found that more than 400,000 women are raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo every year.[87] In 2018 and 2019, Congo reported the highest levels of sexual violence in the world.[69] According to the Human Rights Watch and the New York University-based Congo Research Group, armed troops in DRC's eastern Kivu region have killed over 1,900 civilians and kidnapped at least 3,300 people since June 2017 to June 2019.[88]

Kabila's term in office and multiple anti-government protests

In 2015, major protests broke out across the country and protesters demanded that Kabila step down as president. The protests began after the passage of a law by the Congolese lower house that, if also passed by the Congolese upper house, would keep Kabila in power at least until a national census was conducted (a process which would likely take several years and therefore keep him in power past the planned 2016 elections, which he is constitutionally barred from participating in). This bill passed; however, it was gutted of the provision that would keep Kabila in power until a census took place. A census is supposed to take place, but it is no longer tied to when the elections take place. In 2015, elections were scheduled for late 2016 and a tenuous peace held in the Congo.[89]

On 27 November 2016 Congolese foreign minister Raymond Tshibanda told the press no elections would be held in 2016, after 20 December, the end of president Kabila's term. In a conference in Madagascar, Tshibanda said that Kabila's government had "consulted election experts" from Congo, the United Nations and elsewhere, and that "it has been decided that the voter registration operation will end on July 31, 2017, and that election will take place in April 2018."[90] Protests broke out in the country on 20 December when Kabila's term in office ended. Across the country, dozens of protesters were killed and hundreds were arrested.

Renewed regional violence

According to Jan Egeland, presently Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, the situation in the DRC became much worse in 2016 and 2017 and is a major moral and humanitarian challenge comparable to the wars in Syria and Yemen, which receive much more attention. Women and children are abused sexually and "abused in all possible manners". Besides the conflict in North Kivu, violence increased in the Kasai region. The armed groups were after gold, diamonds, oil, and cobalt to line the pockets of rich men both in the region and internationally. There were also ethnic and cultural rivalries at play, as well as religious motives and the political crisis with postponed elections. Egeland says people believe the situation in the DRC is "stably bad" but in fact, it has become much, much worse. "The big wars of the Congo that were really on top of the agenda 15 years ago are back and worsening".[91] Disruption in planting and harvesting caused by the conflict was estimated to escalate starvation in about two million children.[92]

Human Rights Watch said in 2017 that Kabila recruited former March 23 Movement fighters to put down country-wide protests over his refusal to step down from office at the end of his term. "M23 fighters patrolled the streets of Congo's main cities, firing on or arresting protesters or anyone else deemed to be a threat to the president," they said.[93]

Fierce fighting has erupted in Masisi between government forces and a powerful local warlord, General Delta. The United Nations mission in the DRC is its largest and most expensive peacekeeping effort, but it shut down five UN bases near Masisi in 2017, after the U.S. led a push to cut costs.[94]

On 10 May 2018, Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his effort to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.

2018 ethnic conflict

A tribal conflict erupted on 16–17 December 2018 at Yumbi in Mai-Ndombe Province. Nearly 900 Banunu people from four villages were slaughtered by members of the Batende community in a deep-rooted rivalry over monthly tribal duties, land, fields and water resources. Some 100 Banunus fled to Moniende island in the Congo River, and another 16,000 to Makotimpoko District in Republic of Congo. Military-style tactics were employed in the bloodbath, and some assailants were clothed in army uniforms. Local authorities and elements within the security forces were suspected of lending them support.[95]

2018 election and new president (2018–present)

 
President Félix Tshisekedi with the president of neighbouring Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso in 2020; both wear face masks due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

On 30 December 2018 a general election was held. On 10 January 2019, the electoral commission announced opposition candidate Félix Tshisekedi as the winner of the presidential vote,[96] and he was officially sworn in as president on 24 January.[97] However, there were widespread suspicions that the results were rigged and that a deal had been made between Tshisekedi and Kabila. The Catholic Church said that the official results did not correspond to the information its election monitors had collected.[98] The government had also "delayed" the vote until March in some areas, citing the Ebola outbreak in Kivu as well as the ongoing military conflict. This was criticized as these regions are known as opposition strongholds.[99][100][101] In August 2019, six months after the inauguration of Félix Tshisekedi, a coalition government was announced.[102]

The political allies of Kabila maintained control of key ministries, the legislature, judiciary and security services. However, Tshisekedi succeeded in strengthening his hold on power. In a series of moves, he won over more legislators, gaining the support of almost 400 out of 500 members of the National Assembly. The pro-Kabila speakers of both houses of parliament were forced out. In April 2021, the new government was formed without the supporters of Kabila.[103]

A major measles outbreak in the country left nearly 5,000 dead in 2019.[104] The Ebola outbreak ended in June 2020, which had caused 2,280 deaths over 2 years.[105] Another, smaller Ebola outbreak in the Équateur Province began in June 2020, ultimately causing 55 deaths.[106][107] The global COVID-19 pandemic also reached the DRC in March 2020, with a vaccination campaign beginning on 19 April 2021.[108][109]

The Italian ambassador to the DRC, Luca Attanasio, and his bodyguard were killed in North Kivu on 22 February 2021.[110] On 22 April 2021, meetings between Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Tshisekedi resulted in new agreements increasing international trade and security (counterterrorism, immigration, cyber security, and customs) between the two countries.[111] In February 2022, allegations of a coup d'état in the country led to uncertainty,[112] but the coup attempt failed.[113]

Geography

 
The map of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
 
Democratic Republic of the Congo map of Köppen climate classification

The DRC is located in central sub-Saharan Africa, bordered to the northwest by the Republic of the Congo, to the north by the Central African Republic, to the northeast by South Sudan, to the east by Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, and by Tanzania (across Lake Tanganyika), to the south and southeast by Zambia, to the southwest by Angola, and to the west by the South Atlantic Ocean and the Cabinda Province exclave of Angola. The country lies between latitudes 6°N and 14°S, and longitudes 12°E and 32°E. It straddles the Equator, with one-third to the north and two-thirds to the south. With an area of 2,345,408 square kilometres (905,567 sq mi), it is the second-largest country in Africa by area, after Algeria.

As a result of its equatorial location, the DRC experiences high precipitation and has the highest frequency of thunderstorms in the world. The annual rainfall can total upwards of 2,000 millimetres (80 in) in some places, and the area sustains the Congo rainforest, the second-largest rain forest in the world after the Amazon rainforest. 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. The glaciated Rwenzori Mountains are found in the extreme eastern region.

The tropical climate produced the Congo River system which dominates the region topographically along with the rainforest it flows through. The Congo Basin occupies nearly the entire country and an area of nearly 1,000,000 km2 (390,000 sq mi). The river and its tributaries form the backbone of Congolese economics and transportation. Major tributaries include the Kasai, Sangha, Ubangi, Ruzizi, Aruwimi, and Lulonga.

 
Satellite image of Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Congo River has the second-largest flow and the second-largest watershed of any river in the world (trailing the Amazon in both respects). The sources of the Congo River are in the Albertine Rift Mountains that flank the western branch 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. Then the river narrows and falls through a number of cataracts in deep canyons, collectively known as the Livingstone Falls, and runs past Boma into the Atlantic Ocean. The river and a 37 kilometres (23 mi) wide strip of coastline on its north bank provide the country's only outlet to the Atlantic.

The Albertine Rift plays a key role in shaping the Congo's geography. Not only is the northeastern section of the country much more mountainous, but tectonic movement results in volcanic activity, occasionally with loss of life. The geologic activity in this area also created the African Great Lakes, four of which lie on the Congo's eastern frontier: Lake Albert, Lake Kivu, Lake Edward, and Lake Tanganyika.

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.[114]

 
Mount Nyiragongo, which last erupted in 2021.
 
Lake Kivu in North Kivu province

On 17 January 2002 Mount Nyiragongo erupted, with the lava running out at 64 km/h (40 mph) and 46 m (50 yd) wide. One of the three streams of extremely fluid lava flowed through 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, ruining a runway and trapping several airplanes. Six months after the eruption, nearby Mount Nyamuragira also erupted. Mount Nyamuragira then erupted in 2006 and again in January 2010.[115]

Biodiversity and conservation

 
Bas-Congo landscape
 
An Okapi
 

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, the African forest elephant, the mountain gorilla, the okapi and the white rhinoceros. 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 Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of 17 Megadiverse countries and is the most biodiverse African country.[116]

Conservationists have particularly worried about primates. The Congo is inhabited by several great ape species: the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), the bonobo (Pan paniscus), the eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei), and possibly the western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla).[117] It is the only country in the world in which bonobos are found in the wild. Much concern has been raised about great ape extinction. Because of hunting and habitat destruction, the chimpanzee, the bonobo and the gorilla, each of whose populations once numbered in the millions, have now dwindled down to only about 200,000 gorillas, 100,000 chimpanzees and possibly only about 10,000 bonobos.[118][119] The gorillas, chimpanzee, bonobo, and okapi are all classified as endangered by the World Conservation Union.

Major environmental issues in DRC include deforestation, poaching, which threatens wildlife populations, water pollution and mining.

Displaced refugees cause or are otherwise responsible for significant deforestation, soil erosion and wildlife poaching. Another significant issue is environmental damage from the mining of minerals, especially diamonds, gold, and coltan – a mineral used to manufacture capacitors.

Administrative divisions

The country is currently divided into the city-province of Kinshasa and 25 other provinces.[2] The provinces are subdivided into 145 territories and 32 cities. Before 2015, the country had 11 provinces.[120]

Government and politics

 
Joseph Kabila was President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from January 2001 to January 2019.

After a four-year interlude between two constitutions, with new political institutions established at the various levels of government, as well as new administrative divisions for the provinces throughout the country, a new constitution came into effect in 2006 and politics in the Democratic Republic of the Congo finally settled into a stable presidential democratic republic. The 2003 transitional constitution[121] had established a parliament with a bicameral legislature, consisting of a Senate and a National Assembly.

The Senate had, among other things, the charge of drafting the new constitution of the country. The executive branch was vested in a 60-member cabinet, headed by a President and four vice presidents. The President was also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The transitional constitution also established a relatively independent judiciary, headed by a Supreme Court with constitutional interpretation powers.[122]

The 2006 constitution, also known as the Constitution of the Third Republic, came into effect in February 2006. It had concurrent authority, however, with the transitional constitution until the inauguration of the elected officials who emerged from the July 2006 elections. Under the new constitution, the legislature remained bicameral; the executive was concomitantly undertaken by a President and the government, led by a Prime Minister, appointed from the party able to secure a majority in the National Assembly.

The government – not the President – is responsible to the Parliament. The new constitution also granted new powers to the provincial governments, creating provincial parliaments which have oversight of the Governor and the head of the provincial government, whom they elect. The new constitution also saw the disappearance of the Supreme Court, which was divided into three new institutions. The constitutional interpretation prerogative of the Supreme Court is now held by the Constitutional Court.[123]

Although located in the Central African UN subregion, the nation is also economically and regionally affiliated with Southern Africa as a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).[124]

Foreign relations

 
President Joseph Kabila with U.S. President Barack Obama in August 2014

The global growth in demand for scarce raw materials and the industrial surges in China, India, Russia, Brazil and other developing countries require that developed countries employ new, integrated and responsive strategies for identifying and ensuring, on a continual basis, an adequate supply of strategic and critical materials required for their security needs.[125] Highlighting the DR Congo's importance to United States national security, the effort to establish an elite Congolese unit is the latest push by the U.S. to professionalize armed forces in this strategically important region.[126]

There are economic and strategic incentives to bring more security to the Congo, which is rich in natural resources such as cobalt, a strategic and critical metal used in many industrial and military applications.[125] The largest use of cobalt is in superalloys, used to make jet engine parts. Cobalt is also used in magnetic alloys and in cutting and wear-resistant materials such as cemented carbides. The chemical industry consumes significant quantities of cobalt in a variety of applications including catalysts for petroleum and chemical processing; drying agents for paints and inks; ground coats for porcelain enamels; decolorant for ceramics and glass; and pigments for ceramics, paints, and plastics. The country possesses 80% of the world's cobalt reserves.[127]

It is thought that due to the importance of cobalt for batteries for electric vehicles and stabilization of electric grids with large proportions of intermittent renewables in the electricity mix, the DRC could become an object of increased geopolitical competition.[125]

In the 21st century, Chinese investment in the DRC and Congolese exports to China have grown rapidly. In July 2019, UN ambassadors of 37 countries, including DRC, have signed a joint letter to the UNHRC defending China's treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities.[128] In 2021, President Félix Tshisekedi called for a review of mining contracts signed with China by his predecessor Joseph Kabila,[129] in particular the Sicomines multibillion 'minerals-for-infrastructure' deal.[130][131]

Military

 
FARDC soldiers on patrol in Ituri province

The Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC) consist of about 144,000 personnel, the majority of whom are part of the land forces, also with a small air force and an even smaller navy. The FARDC was established in 2003 after the end of the Second Congo War and integrated many former rebel groups into its ranks. Due to the presence of undisciplined and poorly trained ex-rebels, as well as a lack of funding and having spent years fighting against different militias, the FARDC suffers from rampant corruption and inefficiency. The agreements signed at the end of the Second Congo War called for a new "national, restructured and integrated" army that would be made up of Kabila's government forces (the FAC), the RCD, and the MLC. Also stipulated was that rebels like the RCD-N, RCD-ML, and the Mai-Mai would become part of the new armed forces. It also provided for the creation of a Conseil Superieur de la Defense (Superior Defence Council) which would declare states of siege or war and give advice on security sector reform, disarmament/demobilisation, and national defence policy. The FARDC is organised on the basis of brigades, which are dispersed throughout the provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Congolese troops have been fighting the Kivu conflict in the eastern North Kivu region, the Ituri conflict in the Ituri region, and other rebellions since the Second Congo War. Besides the FARDC, the largest peacekeeping mission of the United Nations, known as MONUSCO, is also present in the country with about 18,000 peacekeepers.

The Democratic Republic of Congo signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.[132]

Corruption

A relative of Mobutu explained how the government illicitly collected revenue during his rule: "Mobutu would ask one of us to go to the bank and take out a million. We'd go to an intermediary and tell him to get five million. He would go to the bank with Mobutu's authority and take out ten. Mobutu got one, and we took the other nine."[133] Mobutu institutionalized corruption to prevent political rivals from challenging his control, leading to an economic collapse in 1996.[134]

Mobutu allegedly stole as much as US$4–5 billion while in office.[135] He was not the first corrupt Congolese leader by any means: "Government as a system of organized theft goes back to King Leopold II," noted Adam Hochschild in 2009.[136] In July 2009, a Swiss court determined that the statute of limitations had run out on an international asset recovery case of about $6.7 million of deposits of Mobutu's in a Swiss bank, and therefore the assets should be returned to Mobutu's family.[137]

President Kabila established the Commission of Repression of Economic Crimes upon his ascension to power in 2001.[138] However, in 2016 the Enough Project issued a report claiming that the Congo is run as a violent kleptocracy.[139]

In June 2020, a court in the Democratic Republic of Congo found President Tshisekedi's chief of staff Vital Kamerhe guilty of corruption. He was sentenced to 20 years' hard labour, after facing charges of embezzling almost $50m (£39m) of public funds. He was the most high-profile figure to be convicted of corruption in the DRC.[140] However, Kamerhe was released already in December 2021.[141]

In November 2021, a judicial investigation targeting Kabila and his associates was opened in Kinshasa after revelations of alleged embezzlement of $138 million.[142]

Human rights

 
A group of demobilized child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The International Criminal Court investigation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was initiated by Kabila in April 2004. The International Criminal Court prosecutor opened the case in June 2004. Child soldiers have been used on a large scale in DRC, and in 2011 it was estimated that 30,000 children were still operating with armed groups.[143] Instances of child labor and forced labor have been observed and reported in the U.S. Department of Labor's Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the DRC in 2013[144] and six goods produced by the country's mining industry appear on the department's December 2014 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor.

Crime and law enforcement

The Congolese National Police are the primary police force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[145]

Violence against women

Violence against women seems to be perceived by large sectors of society to be normal.[146] The 2013–2014 DHS survey (pp. 299) found that 74.8% of women agreed that a husband is justified in beating his wife in certain circumstances.[147]

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination 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.[148][149] Mass rapes, sexual violence and sexual slavery are used as a weapon of war by the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and armed groups in the eastern part of the country.[150] The eastern part of the country in particular has been described as the "rape capital of the world" and the prevalence of sexual violence there described as the worst in the world.[151][152]

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is also practiced in DRC, although not on a large scale. The prevalence of FGM is estimated at 5% of women.[153][154] FGM is illegal: the law imposes a penalty of two to five years of prison and a fine of 200,000 Congolese francs on any person who violates the "physical or functional integrity" of the genital organs.[155][156]

In July 2007, the International Committee of the Red Cross expressed concern about the situation in eastern DRC.[157] A phenomenon of "pendulum displacement" has developed, where people hasten at night to safety. According to Yakin Ertürk, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women who toured eastern Congo in July 2007, violence against women in North and South Kivu included "unimaginable brutality". Ertürk added that "Armed groups attack local communities, loot, rape, kidnap women and children, and make them work as sexual slaves".[158] In December 2008, GuardianFilms of The Guardian released a film documenting the testimony of over 400 women and girls who had been abused by marauding militia.[159]

In June 2010, Oxfam reported a dramatic increase in the number of rapes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and researchers from Harvard discovered that rapes committed by civilians had increased seventeenfold.[160] In June 2014, Freedom from Torture published reported rape and sexual violence being used routinely by state officials in Congolese prisons as punishment for politically active women.[161] The women included in the report were abused in several locations across the country including the capital Kinshasa and other areas away from the conflict zones.[161]

In 2015, figures both inside and outside of the country, such as Filimbi and Emmanuel Weyi, spoke out about the need to curb violence and instability as the 2016 elections approached.[162][163]

Economy

 
A proportional representation of Democratic Republic of the Congo exports, 2019
 
Change in per capita GDP of Congo, 1950–2018. Figures are inflation-adjusted to 2011 International dollars.

The Central Bank of the Congo is responsible for developing and maintaining the Congolese franc, which serves as the primary form of currency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2007, The World Bank decided to grant the Democratic Republic of Congo up to $1.3 billion in assistance funds over the following three years.[164] The Congolese government started negotiating membership in the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA), in 2009.[165]

The DRC is widely considered one of the world's richest countries in natural resources; its untapped deposits of raw minerals are estimated to be worth in excess of US$24 trillion.[166][167][168] The DRC has 70% of the world's coltan, a third of its cobalt, more than 30% of its diamond reserves, and a tenth of its copper.[169][170]

Despite such vast mineral wealth, the economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has declined drastically since the mid-1980s. The DRC generated up to 70% of its export revenue from minerals in the 1970s and 1980s and was particularly hit when resource prices deteriorated at that time. By 2005, 90% of the DRC's revenues derived from its minerals.[171] Congolese citizens are among the poorest people on Earth. DR Congo consistently has the lowest, or nearly the lowest, nominal GDP per capita in the world. The DRC is also one of the twenty lowest-ranked countries on the Corruption Perceptions Index.

Mining

 
Rough diamonds ≈1 to 1.5 mm in size from DR Congo.

The DRC is the world's largest producer of cobalt ore, and a major producer of copper and diamonds.[172] The latter come from Kasai province in the west. By far the largest mines in the DRC are located in southern Katanga province and are highly mechanized, with a capacity of several million tons per year of copper and cobalt ore, and refining capability for metal ore. The DRC is the second-largest diamond-producing nation in the world,[173] and artisanal and small-scale miners account for most of its production.

At independence in 1960, DRC was the second-most industrialized country in Africa after South Africa; it boasted a thriving mining sector and a relatively productive agriculture sector.[174] Foreign businesses have curtailed operations because of uncertainty about the outcome of long-term conflicts, lack of infrastructure, and the difficult operating environment. The wars 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.

Conditions improved in late 2002, when a large portion of the invading foreign troops withdrew. A number of International Monetary Fund and World Bank missions met with the government to help it develop a coherent economic plan, and President Kabila began implementing reforms. Much economic activity still lies outside the GDP data. Through 2011 the DRC had the lowest Human Development Index of the 187 ranked countries.[175]

 
DR Congo's Human Development Index scores, 1970–2010.
 
Collecting firewood in Basankusu.

The economy of DRC relies heavily on mining. However, the smaller-scale economic activity from artisanal mining occurs in the informal sector and is not reflected in GDP data.[176] A third of the DRC's diamonds are believed to be smuggled out of the country, making it difficult to quantify diamond production levels.[177] In 2002, tin was discovered in the east of the country but to date has only been mined on a small scale.[178] Smuggling of conflict minerals such as coltan and cassiterite, ores of tantalum and tin, respectively, helped to fuel the war in the eastern Congo.[179]

Katanga Mining Limited, a Swiss-owned 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 resumed copper production operations in December 2007 and cobalt production in May 2008.[180]

In April 2013, anti-corruption NGOs revealed that Congolese tax authorities had failed to account for $88 million from the mining sector, despite booming production and positive industrial performance. The missing funds date from 2010 and tax bodies should have paid them into the central bank.[181] Later in 2013, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative suspended the country's candidacy for membership due to insufficient reporting, monitoring and independent audits, but in July 2013 the country improved its accounting and transparency practices to the point where the EITI gave the country full membership.

In February 2018, global asset management firm AllianceBernstein[182] defined the DRC as economically "the Saudi Arabia of the electric vehicle age," because of its cobalt resources, as essential to the lithium-ion batteries that drive electric vehicles.[183]

Transportation

 
Train from Lubumbashi arriving in Kindu on a newly refurbished line.

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. The DRC has more navigable rivers and moves more passengers and goods by boat and ferry than any other country in Africa, but air transport remains the only effective means of moving goods and people between many places within the country, especially in rural areas. Chronic economic mismanagement, political corruption and internal conflicts have led to long-term under-investment of infrastructure.

Rail

 
Map of rail network

Rail transportation is provided by the Congo Railroad Company (Société nationale des chemins de fer du Congo), the Office National des Transports Congo and the Office of the Uele Railways (Office des Chemins de fer des Ueles, CFU). Like much of the infrastructure in the Congo, the railways are poorly maintained, dirty, crowded and dangerous.

Road

The DRC has fewer all-weather paved highways than any country of its population and size in Africa — a total of 2,250 km (1,400 mi), of which only 1,226 km (762 mi) is in good condition. To put this in perspective, the road distance across the country in any direction is more than 2,500 km (1,600 mi) (e.g. Matadi to Lubumbashi, 2,700 km (1,700 mi) by road). The figure of 2,250 km (1,400 mi) converts to 35 km (22 mi) of paved road per 1,000,000 of population. Comparative figures for Zambia and Botswana are 721 km (448 mi) and 3,427 km (2,129 mi) respectively.[184]

Three routes in the Trans-African Highway network pass through DR Congo:

  • Tripoli–Cape Town Highway: this route crosses the western extremity of the country on National Road No. 1 between Kinshasa and Matadi, a distance of 285 km (177 mi) on one of the only paved sections in fair condition.
  • Lagos–Mombasa Highway: the DR Congo is the main missing link in this east–west highway and requires a new road to be constructed before it can function.
  • Beira–Lobito Highway: this east–west highway crosses Katanga and requires re-construction over most of its length, being an earth track between the Angolan border and Kolwezi, a paved road in very poor condition between Kolwezi and Lubumbashi, and a paved road in fair condition over the short distance to the Zambian border.

Water

The DRC has thousands of kilometres of navigable waterways. Traditionally water transport has been the dominant means of moving around in approximately two-thirds of the country.

Air

As of June 2016, DR Congo had one major national airline (Congo Airways) that offered flights inside DR Congo. Congo Airways was based at Kinshasa's international airport. All air carriers certified by the DRC have been banned from European Union airports by the European Commission, because of inadequate safety standards.[185]

Several international airlines service Kinshasa's international airport and a few also offer international flights to Lubumbashi International Airport.

Energy

Both coal and crude oil resources were mainly used domestically up to 2008. The DRC has the infrastructure for hydro-electricity from the Congo River at the Inga dams.[186] The country also possesses 50% of Africa's forests and a river system that could provide hydro-electric power to the entire continent, according to a UN report on the country's strategic significance and its potential role as an economic power in central Africa.[187]

The generation and distribution of electricity are controlled by Société nationale d'électricité, but only 15% of the country has access to electricity.[188] The DRC is a member of three electrical power pools. These are Southern African Power Pool, East African Power Pool, and Central African Power Pool.

Renewable energy

Because of abundant sunlight, the potential for solar development is very high in the DRC. There are already about 836 solar power systems in the DRC, with a total power of 83 MW, located in Équateur (167), Katanga (159), Nord-Kivu (170), the two Kasaï provinces (170), and Bas-Congo (170). Also, the 148 Caritas network system has a total power of 6.31 MW.[189]

Demographics

Languages

 
The four Bantu languages with elevated "national" status.

French is the official language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is culturally accepted as the lingua franca, facilitating communication among the many different ethnic groups of the Congo. According to a 2018 OIF report, 49 million Congolese people (51% of the population) could read and write in French.[190] A 2021 survey found that 74% of the population could speak French, making it the most widely spoken language in the country.[191]

In Kinshasa, 67% of the population in 2014 could read and write French, and 68.5% could speak and understand it.[192]

Approximately 242 languages are spoken in the country, of which four have the status of national languages: Kituba (Kikongo), Lingala, Tshiluba, and Swahili. Although some limited number of people speak these as first languages, most of the population speak them as a second language, after the native language of their own ethnic group. Lingala was the official language of the Force Publique under Belgian colonial rule and remains to this day the predominant language of the armed forces. Since the recent rebellions, a good part of the army in the east also uses Swahili, where it competes to be the regional lingua franca.

Under Belgian rule, the colonizers 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. This trend was reversed after independence, when French became the sole language of education at all levels.[193] Since 1975, the four national languages have been reintroduced in the first two years of primary education, with French becoming the sole language of education from the third year onward, but in practice many primary schools in urban areas solely use French from the first year of school onward.[193] Portuguese is taught in the Congolese schools as a foreign language. The lexical similarity and phonology with French makes Portuguese a relatively easy language for the people to learn. Most of the roughly 175,000 Portuguese speakers in the DRC are Angolan and Mozambican expatriates.

Ethnic groups

Over 200 ethnic groups populate the DRC, of which the majority are Bantu peoples. Together, Mongo, Luba, Kongo peoples, Mangbetu and the Azande peoples constitute around 45% of the population.[194]

In 2021, the UN estimated the country's population to be 96 million,[195][196] a rapid increase from 39.1 million in 1992 despite the ongoing war.[197] 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.[198]

Religion

Christianity is the predominant religion of the DRC. A 2013-14 survey, conducted by the Demographic and Health Surveys Program in 2013–2014 indicated that Christians constituted 93.7% of the population (with Catholics making up 29.7%, Protestants 26.8%, and other Christians 37.2%). A new Christian religious movement, Kimbanguism, had the adherence of 2.8%, while Muslims made up 1%.[199] Other recent estimates have found Christianity the majority religion, followed by 95.8% of the population according to a 2010 Pew Research Center[200] estimate, while the CIA World Factbook reports this figure to be 95.9%.[201] The proportion of followers of Islam is variously estimated from 1%[202] to 12% [203]

There are about 35 million Catholics in the country[2] with six archdioceses and 41 dioceses.[204] The impact of the Catholic Church is difficult to overestimate. Schatzberg has called it the country's "only truly national institution apart from the state."[205] Its schools have educated over 60% of the nation's primary school students and more than 40% of its secondary students. The church owns and manages an extensive network of hospitals, schools, and clinics, as well as many diocesan economic enterprises, including farms, ranches, stores, and artisans' shops.[citation needed]

Sixty-two Protestant denominations are federated under the umbrella of the Church of Christ in the Congo. It is often referred to as the Protestant Church, since it covers most of the DRC Protestants. With more than 25 million members, it constitutes one of the largest Protestant bodies in the world.

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", has about three million members,[206] primarily among the Bakongo of Kongo Central and Kinshasa.

Islam has been present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the 18th century, when Arab traders from East Africa pushed into the interior for ivory- and slave-trading purposes. Today, Muslims constitute approximately 1% of the Congolese population according to the Pew Research Center. The majority are Sunni Muslims.[citation needed]

The first members of the Baháʼí Faith to live in the country came from Uganda in 1953. Four years later the first local administrative council was elected. In 1970 the National Spiritual Assembly (national administrative council) was first elected. Though the religion was banned in the 1970s and 1980s, due to misrepresentations of foreign governments, the ban was lifted by the end of the 1980s. In 2012 plans were announced to build a national Baháʼí House of Worship in the country.[citation needed]

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 elements of Christianity with traditional beliefs and rituals and are not recognized by mainstream churches as part of Christianity. New variants of ancient beliefs have become widespread, led by US-inspired Pentecostal churches which have been in the forefront of witchcraft accusations, particularly against children and the elderly.[clarification needed][207] Children accused of witchcraft are sent away from homes and family, often to live on the street, which can lead to physical violence against these children.[208][clarification needed][209] There are charities supporting street children such as the Congo Children Trust.[210] The Congo Children Trust's flagship project is Kimbilio,[211] which works to reunite street children in Lubumbashi. The usual term for these children is enfants sorciers (child witches) or enfants dits sorciers (children accused of witchcraft). Non-denominational church organizations have been formed to capitalize on this belief by charging exorbitant fees for exorcisms. Though recently outlawed, children have been subjected in these exorcisms to often-violent abuse at the hands of self-proclaimed prophets and priests.[212]

Education

 
A classroom in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In 2014, the literacy rate for the population between the ages of 15 and 49 was estimated to be 75.9% (88.1% male and 63.8% female) according to a DHS nationwide survey.[213] The education system 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). Primary education is not free nor compulsory,[citation needed] even though the Congolese constitution says it should be (Article 43 of the 2005 Congolese Constitution).[214]

As a result of the First and Second Congo Wars in the late 1990s—early 2000s, over 5.2 million children in the country did not receive any education.[215] Since the end of the civil war, the situation has improved tremendously, with the number of children enrolled in primary schools rising from 5.5 million in 2002 to 16.8 million in 2018, and the number of children enrolled in secondary schools rising from 2.8 million in 2007 to 4.6 million in 2015 according to UNESCO.[216]

Actual school attendance has also improved greatly in recent years, with primary school net attendance estimated to be 82.4% in 2014 (82.4% of children ages 6–11 attended school; 83.4% for boys, 80.6% for girls).[217]

Health

 
Development of life expectancy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The hospitals in the DRC include the General Hospital of Kinshasa. The DRC has the world's second-highest rate of infant mortality (after Chad). In April 2011, through aid from Global Alliance for Vaccines, a new vaccine to prevent pneumococcal disease was introduced around Kinshasa.[218] In 2012, it was estimated that about 1.1% of adults aged 15–49 were living with HIV/AIDS.[219] Malaria[220][221] and yellow fever are problems.[222] In May 2019, the death toll from the Ebola outbreak in DRC surpassed 1,000.[223]

Maternal health is poor in DRC. According to 2010 estimates, DRC has the 17th highest maternal mortality rate in the world.[224] According to UNICEF, 43.5% of children under five are stunted.[225]

United Nations emergency food relief agency warned that amid the escalating conflict and worsening situation following COVID-19 in the DRC, millions of lives were at risk as they could die of hunger. According to the data of the World Food Programme, in 2020 four in ten people in Congo lacked food security and about 15.6 million were facing a potential hunger crisis.[226]

Air pollution levels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are very unhealthy. In 2020, annual average air pollution in the Democratic Republic of the Congo stood at 34.2 µg/m³, which is almost 6.8 times the World Health Organization PM2.5 guideline (5 µg/m³: set in September 2021).[227] These pollution levels are estimated to reduce the life expectancy of an average citizen of the DRC by almost 2.9 years.[227] Currently, the DRC does not have a national ambient air quality standard.[228]

Largest cities

 
 
Largest cities or towns in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Rank Name Province Pop.
 
Kinshasa
 
Mbuji-Mayi
1 Kinshasa Kinshasa 15,628,000  
Lubumbashi
 
Kananga
2 Mbuji-Mayi Kasai-Oriental 2,765,000
3 Lubumbashi Haut-Katanga 2,695,000
4 Kananga Kasaï-Central 1,593,000
5 Kisangani Tshopo 1,366,000
6 Bukavu South Kivu 1,190,000
7 Tshikapa Kasaï 1,024,000
8 Bunia Ituri 768,000
9 Goma North Kivu 707,000
10 Uvira South Kivu 657,000

Migration

 
Population fleeing their villages due to fighting between FARDC and rebels groups, Sake North Kivu 30 April 2012

Given the often unstable situation in the country and the condition of state structures, it is extremely difficult to obtain reliable migration data. However, evidence suggests that DRC continues to be a destination country for immigrants, in spite of recent declines in their numbers. Immigration is very diverse in nature; refugees and asylum-seekers – products of the numerous and violent conflicts in the Great Lakes Region – constitute an important subset of the population. Additionally, the country's large mine operations attract migrant workers from Africa and beyond. There is also considerable migration for commercial activities from other African countries and the rest of the world, but these movements are not well studied.[231] Transit migration towards South Africa and Europe also plays a role.

Immigration to the DRC has decreased steadily over the past two decades, most likely as a result of the armed violence that the country has experienced. According to the International Organization for Migration, the number of immigrants in the DRC has fallen from just over one million in 1960, to 754,000 in 1990, to 480,000 in 2005, to an estimated 445,000 in 2010. Official figures are unavailable, partly due to the predominance of the informal economy in the DRC. Data are also lacking on irregular immigrants, however given neighbouring countries' ethnic links to DRC nationals, irregular migration is assumed to be a significant phenomenon.[231]

Figures for Congolese nationals abroad vary greatly depending on the source, from three to six million. This discrepancy is due to a lack of official, reliable data. Emigrants from the DRC are above all long-term emigrants, the majority of whom live in Africa and to a lesser extent in Europe; 79.7% and 15.3% respectively, according to estimated 2000 data. New destination countries include South Africa and various points en route to Europe. The DRC has produced a considerable number of refugees and asylum-seekers located in the region and beyond. These numbers peaked in 2004 when, according to UNHCR, there were more than 460,000 refugees from the DRC; in 2008, Congolese refugees numbered 367,995 in total, 68% of whom were living in other African countries.[231]

Since 2003, more than 400,000 Congolese migrants have been expelled from Angola.[232]

Culture

 
A Hemba male statue

The culture 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 81 million inhabitants (2016) are mainly rural. The 30% who live in urban areas have been the most open to Western influences.

Music

The DRC has its influences on Cuban rumba, originally kumba from Congo and merengue. And those two later give birth to soukous.[233] Other African nations produce music genres 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, have set the tone for a generation of young men always dressed up in expensive designer clothes. They came to be known as the fourth generation of Congolese music and mostly come from the former well-known band Wenge Musica. The musical artist Elizo Kisonga, who now lives in England, is originally from Congo.

Sports

Many sports are played in the DRC, including football, basketball, and rugby. The sports are played in numerous stadiums throughout the country, including the Stade Frederic Kibassa Maliba.[234] As Zaire they participated in the 1974 FIFA World Cup.

Internationally, the country is especially famous for its professional basketball NBA and football players. Dikembe Mutombo is one of the best African basketball players to ever play the game. Mutombo is well known for humanitarian projects in his home country. Bismack Biyombo, Christian Eyenga, Jonathan Kuminga, and Emmanuel Mudiay are others who gained significant international attention in basketball. Several Congolese players and players of Congolese descent—including strikers Romelu Lukaku, Yannick Bolasie, and Dieumerci Mbokani—have gained prominence in world football. DR Congo has twice won the African Cup of Nations football tournament.

DR Congo's women's national volleyball team lastly qualified for the 2021 Women's African Nations Volleyball Championship.[235] The country featured a national team in beach volleyball that competed at the 2018–2020 CAVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup in both the women's and the men's section.[236]

Media

Newspapers of the DRC include L'Avenir, Radion Télévision Mwangaza, La Conscience [fr], L'Observateur [fr], Le Phare, Le Potentiel, Le Soft and LeCongolais.CD,[237] a web-based daily.[238] Radio Télévision Nationale Congolaise (RTNC) is the national broadcaster of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. RTNC currently broadcasts in Lingala, French, and English.

Literature

Congolese authors use literature as a way to develop a sense of national consciousness amongst the people of the DRC. Frederick Kambemba Yamusangie writes literature for the between generations of those who grew up in the Congo, during the time when they were colonised, fighting for independence and after. Yamusangie in an interview[239] said he felt the distance in literature and wanted to remedy that he wrote the novel, Full Circle, which is a story of a boy named Emanuel who in the beginning of the book feels a difference in culture among the different groups in the Congo and elsewhere.[240] Rais Neza Boneza, an author from the Katanga province, wrote novels and poems to promote artistic expressions as a way to address and deal with conflicts.[241]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The term "Kikongo" in the Constitution is actually referring to the Kituba language – which is known as Kikongo ya leta by its speakers – not the Kongo language proper. The confusion arises from the fact that the government of the DRC officially recognizes and refers to the language as "Kikongo".
  2. ^ French: République démocratique du Congo, Congo pronounced as [kɔ̃ɡo]. Also known and abbreviated in English as Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC,[7] the Congo, and Zaire via its former name

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Further reading

  • Clark, John F., The African Stakes of the Congo War, 2004.
  • Callaghy, T., The State-Society Struggle: Zaire in Comparative Perspective. New York: Columbia University Press, 1984, ISBN 0-231-05720-2.
  • Devlin, Larry (2007). Chief of Station, Congo: A Memoir of 1960–67. New York: PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-405-7.
  • 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, 2002.
  • Exenberger, Andreas/Hartmann, Simon. The Dark Side of Globalization. The Vicious Cycle of Exploitation from World Market Integration: Lesson from the Congo 15 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Working Papers in Economics and Statistics 31, University Innsbruck 2007.
  • Exenberger, Andreas/Hartmann, Simon. , Paper to be presented at the Workshop "Colonial Extraction in the Netherlands Indies and Belgian Congo: Institutions, Institutional Change and Long Term Consequences", Utrecht 3–4 December 2010.
  • Gondola, Ch. Didier, "The History of Congo", Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002.
  • Joris, Lieve, translated by Waters, Liz, The Rebels' Hour, Atlantic, 2008.
  • Justenhoven, Heinz-Gerhard; Ehrhart, Hans Georg. Intervention im Kongo: eine kritische Analyse der Befriedungspolitik von UN und EU. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag, 2008. (In German) ISBN 978-3-17-020781-3.
  • 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.
  • Mealer, Bryan: "All Things Must Fight To Live", 2008. ISBN 1-59691-345-2.
  • Melvern, Linda, Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwandan Genocide and the International Community. Verso, 2004.
  • Miller, Eric: "The Inability of Peacekeeping to Address the Security Dilemma", 2010. ISBN 978-3-8383-4027-2.
  • 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; Congo in The Sixties, ISBN 978-1448665709, 2009; Africa: Dawn of a New Era, ISBN 978-9987160488, 2015.
  • 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.
  • Prunier, Gérard, Africa's World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe, 2011 (also published as From Genocide to Continental War: The Congolese Conflict and the Crisis of Contemporary Africa: The Congo Conflict and the Crisis of Contemporary Africa).
  • Renton, David; Seddon, David; Zeilig, Leo. The Congo: Plunder and Resistance, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84277-485-4.
  • Reyntjens, Filip, The Great African War: Congo and Regional Geopolitics, 1996–2006 , 2009.
  • Rorison, Sean, Bradt Travel Guide: Congo  — Democratic Republic/Republic, 2008.
  • Schulz, Manfred. Entwicklungsträger in der DR Kongo: Entwicklungen in Politik, Wirtschaft, Religion, Zivilgesellschaft und Kultur, Berlin: Lit, 2008, (in German) ISBN 978-3-8258-0425-1.
  • Stearns, Jason: Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: the Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa, Public Affairs, 2011.
  • Tayler, Jeffrey, Facing the Congo, 2001.
  • Turner, Thomas, The Congo Wars: Conflict, Myth and Reality, 2007.
  • Van Reybrouck, David, Congo: The Epic History of a People, 2014
  • Wrong, Michela, In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo.

External links

democratic, republic, congo, confused, with, neighbouring, republic, congo, similarly, named, entities, republic, congo, disambiguation, redirects, here, other, uses, disambiguation, coordinates, country, central, africa, bordered, west, south, atlantic, ocean. Not to be confused with the neighbouring Republic of the Congo for similarly named entities see Republic of the Congo disambiguation DRC redirects here For other uses see DRC disambiguation Coordinates 3 S 24 E 3 S 24 E 3 24 The Democratic Republic of the Congo DRC b is a country in Central Africa bordered to the west by the South Atlantic Ocean By area the DRC is the second largest country in Africa and the 11th largest in the world With a population of around 108 million the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populous officially Francophone country in the world The national capital and largest city is Kinshasa which is also the nation s economic center The country is bordered to the Republic of the Congo Central African Republic South Sudan Uganda Rwanda Burundi Tanzania across Lake Tanganyika Zambia Angola and the Cabinda exclave of Angola Democratic Republic of the CongoRepublique democratique du Congo French Repubilika ya Kongo ya Dimokalasi Kituba Republiki ya Kongo Demokratiki Lingala Jamhuri ya Kidemokrasia ya Kongo Swahili Ditunga dia Kongu wa Mungalaata Luba Lulua Flag Coat of armsMotto Justice Paix Travail French Justice Peace Work Anthem Debout Congolais French Arise Congolese Show globeShow map of AfricaCapitaland largest cityKinshasa4 19 S 15 19 E 4 317 S 15 317 E 4 317 15 317Official languagesFrenchRecognised national languagesKikongo ya leta a LingalaSwahiliTshilubaReligion 2020 1 95 0 Christianity 54 9 Catholicism 40 1 Other Christian2 5 Traditional faiths1 5 Islam1 0 Others NoneDemonym s CongoleseGovernmentUnitary semi presidential republic PresidentFelix Tshisekedi Prime MinisterSama LukondeLegislatureParliament Upper houseSenate Lower houseNational AssemblyFormation Colonised17 November 1879 Congo Free State1 July 1885 Belgian Congo15 November 1908 Independence from Belgium30 June 1960 2 Admitted to the United Nations20 September 1960 Named Democratic Republic of the Congo1 August 1964 Republic of Zaire27 October 1971 First Congo War17 May 1997 Current constitution18 February 2006Area Total2 345 409 km2 905 567 sq mi 11th Water 3 32Population 2022 estimate108 407 721 3 14th Density46 3 km2 119 9 sq mi GDP PPP 2022 estimate Total 63 91 billion 4 90th Per capita 1 328 4 188th GDP nominal 2022 estimate Total 128 54 billion 4 86th Per capita 660 4 190th Gini 2012 42 1 5 mediumHDI 2021 0 479 6 low 179thCurrencyCongolese franc CDF Time zoneUTC 1 to 2 WAT and CAT Date formatdd mm yyyyDriving siderightCalling code 243ISO 3166 codeCDInternet TLD cdCentered on the Congo Basin the territory of the DRC was first inhabited by Central African foragers around 90 000 years ago and was reached by the Bantu expansion about 3 000 years ago 8 In the west the Kingdom of Kongo ruled around the mouth of the Congo River from the 14th to 19th centuries In the northeast center and east the kingdoms of Azande Luba and Lunda ruled from the 16th and 17th centuries to the 19th century King Leopold II of Belgium formally acquired rights to the Congo territory in 1885 and declared the land his private property naming it the Congo Free State From 1885 to 1908 his colonial military forced the local population to produce rubber and committed widespread atrocities In 1908 Leopold ceded the territory which thus became a Belgian colony Congo achieved independence from Belgium on 30 June 1960 and was immediately confronted by a series of secessionist movements which culminated in the seizure of power by Mobutu Sese Seko in a 1965 coup d etat Mobutu renamed the country Zaire in 1971 and imposed a harsh personalist dictatorship until his overthrow in 1997 by the First Congo War 2 The country then had its name changed back and was confronted by the Second Congo War from 1998 to 2003 which resulted in the deaths of 5 4 million people 9 10 11 12 The war ended under President Joseph Kabila who governed the country from 2001 to 2019 under whom human rights in the country remained poor and included frequent abuses such as forced disappearances torture arbitrary imprisonment and restrictions on civil liberties 13 Following the 2018 general election in the country s first peaceful transition of power since independence Kabila was succeeded as president by Felix Tshisekedi who has served as president since 14 Since 2015 the Eastern DR Congo has been the site of an ongoing military conflict in Kivu The Democratic Republic of the Congo is extremely rich in natural resources but has suffered from political instability a lack of infrastructure corruption and centuries of both commercial and colonial extraction and exploitation followed by more than 60 years of independence with little widespread development 15 Besides the capital Kinshasa the two next largest cities Lubumbashi and Mbuji Mayi are both mining communities The DRC s largest export is raw minerals with China accepting over 50 of its exports in 2019 2 In 2021 DR Congo s level of human development was ranked 179th out of 191 countries by the Human Development Index 16 As of 2018 update following two decades of various civil wars and continued internal conflicts around 600 000 Congolese refugees were still living in neighbouring countries 17 Two million children risk starvation and the fighting has displaced 4 5 million people 18 The country is a member of the United Nations Non Aligned Movement African Union East African Community COMESA Southern African Development Community Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie and the Economic Community of Central African States Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2 1 Early history 2 2 Congo Free State 1877 1908 2 3 Belgian Congo 1908 1960 2 4 Independence and political crisis 1960 1965 2 5 Mobutu dictatorship and Zaire 1965 1997 2 6 Continental and civil wars 1996 2007 2 7 Continued conflicts 2008 2018 2 7 1 Kivu conflict 2 7 2 Kabila s term in office and multiple anti government protests 2 7 3 Renewed regional violence 2 7 4 2018 ethnic conflict 2 8 2018 election and new president 2018 present 3 Geography 3 1 Biodiversity and conservation 4 Administrative divisions 5 Government and politics 5 1 Foreign relations 5 2 Military 5 3 Corruption 5 4 Human rights 5 4 1 Crime and law enforcement 5 4 2 Violence against women 6 Economy 6 1 Mining 6 2 Transportation 6 2 1 Rail 6 2 2 Road 6 2 3 Water 6 2 4 Air 6 3 Energy 6 3 1 Renewable energy 7 Demographics 7 1 Languages 7 2 Ethnic groups 7 3 Religion 7 4 Education 7 5 Health 7 6 Largest cities 7 7 Migration 8 Culture 8 1 Music 8 2 Sports 8 3 Media 8 4 Literature 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 12 Further reading 13 External linksEtymology EditFurther information Congo River and Kongo people The Democratic Republic of the Congo is named after the Congo River which flows throughout the country The Congo River is the world s deepest river and the world s second largest river by discharge The Comite d etudes du haut Congo Committee for the Study of the Upper Congo established by King Leopold II of Belgium in 1876 and the International Association of the Congo established by him in 1879 were also named after the river 19 The Congo River was named by early European sailors after the Kingdom of Kongo and its Bantu inhabitants the Kongo people when they encountered them in the 16th century 20 21 The word Kongo comes from the Kongo language also called Kikongo According to American writer Samuel Henry Nelson It is probable that the word Kongo itself implies a public gathering and that it is based on the root konga to gather trans itive 22 The modern name of the Kongo people Bakongo was introduced in the early 20th century The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been known in the past as in chronological order the Congo Free State Belgian Congo the Republic of the Congo Leopoldville the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Zaire before returning to its current name the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2 At the time of independence the country was named the Republic of the Congo Leopoldville to distinguish it from its neighbour the Republic of the Congo Brazzaville With the promulgation of the Luluabourg Constitution on 1 August 1964 the country became the DRC but was renamed to Zaire a past name for the Congo River on 27 October 1971 by President Mobutu Sese Seko as part of his Authenticite initiative 23 The word Zaire is from a Portuguese adaptation of a Kikongo word nzadi river a truncation of nzadi o nzere river swallowing rivers 24 25 26 The river was known as Zaire during the 16th and 17th centuries Congo seems to have replaced Zaire gradually in English usage during the 18th century and Congo is the preferred English name in 19th century literature although references to Zaire as the name used by the natives i e derived from Portuguese usage remained common 27 In 1992 the Sovereign National Conference voted to change the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of the Congo but the change was not made 28 The country s name was later restored by President Laurent Desire Kabila when he overthrew Mobutu in 1997 29 To distinguish it from the neighboring Republic of the Congo it is sometimes referred to as Congo Kinshasa or Congo Kinshasa History EditMain article History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Early history Edit Main articles Early Congolese history and Kingdom of Kongo The geographical area now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo was populated as early as 90 000 years ago as shown by the 1988 discovery of the Semliki harpoon at Katanda one of the oldest barbed harpoons ever found believed to have been used to catch giant river catfish 30 31 Bantu peoples reached Central Africa at some point during the first millennium BC then gradually started to expand southward Their propagation was accelerated by the adoption of pastoralism and of Iron Age techniques The people living in the south and southwest were foraging groups whose technology involved only minimal use of metal technologies The development of metal tools during this time period revolutionized agriculture This led to the displacement of the hunter gatherer groups in the east and southeast The final wave of the Bantu expansion was complete by the 10th century followed by the establishment of the Bantu kingdoms whose rising populations soon made possible intricate local regional and foreign commercial networks that traded mostly in slaves salt iron and copper Congo Free State 1877 1908 Edit Main articles Colonisation of the Congo and Congo Free State See also Atrocities in the Congo Free State and Congo Arab war View of Leopoldville Station and Port in 1884 Belgian exploration and administration took place from the 1870s until the 1920s It was first led by Henry Morton Stanley who undertook his explorations under the sponsorship of King Leopold II of Belgium The eastern regions of the precolonial Congo were heavily disrupted by constant slave raiding mainly from Arab Swahili slave traders such as the infamous Tippu Tip who was well known to Stanley 32 Leopold had designs on what was to become the Congo as a colony 33 In a succession of negotiations Leopold professing humanitarian objectives in his capacity as chairman of the front organization Association Internationale Africaine actually played one European rival against another citation needed King Leopold formally acquired rights to the Congo territory at the Conference of Berlin in 1885 and made the land his private property He named it the Congo Free State 33 Leopold s regime began various infrastructure projects such as the construction of the railway that ran from the coast to the capital of Leopoldville now Kinshasa which took eight years to complete In the Free State colonists coerced the local population into producing rubber for which the spread of automobiles and development of rubber tires created a growing international market Rubber sales made a fortune for Leopold who built several buildings in Brussels and Ostend to honor himself and his country To enforce the rubber quotas the Force Publique was called in and made the practice of cutting off the limbs of the natives a matter of policy 34 During the period of 1885 1908 millions of Congolese died as a consequence of exploitation and disease In some areas the population declined dramatically it has been estimated that sleeping sickness and smallpox killed nearly half the population in the areas surrounding the lower Congo River 34 News of the abuses began to circulate In 1904 the British consul at Boma in the Congo Roger Casement was instructed by the British government to investigate His report called the Casement Report confirmed the accusations of humanitarian abuses The Belgian Parliament forced Leopold II to set up an independent commission of inquiry Its findings confirmed Casement s report of abuses concluding that the population of the Congo had been reduced by half during this period 35 Determining precisely how many people died is impossible as no accurate records exist Belgian Congo 1908 1960 Edit Main article Belgian Congo 1908 photograph of a married Christian couple In 1908 the Belgian parliament in spite of initial reluctance bowed to international pressure especially from the United Kingdom and took over the Free State from King Leopold II 36 On 18 October 1908 the Belgian parliament voted in favour of annexing the Congo as a Belgian colony Executive power went to the Belgian minister of colonial affairs assisted by a Colonial Council Conseil Colonial both located in Brussels The Belgian parliament exercised legislative authority over the Belgian Congo In 1923 the colonial capital moved from Boma to Leopoldville some 300 kilometres 190 mi further upstream into the interior 37 Force Publique soldiers in the Belgian Congo in 1918 At its peak the Force Publique had around 19 000 Congolese soldiers led by 420 Belgian officers The transition from the Congo Free State to the Belgian Congo was a break but it also featured a large degree of continuity The last governor general of the Congo Free State Baron Theophile Wahis remained in office in the Belgian Congo and the majority of Leopold II s administration with him 38 Opening up the Congo and its natural and mineral riches to the Belgian economy remained the main motive for colonial expansion however other priorities such as healthcare and basic education slowly gained in importance Colonial administrators ruled the territory and a dual legal system existed a system of European courts and another one of indigenous courts tribunaux indigenes Indigenous courts had only limited powers and remained under the firm control of the colonial administration The Belgian authorities permitted no political activity in the Congo whatsoever 39 and the Force Publique put down any attempts at rebellion The Belgian Congo was directly involved in the two world wars During World War I 1914 1918 an initial stand off between the Force Publique and the German colonial army in German East Africa turned into open warfare with a joint Anglo Belgian Portuguese invasion of German colonial territory in 1916 and 1917 during the East African campaign The Force Publique gained a notable victory when it marched into Tabora in September 1916 under the command of General Charles Tombeur after heavy fighting After 1918 Belgium was rewarded for the participation of the Force Publique in the East African campaign with a League of Nations mandate over the previously German colony of Ruanda Urundi During World War II the Belgian Congo provided a crucial source of income for the Belgian government in exile in London and the Force Publique again participated in Allied campaigns in Africa Belgian Congolese forces under the command of Belgian officers notably fought against the Italian colonial army in Ethiopia in Asosa Bortai 40 and Saio under Major General Auguste Eduard Gilliaert 41 Independence and political crisis 1960 1965 Edit Main articles Congo Crisis and Republic of the Congo Leopoldville The leader of ABAKO Joseph Kasa Vubu first democratically elected President of Congo Leopoldville Patrice Lumumba first democratically elected Prime Minister of the Congo Leopoldville was murdered by Belgian supported Katangan separatists in 1961 In May 1960 a growing nationalist movement the Mouvement National Congolais led by Patrice Lumumba won the parliamentary elections Lumumba became the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo then known as the Republic of the Congo on 24 June 1960 The parliament elected Joseph Kasa Vubu as president of the Alliance des Bakongo ABAKO party Other parties that emerged included the Parti Solidaire Africain led by Antoine Gizenga and the Parti National du Peuple led by Albert Delvaux and Laurent Mbariko 42 The Belgian Congo achieved independence on 30 June 1960 under the name Republique du Congo Republic of Congo or Republic of the Congo in English As the neighboring French colony of Middle Congo Moyen Congo also chose the name Republic of Congo upon achieving its independence the two countries are more commonly known as Congo Leopoldville and Congo Brazzaville after their capital cities Shortly after independence the Force Publique mutinied and on 11 July the province of Katanga led by Moise Tshombe and South Kasai engaged in secessionist struggles against the new leadership 43 44 Most of the 100 000 Europeans who had remained behind after independence fled the country 45 opening the way for Congolese to replace the European military and administrative elite 46 After the United Nations rejected Lumumba s call for help to put down the secessionist movements Lumumba asked for assistance from the Soviet Union who accepted and sent military supplies and advisers On 23 August the Congolese armed forces invaded South Kasai Lumumba was dismissed from office on 5 September 1960 by Kasavubu who publicly blamed him for massacres by the armed forces in South Kasai and for involving Soviets in the country 47 Lumumba declared Kasavubu s action unconstitutional and a crisis between the two leaders developed 48 On 14 September Colonel Joseph Mobutu with the backing of the US and Belgium removed Lumumba from office On 17 January 1961 Lumumba was handed over to Katangan authorities and executed by Belgian led Katangan troops 49 A 2001 investigation by Belgium s Parliament found Belgium morally responsible for the murder of Lumumba and the country has since officially apologised for its role in his death 50 On 18 September 1961 in ongoing negotiations of a cease fire a plane crash near Ndola resulted in the death of Dag Hammarskjold the Secretary General of the United Nations along with all 15 passengers setting off a succession crisis Amidst widespread confusion and chaos a temporary government was led by technicians the College des commissaires generaux Katangan secession ended in January 1963 with the assistance of UN forces Several short lived governments of Joseph Ileo Cyrille Adoula and Moise Kapenda Tshombe took over in quick succession Meanwhile in the east of the country Soviet and Cuban backed rebels called the Simbas rose up taking a significant amount of territory and proclaiming a communist People s Republic of the Congo in Stanleyville The Simbas were pushed out of Stanleyville in November 1964 during Operation Dragon Rouge a military operation conducted by Belgian and American forces to rescue hundreds of hostages Congolese government forces fully defeated the Simba rebels by November 1965 51 Lumumba had previously appointed Mobutu chief of staff of the new Congo army Armee Nationale Congolaise 52 Taking advantage of the leadership crisis between Kasavubu and Tshombe Mobutu garnered enough support within the army to launch a coup A constitutional referendum the year before Mobutu s coup of 1965 resulted in the country s official name being changed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2 In 1971 Mobutu changed the name again this time to Republic of Zaire 53 23 Mobutu dictatorship and Zaire 1965 1997 Edit Main article Zaire Mobutu Sese Seko and Richard Nixon in Washington D C 1973 Mobutu had the staunch support of the United States because of his opposition to communism the U S believed that his administration would serve as an effective counter to communist movements in Africa 54 A single party system was established and Mobutu declared himself head of state He periodically held elections in which he was the only candidate Although relative peace and stability were achieved Mobutu s government was guilty of severe human rights violations political repression a cult of personality and corruption By late 1967 Mobutu had successfully neutralized his political opponents and rivals either through co opting them into his regime arresting them or rendering them otherwise politically impotent 55 Throughout the late 1960s Mobutu continued to shuffle his governments and cycle officials in and out of the office to maintain control Joseph Kasa Vubu s death in April 1969 ensured that no person with First Republic credentials could challenge his rule 56 By the early 1970s Mobutu was attempting to assert Zaire as a leading African nation He traveled frequently across the continent while the government became more vocal about African issues particularly those relating to the southern region Zaire established semi clientelist relationships with several smaller African states especially Burundi Chad and Togo 57 Corruption became so common the term le mal Zairois or Zairian sickness 58 meaning gross corruption theft and mismanagement was coined reportedly by Mobutu 59 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 quarter of what had existed in 1960 Zaire became a kleptocracy as Mobutu and his associates embezzled government funds Mobutu with the Dutch Prince Bernhard in Kinshasa in 1973 In a campaign to identify himself with African nationalism starting on 1 June 1966 Mobutu renamed the nation s cities Leopoldville became Kinshasa the country was known as Congo Kinshasa Stanleyville became Kisangani Elisabethville became Lubumbashi and Coquilhatville became Mbandaka In 1971 Mobutu renamed the country the Republic of Zaire 23 its fourth name change in eleven years and its sixth overall The Congo River was renamed the Zaire River 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 60 Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union 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 armed forces forced him to flee in 1997 From 1990 to 1993 the United States facilitated Mobutu s attempts to hijack political change one academic wrote and also assisted the rebellion of Laurent Desire Kabila that overthrew the Mobutu regime 61 In September 1997 Mobutu died in exile in Morocco 62 Continental and civil wars 1996 2007 Edit Main articles First Congo War and Second Congo War Belligerents of the Second Congo War By 1996 following the Rwandan Civil War and genocide and the ascension of a Tutsi led government in Rwanda Rwandan Hutu militia forces Interahamwe fled to eastern Zaire and used refugee camps as bases for incursions against Rwanda They allied with the Zairian Armed Forces to launch a campaign against Congolese ethnic Tutsis in eastern Zaire 63 A coalition of Rwandan and Ugandan armies invaded Zaire to overthrow the government of Mobutu launching the First Congo War The coalition allied with some opposition figures led by Laurent Desire Kabila becoming the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo In 1997 Mobutu fled and Kabila marched into Kinshasa naming himself as president and reverting the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of the Congo 64 65 Kabila later requested that foreign military forces return to their own countries Rwandan troops retreated to Goma and launched a new Tutsi led rebel military movement called the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie to fight Kabila while Uganda instigated the creation of a rebel movement called the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo led by Congolese warlord Jean Pierre Bemba citation needed The two rebel movements along with Rwandan and Ugandan troops started the Second Congo War by attacking the DRC army in 1998 Angolan Zimbabwean and Namibian militaries entered the hostilities on the side of the government Kabila was assassinated in 2001 66 His son Joseph Kabila succeeded him 67 and called for multilateral peace talks UN peacekeepers MONUC now known as MONUSCO arrived in April 2001 In 2002 03 Bemba intervened in the Central African Republic on behalf of its former president Ange Felix Patasse 68 Talks led to a peace accord under which Kabila would share power with former rebels By June 2003 all foreign armies except those of Rwanda had pulled out of Congo A transitional government was set up until after the election A constitution was approved by voters and on 30 July 2006 DRC held its first multi party elections These were the first free national elections since 1960 which many believed would mark the end to violence in the region 69 However an election result dispute between Kabila and Bemba turned into a skirmish between their supporters in Kinshasa MONUC took control of the city A new election took place in October 2006 which Kabila won and in December 2006 he was sworn in as president Refugees in the Congo Continued conflicts 2008 2018 Edit Kivu conflict Edit Main article Kivu conflict People fleeing their villages due to fighting between FARDC and rebel groups North Kivu 2012Laurent Nkunda a member of Rally for Congolese Democracy Goma a Rally for Congolese Democracy branch integrated to the army defected along with troops loyal to him and formed the National Congress for the Defence of the People CNDP which began an armed rebellion against the government They were believed by whom to be again backed by Rwanda as a way to tackle the Hutu group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda FDLR In March 2009 after a deal between the DRC and Rwanda Rwandan troops entered the DRC and arrested Nkunda and were allowed to pursue FDLR militants The CNDP signed a peace treaty with the government in which it agreed to become a political party and to have its soldiers integrated into the national army in exchange for the release of its imprisoned members 70 In 2012 Bosco Ntaganda the leader of the CNDP and troops loyal to him mutinied and formed the rebel military March 23 Movement M23 claiming the government had violated the treaty 71 Government troops near Goma during the M23 rebellion in May 2013 In the resulting M23 rebellion M23 briefly captured the provincial capital of Goma in November 2012 72 73 Neighboring countries particularly Rwanda have been accused of arming rebels groups and using them as proxies to gain control of the resource rich country an accusation they deny 74 75 In March 2013 the United Nations Security Council authorized the United Nations Force Intervention Brigade to neutralize armed groups 76 On 5 November 2013 M23 declared an end to its insurgency 77 Additionally in northern Katanga the Mai Mai created by Laurent Kabila slipped out of the control of Kinshasa with Gedeon Kyungu Mutanga s Mai Mai Kata Katanga briefly invading the provincial capital of Lubumbashi in 2013 and 400 000 persons displaced in the province as of 2013 update 78 On and off fighting in the Ituri conflict occurred between the Nationalist and Integrationist Front and the Union of Congolese Patriots who claimed to represent the Lendu and Hema ethnic groups respectively In the northeast Joseph Kony s Lord s Resistance Army moved from their original bases in Uganda and South Sudan to DR Congo in 2005 and set up camps in the Garamba National Park 79 80 The war in the Congo has been described as the bloodiest war since World War II 15 On 8 December 2017 fourteen UN soldiers and five Congolese regular soldiers were killed in a rebel attack at Semuliki in Beni territory The rebels were thought to be Allied Democratic Forces 81 UN investigations confirmed that aggressor in the December attack 82 In 2009 The New York Times reported that people in the Congo continued to die at a rate of an estimated 45 000 per month 83 estimates of the number who have died from the long conflict range from 900 000 to 5 400 000 84 The death toll is caused by widespread disease and famine reports indicate that almost half of the individuals who have died are children under five years of age 85 There have been frequent reports of weapon bearers killing civilians of the destruction of property of widespread sexual violence 86 causing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes and of other breaches of humanitarian and human rights law One study found that more than 400 000 women are raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo every year 87 In 2018 and 2019 Congo reported the highest levels of sexual violence in the world 69 According to the Human Rights Watch and the New York University based Congo Research Group armed troops in DRC s eastern Kivu region have killed over 1 900 civilians and kidnapped at least 3 300 people since June 2017 to June 2019 88 Kabila s term in office and multiple anti government protests Edit In 2015 major protests broke out across the country and protesters demanded that Kabila step down as president The protests began after the passage of a law by the Congolese lower house that if also passed by the Congolese upper house would keep Kabila in power at least until a national census was conducted a process which would likely take several years and therefore keep him in power past the planned 2016 elections which he is constitutionally barred from participating in This bill passed however it was gutted of the provision that would keep Kabila in power until a census took place A census is supposed to take place but it is no longer tied to when the elections take place In 2015 elections were scheduled for late 2016 and a tenuous peace held in the Congo 89 On 27 November 2016 Congolese foreign minister Raymond Tshibanda told the press no elections would be held in 2016 after 20 December the end of president Kabila s term In a conference in Madagascar Tshibanda said that Kabila s government had consulted election experts from Congo the United Nations and elsewhere and that it has been decided that the voter registration operation will end on July 31 2017 and that election will take place in April 2018 90 Protests broke out in the country on 20 December when Kabila s term in office ended Across the country dozens of protesters were killed and hundreds were arrested Renewed regional violence Edit See also Ituri conflict According to Jan Egeland presently Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council the situation in the DRC became much worse in 2016 and 2017 and is a major moral and humanitarian challenge comparable to the wars in Syria and Yemen which receive much more attention Women and children are abused sexually and abused in all possible manners Besides the conflict in North Kivu violence increased in the Kasai region The armed groups were after gold diamonds oil and cobalt to line the pockets of rich men both in the region and internationally There were also ethnic and cultural rivalries at play as well as religious motives and the political crisis with postponed elections Egeland says people believe the situation in the DRC is stably bad but in fact it has become much much worse The big wars of the Congo that were really on top of the agenda 15 years ago are back and worsening 91 Disruption in planting and harvesting caused by the conflict was estimated to escalate starvation in about two million children 92 Human Rights Watch said in 2017 that Kabila recruited former March 23 Movement fighters to put down country wide protests over his refusal to step down from office at the end of his term M23 fighters patrolled the streets of Congo s main cities firing on or arresting protesters or anyone else deemed to be a threat to the president they said 93 Fierce fighting has erupted in Masisi between government forces and a powerful local warlord General Delta The United Nations mission in the DRC is its largest and most expensive peacekeeping effort but it shut down five UN bases near Masisi in 2017 after the U S led a push to cut costs 94 On 10 May 2018 Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his effort to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict 2018 ethnic conflict Edit Main article 2018 Yumbi violence A tribal conflict erupted on 16 17 December 2018 at Yumbi in Mai Ndombe Province Nearly 900 Banunu people from four villages were slaughtered by members of the Batende community in a deep rooted rivalry over monthly tribal duties land fields and water resources Some 100 Banunus fled to Moniende island in the Congo River and another 16 000 to Makotimpoko District in Republic of Congo Military style tactics were employed in the bloodbath and some assailants were clothed in army uniforms Local authorities and elements within the security forces were suspected of lending them support 95 2018 election and new president 2018 present Edit President Felix Tshisekedi with the president of neighbouring Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso in 2020 both wear face masks due to the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic On 30 December 2018 a general election was held On 10 January 2019 the electoral commission announced opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi as the winner of the presidential vote 96 and he was officially sworn in as president on 24 January 97 However there were widespread suspicions that the results were rigged and that a deal had been made between Tshisekedi and Kabila The Catholic Church said that the official results did not correspond to the information its election monitors had collected 98 The government had also delayed the vote until March in some areas citing the Ebola outbreak in Kivu as well as the ongoing military conflict This was criticized as these regions are known as opposition strongholds 99 100 101 In August 2019 six months after the inauguration of Felix Tshisekedi a coalition government was announced 102 The political allies of Kabila maintained control of key ministries the legislature judiciary and security services However Tshisekedi succeeded in strengthening his hold on power In a series of moves he won over more legislators gaining the support of almost 400 out of 500 members of the National Assembly The pro Kabila speakers of both houses of parliament were forced out In April 2021 the new government was formed without the supporters of Kabila 103 A major measles outbreak in the country left nearly 5 000 dead in 2019 104 The Ebola outbreak ended in June 2020 which had caused 2 280 deaths over 2 years 105 Another smaller Ebola outbreak in the Equateur Province began in June 2020 ultimately causing 55 deaths 106 107 The global COVID 19 pandemic also reached the DRC in March 2020 with a vaccination campaign beginning on 19 April 2021 108 109 The Italian ambassador to the DRC Luca Attanasio and his bodyguard were killed in North Kivu on 22 February 2021 110 On 22 April 2021 meetings between Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Tshisekedi resulted in new agreements increasing international trade and security counterterrorism immigration cyber security and customs between the two countries 111 In February 2022 allegations of a coup d etat in the country led to uncertainty 112 but the coup attempt failed 113 Geography EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed June 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message The map of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo map of Koppen climate classification Main articles Geography of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Geology of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The DRC is located in central sub Saharan Africa bordered to the northwest by the Republic of the Congo to the north by the Central African Republic to the northeast by South Sudan to the east by Uganda Rwanda and Burundi and by Tanzania across Lake Tanganyika to the south and southeast by Zambia to the southwest by Angola and to the west by the South Atlantic Ocean and the Cabinda Province exclave of Angola The country lies between latitudes 6 N and 14 S and longitudes 12 E and 32 E It straddles the Equator with one third to the north and two thirds to the south With an area of 2 345 408 square kilometres 905 567 sq mi it is the second largest country in Africa by area after Algeria As a result of its equatorial location the DRC experiences high precipitation and has the highest frequency of thunderstorms in the world The annual rainfall can total upwards of 2 000 millimetres 80 in in some places and the area sustains the Congo rainforest the second largest rain forest in the world after the Amazon rainforest 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 The glaciated Rwenzori Mountains are found in the extreme eastern region Ituri Rainforest The tropical climate produced the Congo River system which dominates the region topographically along with the rainforest it flows through The Congo Basin occupies nearly the entire country and an area of nearly 1 000 000 km2 390 000 sq mi The river and its tributaries form the backbone of Congolese economics and transportation Major tributaries include the Kasai Sangha Ubangi Ruzizi Aruwimi and Lulonga Satellite image of Democratic Republic of the Congo The Congo River has the second largest flow and the second largest watershed of any river in the world trailing the Amazon in both respects The sources of the Congo River are in the Albertine Rift Mountains that flank the western branch 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 Then the river narrows and falls through a number of cataracts in deep canyons collectively known as the Livingstone Falls and runs past Boma into the Atlantic Ocean The river and a 37 kilometres 23 mi wide strip of coastline on its north bank provide the country s only outlet to the Atlantic The Albertine Rift plays a key role in shaping the Congo s geography Not only is the northeastern section of the country much more mountainous but tectonic movement results in volcanic activity occasionally with loss of life The geologic activity in this area also created the African Great Lakes four of which lie on the Congo s eastern frontier Lake Albert Lake Kivu Lake Edward and Lake Tanganyika 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 114 Mount Nyiragongo which last erupted in 2021 Salonga National Park Masisi Territory Lake Kivu in North Kivu province On 17 January 2002 Mount Nyiragongo erupted with the lava running out at 64 km h 40 mph and 46 m 50 yd wide One of the three streams of extremely fluid lava flowed through 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 ruining a runway and trapping several airplanes Six months after the eruption nearby Mount Nyamuragira also erupted Mount Nyamuragira then erupted in 2006 and again in January 2010 115 Biodiversity and conservation Edit Main articles Wildlife of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature and Environmental issues in the Democratic Republic of the CongoFurther information List of ecoregions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Bas Congo landscape An Okapi A male western gorilla Hippopotami 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 the African forest elephant the mountain gorilla the okapi and the white rhinoceros 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 Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of 17 Megadiverse countries and is the most biodiverse African country 116 Conservationists have particularly worried about primates The Congo is inhabited by several great ape species the common chimpanzee Pan troglodytes the bonobo Pan paniscus the eastern gorilla Gorilla beringei and possibly the western gorilla Gorilla gorilla 117 It is the only country in the world in which bonobos are found in the wild Much concern has been raised about great ape extinction Because of hunting and habitat destruction the chimpanzee the bonobo and the gorilla each of whose populations once numbered in the millions have now dwindled down to only about 200 000 gorillas 100 000 chimpanzees and possibly only about 10 000 bonobos 118 119 The gorillas chimpanzee bonobo and okapi are all classified as endangered by the World Conservation Union Major environmental issues in DRC include deforestation poaching which threatens wildlife populations water pollution and mining Displaced refugees cause or are otherwise responsible for significant deforestation soil erosion and wildlife poaching Another significant issue is environmental damage from the mining of minerals especially diamonds gold and coltan a mineral used to manufacture capacitors Administrative divisions EditMain articles Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Territories of the Democratic Republic of the CongoFurther information Administrative divisions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The country is currently divided into the city province of Kinshasa and 25 other provinces 2 The provinces are subdivided into 145 territories and 32 cities Before 2015 the country had 11 provinces 120 1 Kinshasa 14 Ituri Province2 Kongo Central 15 Haut Uele3 Kwango 16 Tshopo4 Kwilu Province 17 Bas Uele5 Mai Ndombe Province 18 Nord Ubangi6 Kasai Province 19 Mongala7 Kasai Central 20 Sud Ubangi8 Kasai Oriental 21 Equateur9 Lomami Province 22 Tshuapa10 Sankuru 23 Tanganyika Province11 Maniema 24 Haut Lomami12 South Kivu 25 Lualaba Province13 North Kivu 26 Haut Katanga ProvinceGovernment and politics EditMain article Politics of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Joseph Kabila was President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from January 2001 to January 2019 After a four year interlude between two constitutions with new political institutions established at the various levels of government as well as new administrative divisions for the provinces throughout the country a new constitution came into effect in 2006 and politics in the Democratic Republic of the Congo finally settled into a stable presidential democratic republic The 2003 transitional constitution 121 had established a parliament with a bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate and a National Assembly The Senate had among other things the charge of drafting the new constitution of the country The executive branch was vested in a 60 member cabinet headed by a President and four vice presidents The President was also the Commander in Chief of the armed forces The transitional constitution also established a relatively independent judiciary headed by a Supreme Court with constitutional interpretation powers 122 The 2006 constitution also known as the Constitution of the Third Republic came into effect in February 2006 It had concurrent authority however with the transitional constitution until the inauguration of the elected officials who emerged from the July 2006 elections Under the new constitution the legislature remained bicameral the executive was concomitantly undertaken by a President and the government led by a Prime Minister appointed from the party able to secure a majority in the National Assembly The government not the President is responsible to the Parliament The new constitution also granted new powers to the provincial governments creating provincial parliaments which have oversight of the Governor and the head of the provincial government whom they elect The new constitution also saw the disappearance of the Supreme Court which was divided into three new institutions The constitutional interpretation prerogative of the Supreme Court is now held by the Constitutional Court 123 Although located in the Central African UN subregion the nation is also economically and regionally affiliated with Southern Africa as a member of the Southern African Development Community SADC 124 Foreign relations Edit See also Foreign relations of the Democratic Republic of the Congo President Joseph Kabila with U S President Barack Obama in August 2014 The global growth in demand for scarce raw materials and the industrial surges in China India Russia Brazil and other developing countries require that developed countries employ new integrated and responsive strategies for identifying and ensuring on a continual basis an adequate supply of strategic and critical materials required for their security needs 125 Highlighting the DR Congo s importance to United States national security the effort to establish an elite Congolese unit is the latest push by the U S to professionalize armed forces in this strategically important region 126 There are economic and strategic incentives to bring more security to the Congo which is rich in natural resources such as cobalt a strategic and critical metal used in many industrial and military applications 125 The largest use of cobalt is in superalloys used to make jet engine parts Cobalt is also used in magnetic alloys and in cutting and wear resistant materials such as cemented carbides The chemical industry consumes significant quantities of cobalt in a variety of applications including catalysts for petroleum and chemical processing drying agents for paints and inks ground coats for porcelain enamels decolorant for ceramics and glass and pigments for ceramics paints and plastics The country possesses 80 of the world s cobalt reserves 127 It is thought that due to the importance of cobalt for batteries for electric vehicles and stabilization of electric grids with large proportions of intermittent renewables in the electricity mix the DRC could become an object of increased geopolitical competition 125 In the 21st century Chinese investment in the DRC and Congolese exports to China have grown rapidly In July 2019 UN ambassadors of 37 countries including DRC have signed a joint letter to the UNHRC defending China s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities 128 In 2021 President Felix Tshisekedi called for a review of mining contracts signed with China by his predecessor Joseph Kabila 129 in particular the Sicomines multibillion minerals for infrastructure deal 130 131 Military Edit See also Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo FARDC soldiers on patrol in Ituri province The Forces Armees de la Republique Democratique du Congo FARDC consist of about 144 000 personnel the majority of whom are part of the land forces also with a small air force and an even smaller navy The FARDC was established in 2003 after the end of the Second Congo War and integrated many former rebel groups into its ranks Due to the presence of undisciplined and poorly trained ex rebels as well as a lack of funding and having spent years fighting against different militias the FARDC suffers from rampant corruption and inefficiency The agreements signed at the end of the Second Congo War called for a new national restructured and integrated army that would be made up of Kabila s government forces the FAC the RCD and the MLC Also stipulated was that rebels like the RCD N RCD ML and the Mai Mai would become part of the new armed forces It also provided for the creation of a Conseil Superieur de la Defense Superior Defence Council which would declare states of siege or war and give advice on security sector reform disarmament demobilisation and national defence policy The FARDC is organised on the basis of brigades which are dispersed throughout the provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Congolese troops have been fighting the Kivu conflict in the eastern North Kivu region the Ituri conflict in the Ituri region and other rebellions since the Second Congo War Besides the FARDC the largest peacekeeping mission of the United Nations known as MONUSCO is also present in the country with about 18 000 peacekeepers The Democratic Republic of Congo signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons 132 Corruption Edit Main article Corruption in the Democratic Republic of the Congo A relative of Mobutu explained how the government illicitly collected revenue during his rule Mobutu would ask one of us to go to the bank and take out a million We d go to an intermediary and tell him to get five million He would go to the bank with Mobutu s authority and take out ten Mobutu got one and we took the other nine 133 Mobutu institutionalized corruption to prevent political rivals from challenging his control leading to an economic collapse in 1996 134 Mobutu allegedly stole as much as US 4 5 billion while in office 135 He was not the first corrupt Congolese leader by any means Government as a system of organized theft goes back to King Leopold II noted Adam Hochschild in 2009 136 In July 2009 a Swiss court determined that the statute of limitations had run out on an international asset recovery case of about 6 7 million of deposits of Mobutu s in a Swiss bank and therefore the assets should be returned to Mobutu s family 137 President Kabila established the Commission of Repression of Economic Crimes upon his ascension to power in 2001 138 However in 2016 the Enough Project issued a report claiming that the Congo is run as a violent kleptocracy 139 In June 2020 a court in the Democratic Republic of Congo found President Tshisekedi s chief of staff Vital Kamerhe guilty of corruption He was sentenced to 20 years hard labour after facing charges of embezzling almost 50m 39m of public funds He was the most high profile figure to be convicted of corruption in the DRC 140 However Kamerhe was released already in December 2021 141 In November 2021 a judicial investigation targeting Kabila and his associates was opened in Kinshasa after revelations of alleged embezzlement of 138 million 142 Human rights Edit A group of demobilized child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Main article Human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Further information Sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo The International Criminal Court investigation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was initiated by Kabila in April 2004 The International Criminal Court prosecutor opened the case in June 2004 Child soldiers have been used on a large scale in DRC and in 2011 it was estimated that 30 000 children were still operating with armed groups 143 Instances of child labor and forced labor have been observed and reported in the U S Department of Labor s Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the DRC in 2013 144 and six goods produced by the country s mining industry appear on the department s December 2014 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor Crime and law enforcement Edit Main article Crime in the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Congolese National Police are the primary police force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 145 Violence against women Edit Main articles Sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Military macho violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and International Criminal Court investigation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Violence against women seems to be perceived by large sectors of society to be normal 146 The 2013 2014 DHS survey pp 299 found that 74 8 of women agreed that a husband is justified in beating his wife in certain circumstances 147 The United Nations Committee on the Elimination 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 148 149 Mass rapes sexual violence and sexual slavery are used as a weapon of war by the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and armed groups in the eastern part of the country 150 The eastern part of the country in particular has been described as the rape capital of the world and the prevalence of sexual violence there described as the worst in the world 151 152 Female genital mutilation FGM is also practiced in DRC although not on a large scale The prevalence of FGM is estimated at 5 of women 153 154 FGM is illegal the law imposes a penalty of two to five years of prison and a fine of 200 000 Congolese francs on any person who violates the physical or functional integrity of the genital organs 155 156 In July 2007 the International Committee of the Red Cross expressed concern about the situation in eastern DRC 157 A phenomenon of pendulum displacement has developed where people hasten at night to safety According to Yakin Erturk the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women who toured eastern Congo in July 2007 violence against women in North and South Kivu included unimaginable brutality Erturk added that Armed groups attack local communities loot rape kidnap women and children and make them work as sexual slaves 158 In December 2008 GuardianFilms of The Guardian released a film documenting the testimony of over 400 women and girls who had been abused by marauding militia 159 In June 2010 Oxfam reported a dramatic increase in the number of rapes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and researchers from Harvard discovered that rapes committed by civilians had increased seventeenfold 160 In June 2014 Freedom from Torture published reported rape and sexual violence being used routinely by state officials in Congolese prisons as punishment for politically active women 161 The women included in the report were abused in several locations across the country including the capital Kinshasa and other areas away from the conflict zones 161 In 2015 figures both inside and outside of the country such as Filimbi and Emmanuel Weyi spoke out about the need to curb violence and instability as the 2016 elections approached 162 163 Economy EditMain articles Economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Poverty in the Democratic Republic of the Congo A proportional representation of Democratic Republic of the Congo exports 2019 Change in per capita GDP of Congo 1950 2018 Figures are inflation adjusted to 2011 International dollars The Central Bank of the Congo is responsible for developing and maintaining the Congolese franc which serves as the primary form of currency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo In 2007 The World Bank decided to grant the Democratic Republic of Congo up to 1 3 billion in assistance funds over the following three years 164 The Congolese government started negotiating membership in the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa OHADA in 2009 165 The DRC is widely considered one of the world s richest countries in natural resources its untapped deposits of raw minerals are estimated to be worth in excess of US 24 trillion 166 167 168 The DRC has 70 of the world s coltan a third of its cobalt more than 30 of its diamond reserves and a tenth of its copper 169 170 Despite such vast mineral wealth the economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has declined drastically since the mid 1980s The DRC generated up to 70 of its export revenue from minerals in the 1970s and 1980s and was particularly hit when resource prices deteriorated at that time By 2005 90 of the DRC s revenues derived from its minerals 171 Congolese citizens are among the poorest people on Earth DR Congo consistently has the lowest or nearly the lowest nominal GDP per capita in the world The DRC is also one of the twenty lowest ranked countries on the Corruption Perceptions Index Mining Edit Main article Mining industry of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Rough diamonds 1 to 1 5 mm in size from DR Congo The DRC is the world s largest producer of cobalt ore and a major producer of copper and diamonds 172 The latter come from Kasai province in the west By far the largest mines in the DRC are located in southern Katanga province and are highly mechanized with a capacity of several million tons per year of copper and cobalt ore and refining capability for metal ore The DRC is the second largest diamond producing nation in the world 173 and artisanal and small scale miners account for most of its production At independence in 1960 DRC was the second most industrialized country in Africa after South Africa it boasted a thriving mining sector and a relatively productive agriculture sector 174 Foreign businesses have curtailed operations because of uncertainty about the outcome of long term conflicts lack of infrastructure and the difficult operating environment The wars 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 Conditions improved in late 2002 when a large portion of the invading foreign troops withdrew A number of International Monetary Fund and World Bank missions met with the government to help it develop a coherent economic plan and President Kabila began implementing reforms Much economic activity still lies outside the GDP data Through 2011 the DRC had the lowest Human Development Index of the 187 ranked countries 175 DR Congo s Human Development Index scores 1970 2010 Collecting firewood in Basankusu The economy of DRC relies heavily on mining However the smaller scale economic activity from artisanal mining occurs in the informal sector and is not reflected in GDP data 176 A third of the DRC s diamonds are believed to be smuggled out of the country making it difficult to quantify diamond production levels 177 In 2002 tin was discovered in the east of the country but to date has only been mined on a small scale 178 Smuggling of conflict minerals such as coltan and cassiterite ores of tantalum and tin respectively helped to fuel the war in the eastern Congo 179 Katanga Mining Limited a Swiss owned 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 resumed copper production operations in December 2007 and cobalt production in May 2008 180 In April 2013 anti corruption NGOs revealed that Congolese tax authorities had failed to account for 88 million from the mining sector despite booming production and positive industrial performance The missing funds date from 2010 and tax bodies should have paid them into the central bank 181 Later in 2013 the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative suspended the country s candidacy for membership due to insufficient reporting monitoring and independent audits but in July 2013 the country improved its accounting and transparency practices to the point where the EITI gave the country full membership In February 2018 global asset management firm AllianceBernstein 182 defined the DRC as economically the Saudi Arabia of the electric vehicle age because of its cobalt resources as essential to the lithium ion batteries that drive electric vehicles 183 Transportation Edit Main article Transport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Train from Lubumbashi arriving in Kindu on a newly refurbished line 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 The DRC has more navigable rivers and moves more passengers and goods by boat and ferry than any other country in Africa but air transport remains the only effective means of moving goods and people between many places within the country especially in rural areas Chronic economic mismanagement political corruption and internal conflicts have led to long term under investment of infrastructure Rail Edit Main article Rail transport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Map of rail network Rail transportation is provided by the Congo Railroad Company Societe nationale des chemins de fer du Congo the Office National des Transports Congo and the Office of the Uele Railways Office des Chemins de fer des Ueles CFU Like much of the infrastructure in the Congo the railways are poorly maintained dirty crowded and dangerous Road Edit The DRC has fewer all weather paved highways than any country of its population and size in Africa a total of 2 250 km 1 400 mi of which only 1 226 km 762 mi is in good condition To put this in perspective the road distance across the country in any direction is more than 2 500 km 1 600 mi e g Matadi to Lubumbashi 2 700 km 1 700 mi by road The figure of 2 250 km 1 400 mi converts to 35 km 22 mi of paved road per 1 000 000 of population Comparative figures for Zambia and Botswana are 721 km 448 mi and 3 427 km 2 129 mi respectively 184 Three routes in the Trans African Highway network pass through DR Congo Tripoli Cape Town Highway this route crosses the western extremity of the country on National Road No 1 between Kinshasa and Matadi a distance of 285 km 177 mi on one of the only paved sections in fair condition Lagos Mombasa Highway the DR Congo is the main missing link in this east west highway and requires a new road to be constructed before it can function Beira Lobito Highway this east west highway crosses Katanga and requires re construction over most of its length being an earth track between the Angolan border and Kolwezi a paved road in very poor condition between Kolwezi and Lubumbashi and a paved road in fair condition over the short distance to the Zambian border Water Edit The DRC has thousands of kilometres of navigable waterways Traditionally water transport has been the dominant means of moving around in approximately two thirds of the country Air Edit As of June 2016 update DR Congo had one major national airline Congo Airways that offered flights inside DR Congo Congo Airways was based at Kinshasa s international airport All air carriers certified by the DRC have been banned from European Union airports by the European Commission because of inadequate safety standards 185 Several international airlines service Kinshasa s international airport and a few also offer international flights to Lubumbashi International Airport Energy Edit Main article Energy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Both coal and crude oil resources were mainly used domestically up to 2008 The DRC has the infrastructure for hydro electricity from the Congo River at the Inga dams 186 The country also possesses 50 of Africa s forests and a river system that could provide hydro electric power to the entire continent according to a UN report on the country s strategic significance and its potential role as an economic power in central Africa 187 The generation and distribution of electricity are controlled by Societe nationale d electricite but only 15 of the country has access to electricity 188 The DRC is a member of three electrical power pools These are Southern African Power Pool East African Power Pool and Central African Power Pool Renewable energy Edit Main article Renewable energy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Because of abundant sunlight the potential for solar development is very high in the DRC There are already about 836 solar power systems in the DRC with a total power of 83 MW located in Equateur 167 Katanga 159 Nord Kivu 170 the two Kasai provinces 170 and Bas Congo 170 Also the 148 Caritas network system has a total power of 6 31 MW 189 Demographics EditMain article Demographics of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Further information Poverty in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Child marriage in Democratic Republic of the Congo Languages Edit The four Bantu languages with elevated national status Main article Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo French is the official language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo It is culturally accepted as the lingua franca facilitating communication among the many different ethnic groups of the Congo According to a 2018 OIF report 49 million Congolese people 51 of the population could read and write in French 190 A 2021 survey found that 74 of the population could speak French making it the most widely spoken language in the country 191 In Kinshasa 67 of the population in 2014 could read and write French and 68 5 could speak and understand it 192 Approximately 242 languages are spoken in the country of which four have the status of national languages Kituba Kikongo Lingala Tshiluba and Swahili Although some limited number of people speak these as first languages most of the population speak them as a second language after the native language of their own ethnic group Lingala was the official language of the Force Publique under Belgian colonial rule and remains to this day the predominant language of the armed forces Since the recent rebellions a good part of the army in the east also uses Swahili where it competes to be the regional lingua franca Under Belgian rule the colonizers 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 This trend was reversed after independence when French became the sole language of education at all levels 193 Since 1975 the four national languages have been reintroduced in the first two years of primary education with French becoming the sole language of education from the third year onward but in practice many primary schools in urban areas solely use French from the first year of school onward 193 Portuguese is taught in the Congolese schools as a foreign language The lexical similarity and phonology with French makes Portuguese a relatively easy language for the people to learn Most of the roughly 175 000 Portuguese speakers in the DRC are Angolan and Mozambican expatriates Ethnic groups Edit Over 200 ethnic groups populate the DRC of which the majority are Bantu peoples Together Mongo Luba Kongo peoples Mangbetu and the Azande peoples constitute around 45 of the population 194 In 2021 the UN estimated the country s population to be 96 million 195 196 a rapid increase from 39 1 million in 1992 despite the ongoing war 197 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 198 Religion Edit Main article Religion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Sts Peter and Paul Cathedral Lubumbashi Our Lady of Peace Cathedral in Bukavu Christianity is the predominant religion of the DRC A 2013 14 survey conducted by the Demographic and Health Surveys Program in 2013 2014 indicated that Christians constituted 93 7 of the population with Catholics making up 29 7 Protestants 26 8 and other Christians 37 2 A new Christian religious movement Kimbanguism had the adherence of 2 8 while Muslims made up 1 199 Other recent estimates have found Christianity the majority religion followed by 95 8 of the population according to a 2010 Pew Research Center 200 estimate while the CIA World Factbook reports this figure to be 95 9 201 The proportion of followers of Islam is variously estimated from 1 202 to 12 203 There are about 35 million Catholics in the country 2 with six archdioceses and 41 dioceses 204 The impact of the Catholic Church is difficult to overestimate Schatzberg has called it the country s only truly national institution apart from the state 205 Its schools have educated over 60 of the nation s primary school students and more than 40 of its secondary students The church owns and manages an extensive network of hospitals schools and clinics as well as many diocesan economic enterprises including farms ranches stores and artisans shops citation needed Sixty two Protestant denominations are federated under the umbrella of the Church of Christ in the Congo It is often referred to as the Protestant Church since it covers most of the DRC Protestants With more than 25 million members it constitutes one of the largest Protestant bodies in the world 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 has about three million members 206 primarily among the Bakongo of Kongo Central and Kinshasa Islam has been present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the 18th century when Arab traders from East Africa pushed into the interior for ivory and slave trading purposes Today Muslims constitute approximately 1 of the Congolese population according to the Pew Research Center The majority are Sunni Muslims citation needed The first members of the Bahaʼi Faith to live in the country came from Uganda in 1953 Four years later the first local administrative council was elected In 1970 the National Spiritual Assembly national administrative council was first elected Though the religion was banned in the 1970s and 1980s due to misrepresentations of foreign governments the ban was lifted by the end of the 1980s In 2012 plans were announced to build a national Bahaʼi House of Worship in the country citation needed 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 elements of Christianity with traditional beliefs and rituals and are not recognized by mainstream churches as part of Christianity New variants of ancient beliefs have become widespread led by US inspired Pentecostal churches which have been in the forefront of witchcraft accusations particularly against children and the elderly clarification needed 207 Children accused of witchcraft are sent away from homes and family often to live on the street which can lead to physical violence against these children 208 clarification needed 209 There are charities supporting street children such as the Congo Children Trust 210 The Congo Children Trust s flagship project is Kimbilio 211 which works to reunite street children in Lubumbashi The usual term for these children is enfants sorciers child witches or enfants dits sorciers children accused of witchcraft Non denominational church organizations have been formed to capitalize on this belief by charging exorbitant fees for exorcisms Though recently outlawed children have been subjected in these exorcisms to often violent abuse at the hands of self proclaimed prophets and priests 212 Education Edit Main article Education in the Democratic Republic of the Congo A classroom in the Democratic Republic of the Congo In 2014 the literacy rate for the population between the ages of 15 and 49 was estimated to be 75 9 88 1 male and 63 8 female according to a DHS nationwide survey 213 The education system is governed by three government ministries the Ministere de l Enseignement Primaire Secondaire et Professionnel MEPSP the Ministere de l Enseignement Superieur et Universitaire MESU and the Ministere des Affaires Sociales MAS Primary education is not free nor compulsory citation needed even though the Congolese constitution says it should be Article 43 of the 2005 Congolese Constitution 214 As a result of the First and Second Congo Wars in the late 1990s early 2000s over 5 2 million children in the country did not receive any education 215 Since the end of the civil war the situation has improved tremendously with the number of children enrolled in primary schools rising from 5 5 million in 2002 to 16 8 million in 2018 and the number of children enrolled in secondary schools rising from 2 8 million in 2007 to 4 6 million in 2015 according to UNESCO 216 Actual school attendance has also improved greatly in recent years with primary school net attendance estimated to be 82 4 in 2014 82 4 of children ages 6 11 attended school 83 4 for boys 80 6 for girls 217 Health Edit Main articles Health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and HIV AIDS in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Development of life expectancy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo The hospitals in the DRC include the General Hospital of Kinshasa The DRC has the world s second highest rate of infant mortality after Chad In April 2011 through aid from Global Alliance for Vaccines a new vaccine to prevent pneumococcal disease was introduced around Kinshasa 218 In 2012 it was estimated that about 1 1 of adults aged 15 49 were living with HIV AIDS 219 Malaria 220 221 and yellow fever are problems 222 In May 2019 the death toll from the Ebola outbreak in DRC surpassed 1 000 223 Maternal health is poor in DRC According to 2010 estimates DRC has the 17th highest maternal mortality rate in the world 224 According to UNICEF 43 5 of children under five are stunted 225 United Nations emergency food relief agency warned that amid the escalating conflict and worsening situation following COVID 19 in the DRC millions of lives were at risk as they could die of hunger According to the data of the World Food Programme in 2020 four in ten people in Congo lacked food security and about 15 6 million were facing a potential hunger crisis 226 Air pollution levels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo DRC are very unhealthy In 2020 annual average air pollution in the Democratic Republic of the Congo stood at 34 2 µg m which is almost 6 8 times the World Health Organization PM2 5 guideline 5 µg m set in September 2021 227 These pollution levels are estimated to reduce the life expectancy of an average citizen of the DRC by almost 2 9 years 227 Currently the DRC does not have a national ambient air quality standard 228 Largest cities Edit Largest cities or towns in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 229 230 Rank Name Province Pop Kinshasa Mbuji Mayi 1 Kinshasa Kinshasa 15 628 000 Lubumbashi Kananga2 Mbuji Mayi Kasai Oriental 2 765 0003 Lubumbashi Haut Katanga 2 695 0004 Kananga Kasai Central 1 593 0005 Kisangani Tshopo 1 366 0006 Bukavu South Kivu 1 190 0007 Tshikapa Kasai 1 024 0008 Bunia Ituri 768 0009 Goma North Kivu 707 00010 Uvira South Kivu 657 000 Migration Edit Population fleeing their villages due to fighting between FARDC and rebels groups Sake North Kivu 30 April 2012 Given the often unstable situation in the country and the condition of state structures it is extremely difficult to obtain reliable migration data However evidence suggests that DRC continues to be a destination country for immigrants in spite of recent declines in their numbers Immigration is very diverse in nature refugees and asylum seekers products of the numerous and violent conflicts in the Great Lakes Region constitute an important subset of the population Additionally the country s large mine operations attract migrant workers from Africa and beyond There is also considerable migration for commercial activities from other African countries and the rest of the world but these movements are not well studied 231 Transit migration towards South Africa and Europe also plays a role Immigration to the DRC has decreased steadily over the past two decades most likely as a result of the armed violence that the country has experienced According to the International Organization for Migration the number of immigrants in the DRC has fallen from just over one million in 1960 to 754 000 in 1990 to 480 000 in 2005 to an estimated 445 000 in 2010 Official figures are unavailable partly due to the predominance of the informal economy in the DRC Data are also lacking on irregular immigrants however given neighbouring countries ethnic links to DRC nationals irregular migration is assumed to be a significant phenomenon 231 Figures for Congolese nationals abroad vary greatly depending on the source from three to six million This discrepancy is due to a lack of official reliable data Emigrants from the DRC are above all long term emigrants the majority of whom live in Africa and to a lesser extent in Europe 79 7 and 15 3 respectively according to estimated 2000 data New destination countries include South Africa and various points en route to Europe The DRC has produced a considerable number of refugees and asylum seekers located in the region and beyond These numbers peaked in 2004 when according to UNHCR there were more than 460 000 refugees from the DRC in 2008 Congolese refugees numbered 367 995 in total 68 of whom were living in other African countries 231 Since 2003 more than 400 000 Congolese migrants have been expelled from Angola 232 Culture EditMain articles Culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Congolese cuisine A Hemba male statue The culture 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 81 million inhabitants 2016 are mainly rural The 30 who live in urban areas have been the most open to Western influences Music Edit The DRC has its influences on Cuban rumba originally kumba from Congo and merengue And those two later give birth to soukous 233 Other African nations produce music genres 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 have set the tone for a generation of young men always dressed up in expensive designer clothes They came to be known as the fourth generation of Congolese music and mostly come from the former well known band Wenge Musica The musical artist Elizo Kisonga who now lives in England is originally from Congo Sports Edit Stade des Martyrs in Kinshasa Many sports are played in the DRC including football basketball and rugby The sports are played in numerous stadiums throughout the country including the Stade Frederic Kibassa Maliba 234 As Zaire they participated in the 1974 FIFA World Cup Internationally the country is especially famous for its professional basketball NBA and football players Dikembe Mutombo is one of the best African basketball players to ever play the game Mutombo is well known for humanitarian projects in his home country Bismack Biyombo Christian Eyenga Jonathan Kuminga and Emmanuel Mudiay are others who gained significant international attention in basketball Several Congolese players and players of Congolese descent including strikers Romelu Lukaku Yannick Bolasie and Dieumerci Mbokani have gained prominence in world football DR Congo has twice won the African Cup of Nations football tournament DR Congo s women s national volleyball team lastly qualified for the 2021 Women s African Nations Volleyball Championship 235 The country featured a national team in beach volleyball that competed at the 2018 2020 CAVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup in both the women s and the men s section 236 Media Edit Main article Media of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Newspapers of the DRC include L Avenir Radion Television Mwangaza La Conscience fr L Observateur fr Le Phare Le Potentiel Le Soft and LeCongolais CD 237 a web based daily 238 Radio Television Nationale Congolaise RTNC is the national broadcaster of the Democratic Republic of the Congo RTNC currently broadcasts in Lingala French and English Literature Edit Congolese authors use literature as a way to develop a sense of national consciousness amongst the people of the DRC Frederick Kambemba Yamusangie writes literature for the between generations of those who grew up in the Congo during the time when they were colonised fighting for independence and after Yamusangie in an interview 239 said he felt the distance in literature and wanted to remedy that he wrote the novel Full Circle which is a story of a boy named Emanuel who in the beginning of the book feels a difference in culture among the different groups in the Congo and elsewhere 240 Rais Neza Boneza an author from the Katanga province wrote novels and poems to promote artistic expressions as a way to address and deal with conflicts 241 See also Edit Democratic Republic of the Congo portalOutline of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Index of Democratic Republic of the Congo related articles Democratic Republic of the Congo South Sudan borderNotes Edit The term Kikongo in the Constitution is actually referring to the Kituba language which is known as Kikongo ya leta by its speakers not the Kongo language proper The confusion arises from the fact that the government of the DRC officially recognizes and refers to the language as Kikongo French Republique democratique du Congo Congo pronounced as kɔ ɡo Also known and abbreviated in English as Congo Kinshasa DR Congo the DRC the DROC 7 the Congo and Zaire via its former nameReferences Edit Joel C National Profiles Thearda com Retrieved 30 September 2022 a b c d e f g Central Intelligence Agency 2014 Democratic Republic of the Congo The World Factbook Langley Virginia Central Intelligence Agency Archived from the original on 22 February 2021 Retrieved 29 April 2014 Congo Democratic Republic of the The World Factbook 2023 ed Central Intelligence Agency Retrieved 24 September 2022 a b c d World Economic Outlook Database October 2022 IMF org International Monetary Fund October 2022 Retrieved 14 December 2022 GINI index coefficient CIA Factbook Archived from the original on 7 July 2021 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Migration 2010 ISBN 978 92 9068 567 8 Archived from the original on 11 May 2011 Retrieved 17 August 2010 Calls for Angola to Investigate Abuse of Congolese Migrants Archived 25 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine Inter Press Service 21 May 2012 Stone Ruth M 2010 The Garland Handbook of African Music p 133 ISBN 978 1 135 90001 4 Archived from the original on 12 May 2016 Retrieved 24 August 2014 Stadiums in the Democratic Republic Congo Archived 6 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine World Stadiums Retrieved 27 February 2013 Rwanda Kicks Off Quest for Africa Women s Volleyball Championship Against Morocco Damas Sikubwabo AllAfrica 12 September 2021 Archived from the original on 18 October 2021 Retrieved 18 October 2021 Continental Cup Finals start in Africa FIVB 22 June 2021 Archived from the original on 7 August 2021 Retrieved 7 August 2021 International Courrier Le Congolais Courrierinternational com Courrier International Archived from the original on 26 November 2015 Retrieved 26 November 2015 Countries Democatric Republic of the Congo News Archive sic Stanford University Libraries amp Academic Information Resources Retrieved 28 April 2014 Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine Frederick Kambemba Yamusangie Interview YouTube Yamusangie Frederick 2003 Full Circle ISBN 978 0595282944 Rais Neza Boneza s Baraza 17 October 2018 Archived from the original on 5 December 2018 Sources Young M Crawford Turner Thomas Edwin 2013 The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State illustrated reprint ed University of Wisconsin Press ISBN 978 0 299 10113 8 Archived from the original on 15 April 2021 Retrieved 7 February 2018 Further reading EditClark John F The African Stakes of the Congo War 2004 Callaghy T The State Society Struggle Zaire in Comparative Perspective New York Columbia University Press 1984 ISBN 0 231 05720 2 Devlin Larry 2007 Chief of Station Congo A Memoir of 1960 67 New York PublicAffairs ISBN 978 1 58648 405 7 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 2002 Exenberger Andreas Hartmann Simon The Dark Side of Globalization The Vicious Cycle of Exploitation from World Market Integration Lesson from the Congo Archived 15 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine Working Papers in Economics and Statistics 31 University Innsbruck 2007 Exenberger Andreas Hartmann Simon Doomed to Disaster Long term Trajectories of Exploitation in the Congo Paper to be presented at the Workshop Colonial Extraction in the Netherlands Indies and Belgian Congo Institutions Institutional Change and Long Term Consequences Utrecht 3 4 December 2010 Gondola Ch Didier The History of Congo Westport Greenwood Press 2002 Joris Lieve translated by Waters Liz The Rebels Hour Atlantic 2008 Justenhoven Heinz Gerhard Ehrhart Hans Georg Intervention im Kongo eine kritische Analyse der Befriedungspolitik von UN und EU Stuttgart Kohlhammer Verlag 2008 In German ISBN 978 3 17 020781 3 Kingsolver Barbara The Poisonwood Bible HarperCollins 1998 Laremont Ricardo Rene 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 Mealer Bryan All Things Must Fight To Live 2008 ISBN 1 59691 345 2 Melvern Linda Conspiracy to Murder The Rwandan Genocide and the International Community Verso 2004 Miller Eric The Inability of Peacekeeping to Address the Security Dilemma 2010 ISBN 978 3 8383 4027 2 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 Congo in The Sixties ISBN 978 1448665709 2009 Africa Dawn of a New Era ISBN 978 9987160488 2015 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 Prunier Gerard Africa s World War Congo the Rwandan Genocide and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe 2011 also published as From Genocide to Continental War The Congolese Conflict and the Crisis of Contemporary Africa The Congo Conflict and the Crisis of Contemporary Africa Renton David Seddon David Zeilig Leo The Congo Plunder and Resistance 2007 ISBN 978 1 84277 485 4 Reyntjens Filip The Great African War Congo and Regional Geopolitics 1996 2006 2009 Rorison Sean Bradt Travel Guide Congo Democratic Republic Republic 2008 Schulz Manfred Entwicklungstrager in der DR Kongo Entwicklungen in Politik Wirtschaft Religion Zivilgesellschaft und Kultur Berlin Lit 2008 in German ISBN 978 3 8258 0425 1 Stearns Jason Dancing in the Glory of Monsters the Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa Public Affairs 2011 Tayler Jeffrey Facing the Congo 2001 Turner Thomas The Congo Wars Conflict Myth and Reality 2007 Van Reybrouck David Congo The Epic History of a People 2014 Wrong Michela In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu s Congo External links EditDemocratic Republic of the Congo at Wikipedia s sister projects Definitions from Wiktionary Media from Commons News from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks span, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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