About Democratic Republic of Congo

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The Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo DRC) is the second largest country in Africa. It is located in Central Africa, and the equator runs through it. The capital city is Kinshasa, known as Leopoldville until 1966. The country was known as Zaire from 1971 to 1997. Congo DRC has more than 200 ethnic groups and approximately 250 languages. The official language is French.

Democratic Republic of Congo was named after the Congo River and the Kongo people. The borders of the country were drawn by the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, which divided Africa arbitrarily and gave the segments as colonies of European nations. Congo was named the Congo Free State and given to King Leopold II of Belgium. Under his reign conditions were inhumanely cruel, and 10 million Congolese were slaughtered. Under worldwide pressure King Leopold turned the country over to Belgium and, in 1908, it became the Belgian Congo. The Congolese people did not fare much better under the Belgians, and independence was declared in 1960. In a free election Joseph Kasavubu became President and Patrice Lumumba Prime Minister. With the complicity of the U.S. government, Prime Minister Lumumba was assassinated in 1961. Intervention by the U.S. and Soviet Union contributed to destabilization of the country, and in 1965 army colonel Joseph Désiré Mobutu seized power. Mobutu enjoyed the support of the United States and retained control of the government until 1997, when he was overthrown by Laurent-Désire Kabila. After Laurent Kabila’s assassination in 2001, the government was taken over by his son Joseph Kabila, who held power until the election of Félix Tshisekedi in 2019.

Recent history:

Since Mobutu was deposed in 1997, Congo DRC has been in a state of civil war. This war has also been called “Africa’s World War,” and there have been more casualties than in any war since World War II. At least 6 million people have been killed, and 15% of children under 18 are orphans. The situation in the Congo is steadily worsening, with widespread abuse of women and children.

The war is largely fueled by Congo’s immense mineral wealth, with all sides in the war taking advantage of the chaos in order to plunder these resources. A primary weapon used by all sides in the war is mass rape; approximately 400,000 women are raped every year. Corruption fed by the immense wealth represented by the minerals has characterized Congo politics.