Democratic Republic of the Congo





The Democratic Republic of the Congo, between 1971 and 1999 called Zaire, is
a nation in central Africa.

                                       Official language  French
                                       Capital            Kinshasa
                                       President          Joseph Kabila

History                                Area               Ranked 12th
                                       Ê- Total           2,345,410
                                       Ê- % water         km²
                                                          3.3%
                                       Population         Ranked 23rd
The area now known as the Democratic   Ê- Total           55,225,478
Republic of the Congo was populated as Ê- Density         24/km²
early as 10,000 years ago, and settled Independence       From Belgium
in the 7th and 8th centuries by Bantus Ê- Date            June 30, 1960
from present-day Nigeria.
                                       Currency           Congolese franc
European exploration and exploitation  Time zone          UTC +1 to UTC +2
took place from the 1870s until the
1920s. The rape of the Congo Free      National anthem    Debout Kongolaise
State stands alone as the single most  Internet TLD       .CD
brutal and greedy episode of           Calling Code       243
colonisation in modern history.

Since 1994, DR Congo has been rent by ethnic strife and civil war, touched
off by a massive inflow of refugees from fighting in Rwanda and Burundi. The
government of former president Mobutu Sese Seko was toppled by a rebellion
led by Laurent-Desire Kabila in May 1997; his regime was subsequently
challenged by a Rwanda- and Uganda-backed rebellion in August 1998. Troops
from Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, Chad, and Sudan intervened to support the
Kinshasa regime. See Foreign relations of Congo.

A cease-fire was signed on 10 July 1999; nevertheless, fighting continues
apace especially in the eastern part of the country, financed by revenues
from the illegal extraction of minerals such as coltan. Kabila was
assassinated in January 2001 and his son Joseph Kabila was named head of
state. The new president quickly began overtures to end the war. Fighting
continued, even after an accord signed in South Africa in 2002. But by late
2003, a fragile peace prevailed. Kabila appointed four vice-presidents, two
who had been fighting to oust him until July, 2003.

Politics

The government of former president Mobutu Sese Seko was toppled by a
rebellion led by Laurent Kabila in May 1997; his regime was subsequently
challenged by a Rwanda- and Uganda-backed rebellion in August 1998. Troops
from Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, Chad, and Sudan intervened to support the
Kinshasa regime. A cease-fire was signed on 10 July 1999 by the DROC,
Zimbabwe, Angola, Uganda, Namibia, Rwanda, and Congolese armed rebel groups,
but sporadic fighting continued. Kabila was assassinated on 16 January 2001
and his son Joseph Kabila was named head of state ten days later. In October
2002, the new president was successful in getting occupying Rwandan forces
to withdraw from eastern Congo; two months later, an agreement was signed by
all remaining warring parties to end the fighting and set up a government of
national unity.

Political divisions

The Congo is devided into 10 provinces, and 1 independent city (Kinshasa):

   * Bandundu
   * Bas-Congo
   * Equateur
   * Kasai-Occidental
   * Kasai-Oriental
   * Katanga
   * Maniema
   * Nord-Kivu
   * Orientale (Congo) (Formerly Haute-Zaire)
   * Sud-Kivu

Geography

The Congo includes the greater part of the Congo River Basin, which covers
an area of almost a million square kilometers. The country's only outlet to
the Atlantic Ocean is a narrow strip of land on the north bank of the Congo River.

The vast, low-lying central area is a basin-shaped plateau sloping toward
the west and covered by tropical rainforest. This area is surrounded by
mountainous terraces in the west, plateaus merging into savannas in the
south and southwest, and dense grasslands extending beyond the Congo River
in the north.

The country lies on the Equator, with one-third to the north and two-thirds
to the south.

Economy

Sparsely populated in relation to its area, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo is home to a vast potential of natural resources and mineral wealth,
yet the economy of the country has declined drastically since the mid-1980s.
Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, accounting for 55% of GDP in 2000.

Demographics

The population was estimated at 56.6 million in 2003, growing quicky from
46.7 million in 1997. As many as 250 ethnic groups have been distinguished
and named. The most numerous people are the Kongo, Luba, and Mongo. Although
700 local languages and dialects are spoken, the linguistic variety is
bridged both by the use of French and the intermediary languages Kikongo,
Tshiluba, Swahili, and Ligala.

About 80% of the Congolese population are Christian, predominantly Roman
Catholic. Most of the non-Christians adhere to either traditional religions
or syncretic sects. Traditional religions embody such concepts as
monotheism, animism, vitalism, spirit and ancestor worship, witchcraft, and
sorcery and vary widely among ethnic groups; none is formalized. The
syncretic sects often merge Christianity with traditional beliefs and
rituals. The most popular of these sects, Kimbanguism, was seen as a threat
to the colonial regime and was banned by the Belgians. Kimbanguism,
officially "the church of Christ on Earth by the prophet Simon Kimbangu,"
now has about 3 million members, primarily among the Bakongo of Bas-Congo
and Kinshasa.