Encyclopedia
The
Democratic Republic of the Congo , also often referred to as
DRC,
RDC,
DR Congo,
Congo or
Congo-Kinshasa, and formerly as
Zaire , is the third largest country on the African continent. Though it is located in the Central African UN subregion, the nation is economically and regionally affiliated with Southern Africa as a member of the Southern African Development Community . It borders the
Central African Republic and
Sudan on the north,
Uganda,
Rwanda,
Burundi, and
Tanzania on the east,
Zambia and
Angola on the south, and the
Republic of the Congo on the west. The country enjoys access to the sea through a narrow forty kilometre stretch, following the
Congo river into the
Gulf of Guinea. The name "Congo" is coined after the Bakongo ethnic group, living in the Congo river basin.
Formerly the
Belgian colony of the
Belgian Congo, the country's post-independence name was changed in 1971, from Congo-
Kinshasa to
Zaire, until 1997. Since 1998, the country has suffered greatly from the devastating
Second Congo War , the world's deadliest conflict since
World War II.
History
Congolese pre-history
The earliest artefacts, evidence of the first human settlements in Congo, are Pre-Acheulean tools found at the Mulundwa , Katanda 2 and Sanga 5 archaeological sites . The chopping tools and choppers are estimated to date back to before - years, though we can not be more specific today.
The country was peopled in very ancient times by groups of hunter-collectors, some of them maybe ancestors of today's pygmies. In the large time period between the earliest hunter-gatherer inhabitants and the coming of the first villagers, Congo will always be settled by various stone knapping nomad groups of different Traditions.
A wave of advance of Neolithic peoples is identified in the Northern and North-Western parts of Central Africa during the second millenium BC. They were food producing , with some domestic stock, and developped a kind of arboriculture mainly based on the oil palm. Several centuries later, around - years, bananas were known to some in south Cameroon.
From - to -, starting off from a nucleus area in South Cameroon on both banks of the Sanaga River, the first Neolithic peopling of northern and western Central Africa can be followed south-eastwards and southwards.
In R.D. Congo the first villages in the vicinity of Mbandaka and the Tumba Lake are known as the 'Imbonga Tradition' around - years. In Lower-Congo, North of the angolan border, it is the 'Ngovo Tradition' around - years which shows the arrival of the Neolithic wave of advance.
In Kivu, across the country to the East, the 'Urewe Tradition' villages first show up around - years. The few archaeological sites known in Congo are a western extension of the 'Urewe' Culture which is mainly known in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Western Kenya and Tanzania. From the start of this Tradition, the people knew iron smelting as it is evidenced by several iron smelting furnaces excavated in Rwanda and Burundi.
The earliest evidence further to the West is known around Yaoundé in Cameroon, and near to the small town of Bouar in Centrafrique. Though an ongoing discussion will ultimately give us a better chronology for the start of iron production in Centrafrique, it can be said the cameroonian data pinpoints around - / - years iron smelting north of the Equatorial Forest. This technology developped in an independant way from the previous Neolithic expansion some 900 years later. As fieldwork done by a German team shows, the Congo river network was slowly settled by food producing villagers going upstream in the forest. Work from a Spanish project in the Ituri area further East suggests villages reached there only around - years.
The supposedly bantu-speaking Neolithic thence Iron producing villagers added to and displaced the indigenous
Pygmy populations into secondary parts of the country. Subsequent migrations from the
Darfur and
Kordofan regions of
Sudan into the northeast, as well as
East Africans migrating into the eastern
Congo added to the mix of ethnic groups. The Bantus imported a mixed economy made up of agriculture, small stock raising, fishing, fruit collecting, hunting and arboriculture before - years; iron-working techniques, possibly from
West Africa, are a much later addition. The villagers established the Bantu language family as the primary set of tongues for the Congolese.
In the fifth century, a society began to develop in a region that initially encompassed only a 200 kilometre area along the banks of the Lualaba River in the modern day
Katanga Province. This culture, known as the Upemba, would eventually evolve into the more significant Luba kingdom.
The process in which the original Upemba societies transitioned into the Luba kingdom was gradual and complex. This transition ran without interruption, with several distinct societies developing out of the Upemba culture prior to the genesis of the Luba. Each of these kingdoms became very wealthy due mainly to the region's mineral wealth, especially in
ores. The civilization began to develop and implement
iron and
copper technology, in addition to trading in
ivory and other goods. The Luba established a strong commercial demand for their metal technologies and were able to institute a long-range commercial net . By the 1500s, the kingdom had an established strong central government based on chieftainship.In Zaire there's many people.
The Congo Free State
European exploration and administration took place from the 1870s until the 1920s — first by
Sir Henry Morton Stanley who undertook his explorations mainly under the sponsorship of
King Leopold II of Belgium, who desired what was to become the Congo as a colony. In a succession of negotiations, Leopold, professing humanitarian objectives in his capacity as chairman of the Association Internationale Africaine, played one European rival against the other. The Congo territory was acquired formally by Leopold at the
Conference of Berlin in 1885. He made the land his private property and named it the
Congo Free State. Leopold's regime began undertaking various development projects, such as the railway that ran from the coast to Leopoldville which took years to complete. Nearly all these projects were aimed at increasing the capital Leopold and his cohorts could extract from the colony, leading to atrocious exploitation of Africans. In the Free State, the local population was brutalized in exchange for
rubber, a growing market with the development of rubber tires. The selling of the rubber made a fortune for Leopold, who built several buildings in
Brussels and
Ostend to honour himself and his country. During the period between 1885 and 1908, between five and fifteen million Congolese died as a consequence of exploitation and diseases. A government commission later concluded that the population of the Congo had been "reduced by half" during this brutal period. To enforce the rubber quotas, the
Force Publique was called in. The FP was an army, but its aim was not to defend the country, but to terrorise the local population. The Force Publique made the practice of cutting off the limbs of the natives as a means of enforcing rubber quotas a matter of policy; this practice was disturbingly widespread. There were international protests, however, spearheaded mainly by E. D. Morel and British diplomat/Irish patriot
Roger Casement, whose 1904 report on the Congo condemned the practice, as well as famous writers such as
Mark Twain.
Joseph Conrad's novella
Heart of Darkness is a novella [i] by Joseph Conrad [i]. ...
also takes place in Congo Free State. In 1908, the Belgian parliament, which was at first reluctant, bowed to international pressure by taking over the Free State from the king as a Belgian colony. From then on, it became the
Belgian Congo.
The Belgian administration: Belgian Congo
As soon as the Belgian Government took over the Congolese Administration from King Leopold II, the situation in the Congo improved dramatically. Economic and social changes transformed the Congo into a model colony. Hospitals and primary and high schools were built, and many Congolese had access to them. Even the ethnic languages were taught at school, a rare occurrence in colonial education. Doctors and medics achieved great victories against the
sleeping sickness. The Administration continued with the economic reforms with the construction of railways, ports, roads, mines, plantations, industrial areas, etc. In the 1950s, life expectancy was around 55 years; today it is 51.
The Congolese, however, lacked political power. Everything was decided in Leopoldville and Brussels. The Belgian Colony-secretary and the Governor-general had absolute power, while the people had none. Among the Congolese people, the resistance against this lack of democracy grew. In 1955, the upper class in the Congolese civilization, the so-called "évolués," initiated a campaign to end the inequality.
During
World War II, the small Congolese army achieved several victories against the
Italians in North Africa. The Belgian Congo, which was also rich in
uranium deposits, supplied the uranium that was used by the USA to build the
atomic bombs that
destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, at the end of World War II.
Political crises
In May 1960, the MNC party or Mouvement National Congolais, led by
Patrice Lumumba, won the parliamentary elections, and Lumumba was appointed Prime Minister.
Joseph Kasavubu, of the ABAKO party, was elected President by the parliament. Other parties that emerged include the Parti Solidaire Africain and the Parti National du Peuple .
The Belgian Congo achieved independence on June 30, 1960 under the name Republic of Congo or Republic of the Congo . As the French colony of Middle Congo also chose the name Republic of Congo upon receiving its independence, the two countries were more commonly known as Congo-Léopoldville and Congo-Brazzaville, after their capital cities. In 1966, Joseph Mobutu changed the country's official name to Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Shortly after independence, the provinces of
Katanga and
South Kasai engaged in secessionist struggles against the new leadership.
Subsequent events led to a crisis between President Kasavubu and Prime Minister Lumumba. On September 5, 1960, Kasavubu dismissed Lumumba from office. Lumumba declared Kasavubu's action "unconstitutional" and a crisis between the two leaders developed.
Lumumba had previously appointed
Joseph Mobutu chief of staff of the new Congo army, Armee Nationale Congolaise . Taking advantage of the leadership crisis between Kasavubu and Lumumba, Mobutu garnered enough support within the army to create sentiment sufficient to inspire mutinous action. With financial support from the United States and Belgium, Mobutu made payments to his soldiers in order to generate their loyalty. The aversion of Western powers towards communism and leftist ideology in general influenced their decision to finance Mobutu's quest to maintain "order" in the new state by neutralizing Kasavubu and Lumumba in a coup by proxy.
On January 17, 1961, Katangan forces, supported by the Belgian government's desire to retain rights to mine for copper and diamonds in Katanga and South Kasai and the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency's desire to remove any leftist sympathizers in the region, assassinated Patrice Lumumba. Amidst widespread confusion and chaos, several governments led by technicians , Joseph Ileo, Cyrille Adoula, Moise Tshombe, and Evariste Kimba, took over in quick succession.
Zaire
Following 5 years of extreme instability and civil unrest,
Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, now Lieutenant General, overthrew Kasavubu in a 1965
Central Intelligence Agency-backed
coup d'état. He had the support of the US because of his staunch opposition to Communism, which would presumably make him a roadblock to Communist schemes in Africa. It is also argued that the Western support for Mobutu was also related to his allowing businesses to export the many natural resources of Zaire without worrying about environmental, labor, or other regulations that protect against corruption and abuse. A one-party system was established, and Mobutu declared himself head of state. He would occasionally hold elections in which he was the only candidate.
Relative peace and stability was achieved; however, Mobutu's government was accused of
human rights violations, repression, a
cult of personality , and excessive corruption. In 1984 he was said to have 4 billion U.S. dollars, an amount close to the country's national debt, stashed away in personal Swiss bank accounts.
In an effort to spread African national awareness, starting on June 1 1966, Mobutu renamed the nation's cities . This city-renaming campaign was completed in the 1970s. In 1971, he renamed the country the Republic of Zaire, its fourth name change in 11 years and its sixth overall. The Congo River became the Zaire River. In 1972, Mobutu renamed himself
Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga.
Following the
collapse of the Soviet Union, U.S. relations with
Kinshasa cooled, as Mobutu was no longer deemed a necessary
Cold War ally, and his 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, and Mobutu's rule continued until conflict forced him to flee Zaire in 1997.
Conflict and transition
Since 1994, the Congo has been rent by ethnic strife and civil war, touched off by a
massive inflow of refugees fleeing the
Rwandan Genocide. The government of
Mobutu Sese Seko was toppled by a rebellion led by
Laurent-Désiré Kabila in May 1997; he changed the country's name back to Democratic Republic of The Congo-Kinshasa. His former allies soon turned against him, however, and his regime was challenged by a Rwandan and
Ugandan-backed rebellion in August 1998. Troops from
Zimbabwe,
Angola,
Namibia,
Chad, and
Sudan intervened to support the new regime in Kinshasa. See Foreign relations of Congo and
First Congo War.
A cease-fire was signed on July 10 1999; nevertheless, fighting continued apace especially in the eastern part of the country, financed by revenues from the illegal extraction of minerals such as coltan,
cassiterite and
diamonds. 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 and an accord was signed in
South Africa in 2002. By late 2003, a fragile peace prevailed as
the Transitional Government was formed. Kabila appointed four vice presidents, two of whom had been fighting to oust him until July 2003. Much of the east of the country remains insecure, primarily due to the
Ituri conflict and the continued activity of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda in the Kivus.
This period of conflict has been the bloodiest in history since World War II. Almost four million people have died as a result of the fighting. The United Nations is concerned that 1000 people a day are still dying as a result of the conflict and have described 2006 as a "make or break point" for the continuing humanitarian crisis.
On July 30, 2006 the Congo held its
first multi-party elections since independence in 1960. After this
Joseph Kabila took 45% of the votes and his main opponent Jean-Pierre Bemba took 20%. That was the origin of a two-day fight between the two factions from August 20, 2006 in the streets of the capital,
Kinshasa. Sixteen people died before police and the UN mission,
MONUC, took control of the city. A second round of elections between the two leading candidates, Kabila and Bemba, will be held on 29 October, 2006.
Politics
The current political situation is slightly ambiguous because the Congo is living in the interregnum between two constitutions that establish different political institutions at the various levels of all branches of government, as well as different administrative divisions of the country. Politics in the Democratic Republic of the Congo therefore take place in a framework of a republic in transition from a civil war to a
presidential democratic
republic.
The
established a system composed of a
bicameral legislature with a Senate and a National Assembly. The Senate has, among other things, the charge of drafting the new constitution of the country. The executive branch is vested in a 60-member cabinet, headed by a President, and four vice presidents. The President is also the Commander-in Chief of the Armed forces. The unusual organization of the executive — considering the large number of vice presidents — has earned it the very official nickname of
The 1 + 4.
The transition constitution also established a relatively independent judiciary, headed by a Supreme Court with constitutional interpretation powers.
The 2006 constitution, also known as the
Constitution of the Third Republic, came into effect in February 2006. It has concurrent authority, however, with the transition constitution until the inauguration of the elected officials that will emerge from the July 2006 elections. Under this constitution, the legislature will remain bicameral; the executive will be concomitantly undertaken by a President and the government; and the latter will be led by a Prime Minister, appointed from the party with the majority at the National Assembly. The government — not the President — is responsible to the Parliament.
The provincial governments will gain new powers, under the new decentralized model, with the creation of provincial parliaments, with oversight over the Governor, head of the provincial government, whom they elect.
The new constitution also sees the disappearance of the Supreme Court, which is divided into three new institutions. The constitutional interpretation prerogative of the Supreme Court will be held by the Constitutional Council.
Administrative divisions
The Congo is divided into 25 provinces, and one independent city . Before the constitution approved in February 2006, there were 10 provinces plus Kinshasa. )
- Kinshasa
...
- Kongo central
- Kwango
- Kwilu
- Mai-Ndombe
- Kasaï
- Lulua
- Kasaï Oriental
- Lomami
- Sankuru
- Maniema
- Sud-Kivu
- Nord-Kivu
- Ituri
- Haut-Uele
- Tshopo
- Bas-Uele
- Nord-Ubangi
- Mongala
- Sud-Ubangi
- Équateur
- Tshuapa
- Tanganyika
- Haut-Lomami
- Lualaba
- Haut-Katanga
Major cities
Official Congolese name - French name - Dutch name
Geography
The Congo is situated at the heart of the west-central portion of
sub-Saharan Africa and is bounded by
Angola, the
Republic of Congo, the
Central African Republic, the
Sudan,
Uganda,
Rwanda,
Burundi,
Tanzania across
Lake Tanganyika, and
Zambia. Its territory also straddles the
Equator, with one-third to the north and two-thirds to the south. The size of Congo, 2,345,410 km², is comparable to that of
Western Europe.
As a result of its equatorial location, the Congo experiences large amounts of precipitation and has the highest frequency of thunderstorms on Earth. The annual rainfall can total upwards of 80 inches in some places, and the area sustains the second largest rain forest in the world . This massive expanse of lush jungle covers most of the vast, low-lying central
basin of the river, which slopes toward the
Atlantic Ocean in the west. This area is surrounded by plateaus merging into savannas in the south and southwest, by mountainous terraces in the west, and dense
grasslands extending beyond the
Congo River in the north. High mountains are found in the extreme eastern region.
The tropical climate has also produced the
Congo River system which dominates the region topographically along with the rainforest it flows through, . The name for the "Congo" state is derived from that of the river, along with that of the
Kongo Empire which controlled much of the region in precolonial times. The river basin occupy nearly the entire country and an area of nearly one million square kilometers . The river and its tributaries form the backbone of Congolese economics and transportation, they have a drastic impact on the daily lives of the people. The sources of the Congo are in the highlands and mountains of the
East African Rift, as well as
Lake Tanganyika and Lake Mweru. The river flows generally west from Kisangani just below Boyoma Falls, then gradually bends southwest, passing by
Mbandaka, joining with the Ubangi River, and running into the
Pool Malebo . Kinshasa and
Brazzaville are actually on opposite sides of the river at the Pool , then the river narrows and falls through a number of cataracts in deep canyons , and then running past Boma into the Atlantic. The river also has the second-largest flow and the second-largest
watershed of any river in the world . The river provides the country's only outlet to the Atlantic, a narrow strip of land on its north bank, otherwise the Congo would be completely landlocked.
The previously mentioned
Great Rift Valley, in particular the Eastern Rift, plays a key role in shaping the Congo's geography. Not only is the northeastern section of the country much more mountainous, but due the rift's
tectonic activities, this area also experiences low levels of
volcanic activity. The rifting of the African continent in this area has also manifested itself as the famous
Great Lakes which lie on the Congo's eastern frontier. The country is bordered in the east by two of these:
Lake Albert and
Lake Tanganyika 
