Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Location of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the country that was known as Zaïre from 1971 to 1997. It is in central Africa.

[change] History

1960: The Belgian Congo became an independent country on 30 June and became the Republic of the Congo. This was the same name as the former French colony to the west.

Shortly after independence, Belgium tried to take control of Congo-Kinshasa again, and invaded the country. Belgium also supported the province of Katanga when it declared independence from the rest of the country with Moïse Tshombe calling himself the president. This was because the Belgians wanted to keep mining the minerals in Katanga for themselves. The government of Patrice Lumumba was against this invasion and tried to convince the United Nations to stop it. Instead, the UN helped the Belgians. The USA also tried to kill Prime Minister Lumumba. In September, the Western imperialists convinced President Kasavubu to say that Lumumba was no longer Prime Minister. This was illegal. Later, Joseph Mobutu started a coup d'état, overthrowing them both. Kasavubu was allowed to live freely, but Lumumba was under house arrest. At the end of December, he escaped his home, but was captured by Mobutu's soldiers while trying to cross the River Sankuru between Port Francqui and Mweka on his way to his supporters in Stanleyville. He was tortured for weeks and then sent to Katanga on 17 January 1961. That day, he was tortured with his ministers Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito at the house of Belgian farmer Lucien Brouwez. That night, the three were secretly shot in the forest by Katangans with Belgian officers. Later, their bodies were dissolved in sulfuric acid and Katanga made up a fake story about their death a month later. Lumumbists in Stanleyville, led by people such as Pierre Mulele and Antoine Gizenga, began a revolution against the Mobutu dictatorship.
1965: Joseph Mobutu, a lieutenant-general in the Congolese army, seized (took without permission) power from President Kasavubu. He made himself president and became a dictator. He had the support of the United States until the end of the Cold War.
1966: The country's name was changed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
1971: Mobutu changed the name of the country to Zaïre.
1975: The United States used bases (areas of land used for military purposes) in Zaïre to fight Soviet-supported rebels in Angola.
1977: Mobutu was re-elected with almost 100 percent of the votes because there were no other candidates.
1984: Mobutu was re-elected. Again, there were no other candidates. By this time, the American TV program Sixty Minutes said Mobutu had a personal fortune of about US$5 billion (five billion U.S. dollars).
1989: The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union officially ended. The United gave less support to Mobutu because he was no longer useful in the Cold War.
1990: Mobutu ended the ban (prohibition) on political parties. He appointed a transitional government that was going to help the country change to democracy.
1994: The dictator of Rwanda, Juvénal Habyarimana died when his plane was shot down. Some extremists from the Hutu group (which had become considered an ethnicity) used this to start a long-planned genocide against theTutsi group and anyone who was against the genocide. A group of refugees in Uganda had formed an army called the Rwandan Patriotic Front (Front Patriotique Rwandaise in French). This group was two-thirds Tutsi. The RPF invaded parts of Rwanda which they didn't already control, and many Hutu extremists and Hutu hostages fled to Zaïre. Among the refugees were members of the Interahamwe, an extremist militia group that was responsible for killing many Tutsi. (A militia is a civilian army.) Mobutu did not respond to demands to return Interahamwe members for trial (a legal process to decide if someone is guilty or innocent).
1996: Mobutu's government told Tutsi in Zaïre to leave the country or they would be killed. Leaders in Uganda and Rwanda responded by invading Zaïre in order to overthrow (take power from) Mobutu.
1997: Laurent Kabila, a rebel leader with the support of rebels in Zaïre, Uganda and Sudan, overthrew Mobutu Sésé Seko. The time from the invasion (act of entering without permission) in 1996 to 1997 when the war ended is called the First Congo War. Kabila also changed the name of the country back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
1998: The Second Congo War started after Kabila ordered all Ugandan and Rwandan military forces to leave the country. The governments of Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi reacted by invading the country. Then other countries got involved to support Kabila: Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Chad, Libya and Sudan. Some people call the war Africa's World War because it involved so many countries. About 3.8 million people died in this war, mostly from starvation (not getting enough food) and disease.
2001: Laurent Kabila was assassinated (killed for political reasons) by one of his bodyguards. The Congolese parliament voted unanimously (with everyone agreeing) that his son, Joseph Kabila should replace him as president.
2003: The Second Congo War ended when the Transitional Government was made after many peace agreements, and it took power.
2006 (July 30): Congo-Kinshasa had a presidential election. It was the first election that included more than one political party since independence in 1960. No candidate got more than half of the votes. On October 29, a second election took place to decide which of the two most popular candidates, Joseph Kabila or Jean-Pierre Bemba, would become president. There were protests (people showing they didn't like what was happening) over both elections. Kabila won the second election. Lumumbist Antoine Gizenga is now Prime Minister.