Democratic Republic of the Congo

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

[edit] History

1960: The Belgian Congo became an independent country on June 30th and became the Republic of the Congo. This was the same name as the country to the west.
1965: Mobutu Sese Seko, a lieutenant-general in the Zaïrean 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 Zaire.
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 reelected with almost 100 percent of the votes because there were no other candidates.
1984: Mobutu was reelected. 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 president of Rwanda died in a plane crash. Hutus, a tribe in Rwanda, blamed the Tutsis, another tribe, for killing the president and began to attack and kill the Tutsis. A group of Tutsi refugees in Uganda had formed an army called the Rwandan Patriotic Front (Front patriotique rwandaise in French). The Front invaded (entered without permission) Rwanda, and the Hutus fled (ran away to escape danger) to Zaïre. Among the Hutus were members of the Interahamwe, an extreme militia group that was responsible for killing most of the Tutsis. (A militia is an army formed by citizens, not the government.) 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 Tutsis 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 President Mobutu Sese 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): the DRCongo 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 was held (took place) to decide which of the two leading (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.

[edit] Geography

The capital is Kinshasa.

Countries and territories of Africa
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Canary Islands | Ceuta and Melilla | Madeira Islands | Mayotte | Réunion | Saint Helena and dependencies