Democratic Republic of the Congo

FARDC and rebel groups, North Kivu, 2012

Laurent Nkunda, a member of Rally for Congolese Democracy–Goma, defected along with troops loyal to him and formed the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), which began an armed rebellion against the government. In March 2009, after a deal between the DRC and Rwanda, Rwandan troops entered the DRC and arrested Nkunda and were allowed to pursue FDLR militants. The CNDP signed a peace treaty with the government in which it agreed to become a political party and to have its soldiers integrated into the national army in exchange for the release of its imprisoned members.^[75] In 2012 Bosco Ntaganda, the leader of the CNDP, and troops loyal to him, mutinied and formed the rebel military March 23 Movement (M23), claiming the government had violated the treaty.^[76]

In the resulting M23 rebellion, M23 briefly captured the provincial capital of Goma in November 2012.^[77][78] Neighboring countries, particularly Rwanda, have been accused of arming rebels groups and using them as proxies to gain control of the resource-rich country, an accusation they deny.^[79][80] In March 2013, the United Nations Security Council authorized the United Nations Force Intervention Brigade to neutralize armed groups.^[81] On 5 November 2013, M23 declared an end to its insurgency.^[82] Additionally, in northern Katanga, the Mai-Mai created by Laurent Kabila slipped out of the control of Kinshasa with Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga's Mai Mai Kata Katanga briefly invading the provincial capital of Lubumbashi in 2013 and 400,000 persons displaced in the province as of 2013^[update].^[83] On and off fighting in the Ituri conflict occurred between the Nationalist and Integrationist Front and the Union of Congolese Patriots who claimed to represent the Lendu and Hema ethnic groups, respectively. In the northeast, Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army moved from their original bases in Uganda and South Sudan to DR Congo in 2005 and set up camps in the Garamba National Park.^[84][85] The war in the Congo has been described as the bloodiest war since World War II.^[16] In 2009, The New York Times reported that people in the Congo continued to die at a rate of an estimated 45,000 per month^[86] – estimates of the number who have died from the long conflict range from 900,000 to 5,400,000.^[87] The death toll is caused by widespread disease and famine; reports indicate that almost half of the individuals who have died are children under five years of age.^[88] There have been frequent reports of weapon bearers killing civilians, of the destruction of property, of widespread sexual violence,^[89] causing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes, and of other breaches of humanitarian and human rights law. One study found that more than 400,000 women are raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo every year.^[90] In 2018 and 2019, Congo reported the highest levels of sexual violence in the world.^[74] According to the Human Rights Watch and the New York University-based Congo Research Group, armed troops in DRC's eastern Kivu region have killed over 1,900 civilians and kidnapped at least 3,300 people since June 2017 to June 2019.^[91] On 10 May 2018, Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his effort to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.^[92]

In 2015, major protests broke out across the country and protesters demanded that Kabila step down as president. The protests began after the passage of a law by the Congolese lower house that, if also passed by the Congolese upper house, would keep Kabila in power at least until a national census was conducted (a process which would likely take several years and therefore keep him in power past the planned 2016 elections, which he is constitutionally barred from participating in). This bill passed; however, it was gutted of the provision that would keep Kabila in power until a census took place. A census is supposed to take place, but it is no longer tied to when the elections take place. In 2015, elections were scheduled for late 2016 and a tenuous peace held in the Congo.^[93] On 27 November 2016 Congolese foreign minister Raymond Tshibanda told the press no elections would be held in 2016: "it has been decided that the voter registration operation will end on July 31, 2017, and that election will take place in April 2018."^[94] Protests broke out in the country on 20 December when Kabila's term in office ended. Across the country, dozens of protesters were killed and hundreds were arrested.

According to Jan Egeland, presently Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, the situation in the DRC became much worse in 2016 and 2017 and is a major moral and humanitarian challenge comparable to the wars in Syria and Yemen, which receive much more attention. Women and children are abused sexually and "abused in all possible manners". Besides the conflict in North Kivu, violence increased in the Kasai region. The armed groups were after gold, diamonds, oil, and cobalt to line the pockets of rich men both in the region and internationally. There were also ethnic and cultural rivalries at play, as well as religious motives and the political crisis with postponed elections. Egeland says people believe the situation in the DRC is "stably bad" but in fact, it has become much, much worse. "The big wars of the Congo that were really on top of the agenda 15 years ago are back and worsening".^[95] Disruption in planting and harvesting caused by the conflict was estimated to escalate starvation in about two million children.^[96]

Human Rights Watch said in 2017 that Kabila recruited former March 23 Movement fighters to put down country-wide protests over his refusal to step down from office at the end of his term. "M23 fighters patrolled the streets of Congo's main cities, firing on or arresting protesters or anyone else deemed to be a threat to the president," they said.^[97] Fierce fighting has erupted in Masisi between government forces and a powerful local warlord, General Delta. The United Nations mission in the DRC is its largest and most expensive peacekeeping effort, but it shut down five UN bases near Masisi in 2017, after the U.S. led a push to cut costs.^[98]

A tribal conflict erupted on 16–17 December 2018 at Yumbi in Mai-Ndombe Province. Nearly 900 Banunu people from four villages were slaughtered by members of the Batende community in a deep-rooted rivalry over monthly tribal duties, land, fields and water resources. Some 100 Banunus fled to Moniende island in the Congo River, and another 16,000 to Makotimpoko District in Republic of Congo. Military-style tactics were employed in the bloodbath, and some assailants were clothed in army uniforms. Local authorities and elements within the security forces were suspected of lending them support.^[99]

2018 election and new president (2018–present)

On 30 December 2018 a general election was held. On 10 January 2019, the electoral commission announced opposition candidate Félix Tshisekedi as the winner of the presidential vote,^[100] and he was officially sworn in as president on 24 January.^[101] However, there were widespread suspicions that the results were rigged and that a deal had been made between Tshisekedi and Kabila. The Catholic Church said that the official results did not correspond to the information its election monitors had collected.^[102] The government had also "delayed" the vote until March in some areas, citing the Ebola outbreak in Kivu as well as the ongoing military conflict. This was criticized as these regions are known as opposition strongholds.^{[103][104][105]} In August 2019, six months after the inauguration of Félix Tshisekedi, a coalition government was announced.^[106]

The political allies of Kabila maintained control of key ministries, the legislature, judiciary and security services. However, Tshisekedi succeeded in strengthening his hold on power. In a series of moves, he won over more legislators, gaining the support of almost 400 out of 500 members of the National Assembly. The pro-Kabila speakers of both houses of parliament were forced out. In April 2021, the new government was formed without the supporters of Kabila.^[107]

A major measles outbreak in the country left nearly 5,000 dead in 2019.^[108] The Ebola outbreak ended in June 2020, which had caused 2,280 deaths over 2 years.^[109] Another, smaller Ebola outbreak in the Équateur Province began in June 2020, ultimately causing 55 deaths.^[110][111] The global COVID-19 pandemic also reached the DRC in March 2020, with a vaccination campaign beginning on 19 April 2021.^[112][113]

The

After the 2023 presidential election, Tshisekedi had a clear lead in his run for a second term.^[118] On 31 December 2023, officials said that President Felix Tshisekedi had been re-elected with 73% of the vote. Nine opposition candidates signed a declaration rejecting the election and called for a rerun.^[119]

Geography

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The DRC is located in central sub-Saharan Africa, bordered to the northwest by the Republic of the Congo, to the north by the Central African Republic, to the northeast by South Sudan, to the east by Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, and by Tanzania (across Lake Tanganyika), to the south and southeast by Zambia, to the southwest by Angola, and to the west by the South Atlantic Ocean and the Cabinda Province exclave of Angola. The country lies between latitudes 6°N and 14°S, and longitudes 12°E and 32°E. It straddles the Equator, with one-third to the north and two-thirds to the south. With an area of 2,345,408 square kilometres (905,567 sq mi), it is the second-largest country in Africa by area, after Algeria.

As a result of its equatorial location, the DRC experiences high precipitation and has the highest frequency of thunderstorms in the world. The annual rainfall can total upwards of 2,000 millimetres (80 in) in some places, and the area sustains the Congo rainforest, the second-largest rain forest in the world after the Amazon rainforest. 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. The glaciated Rwenzori Mountains are found in the extreme eastern region.

The tropical climate produced the Congo River system which dominates the region topographically along with the rainforest it flows through. The Congo Basin occupies nearly the entire country and an area of nearly 1,000,000 km² (390,000 sq mi). The river and its tributaries form the backbone of Congolese economics and transportation. Major tributaries include the Kasai, Sangha, Ubangi, Ruzizi, Aruwimi, and Lulonga.

The Congo River has the second-largest flow and the second-largest watershed of any river in the world (trailing the Amazon in both respects). The sources of the Congo River are in the Albertine Rift Mountains that flank the western branch 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 (Stanley Pool). Kinshasa and Brazzaville are on opposite sides of the river at the Pool. Then the river narrows and falls through a number of cataracts in deep canyons, collectively known as the Livingstone Falls, and runs past Boma into the Atlantic Ocean. The river and a 37-kilometre-wide (23 mi) strip of coastline on its north bank provide the country's only outlet to the Atlantic.

The Albertine Rift plays a key role in shaping the Congo's geography. Not only is the northeastern section of the country much more mountainous, but tectonic movement results in volcanic activity, occasionally with loss of life. The geologic activity in this area also created the African Great Lakes, four of which lie on the Congo's eastern frontier: Lake Albert, Lake Kivu, Lake Edward, and Lake Tanganyika.

The

The rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo contain great

Conservationists have particularly worried about primates. The Congo is inhabited by several great ape species: the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), the bonobo (Pan paniscus), the eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei), and possibly a population of the western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla).^[123] It is the only country in the world in which bonobos are found in the wild. Much concern has been raised about great ape extinction. Because of hunting and habitat destruction, the numbers of chimpanzee, bonobo and gorilla (each of whose populations once numbered in the millions) have now dwindled down to only about 200,000 gorillas, 100,000 chimpanzees and possibly only about 10,000 bonobos.^[124][125] The gorillas, chimpanzee, bonobo, and okapi are all classified as endangered by the World Conservation Union.

Major environmental issues in DRC include deforestation, poaching, which threatens wildlife populations, water pollution and mining. From 2015 to 2019, the rate of deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo doubled.^[126] In 2021, deforestation of the Congolian rainforests increased by 5%.^[127]

Administrative divisions

The country is currently divided into the city-province of Kinshasa and 25 other provinces.^[4] The provinces are subdivided into 145 territories and 32 cities. Before 2015, the country had 11 provinces.^[128]

	1. Kinshasa	14. Ituri Province
	2. Kongo Central	15. Haut-Uele
	3. Kwango	16. Tshopo
	4. Kwilu Province	17. Bas-Uele
	5. Mai-Ndombe Province	18. Nord-Ubangi
	6. Kasaï Province	19. Mongala
	7. Kasaï-Central	20. Sud-Ubangi
	8. Kasaï-Oriental	21. Équateur
	9. Lomami Province	22. Tshuapa
	10. Sankuru	23. Tanganyika Province
	11. Maniema	24. Haut-Lomami
	12. South Kivu	25. Lualaba Province
	13. North Kivu	26. Haut-Katanga Province

Government and politics

After a four-year interlude between two constitutions, with new political institutions established at the various levels of government, as well as new administrative divisions for the provinces throughout the country, a new constitution came into effect in 2006 and politics in the Democratic Republic of the Congo finally settled into a stable presidential democratic republic. The 2003 transitional constitution

The Senate had, among other things, the charge of drafting the new constitution of the country. The executive branch was vested in a 60-member cabinet, headed by a President and four vice presidents. The President was also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The transitional constitution also established a relatively independent judiciary, headed by a Supreme Court with constitutional interpretation powers.^[130]

The 2006 constitution, also known as the Constitution of the Third Republic, came into effect in February 2006. It had concurrent authority, however, with the transitional constitution until the inauguration of the elected officials who emerged from the July 2006 elections. Under the new constitution, the legislature remained bicameral; the executive was concomitantly undertaken by a President and the government, led by a Prime Minister, appointed from the party able to secure a majority in the National Assembly.

The government – not the President – is responsible to the Parliament. The new constitution also granted new powers to the provincial governments, creating provincial parliaments which have oversight of the Governor and the head of the provincial government, whom they elect. The new constitution also saw the disappearance of the Supreme Court, which was divided into three new institutions. The constitutional interpretation prerogative of the Supreme Court is now held by the Constitutional Court.^[131]

Although located in the Central African UN subregion, the nation is also economically and regionally affiliated with Southern Africa as a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).^[132]

Foreign relations

The global growth in demand for scarce raw materials and the industrial surges in China, India, Russia, Brazil and other developing countries require that developed countries employ new, integrated and responsive strategies for identifying and ensuring, on a continual basis, an adequate supply of strategic and critical materials required for their security needs.^[133] Highlighting the DR Congo's importance to United States national security, the effort to establish an elite Congolese unit is the latest push by the U.S. to professionalize armed forces in this strategically important region.^[134]

There are economic and strategic incentives to bring more security to the Congo, which is rich in natural resources such as

It is thought that due to the importance of cobalt for batteries for electric vehicles and stabilization of electric grids with large proportions of intermittent renewables in the electricity mix, the DRC could become an object of increased geopolitical competition.[133]

In the 21st century,

The military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as the FARDC, consists of the Land Forces, the Air Force, and the Navy.

The FARDC was established in 2003 after the end of the Second Congo War and integrated many former rebel groups into its ranks. Due to the presence of undisciplined and poorly trained ex-rebels, as well as a lack of funding and having spent years fighting against different militias, the FARDC suffers from rampant corruption and inefficiency. The agreements signed at the end of the Second Congo War called for a new "national, restructured and integrated" army that would be made up of Kabila's government forces (the FAC), the RCD, and the MLC. Also stipulated was that rebels like the RCD-N, RCD-ML, and the Mai-Mai would become part of the new armed forces. It also provided for the creation of a Conseil Supérieur de la Défense (Superior Defence Council) which would declare states of siege or war and give advice on security sector reform, disarmament/demobilisation, and national defence policy. The FARDC is organised on the basis of brigades, which are dispersed throughout the provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Congolese troops have been fighting the Kivu conflict in the eastern North Kivu region, the Ituri conflict in the Ituri region, and other rebellions since the Second Congo War. Besides the FARDC, the largest peacekeeping mission of the United Nations, known as MONUSCO, is also present in the country with about 18,000 peacekeepers.

The Democratic Republic of Congo signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.^[140]

Corruption

A relative of Mobutu explained how the government illicitly collected revenue during his rule: "Mobutu would ask one of us to go to the bank and take out a million. We'd go to an intermediary and tell him to get five million. He would go to the bank with Mobutu's authority and take out ten. Mobutu got one, and we took the other nine."^[141] Mobutu institutionalized corruption to prevent political rivals from challenging his control, leading to an economic collapse in 1996.^[142]

Mobutu allegedly amassed between US$50 million and $125 million during his rule.^[143][144] He was not the first corrupt Congolese leader by any means: "Government as a system of organized theft goes back to King Leopold II," noted Adam Hochschild in 2009.^[145] In July 2009, a Swiss court determined that the statute of limitations had run out on an international asset recovery case of about $6.7 million of deposits of Mobutu's in a Swiss bank, and therefore the assets should be returned to Mobutu's family.^[146]

President Kabila established the Commission of Repression of Economic Crimes upon his ascension to power in 2001.^[147] However, in 2016 the Enough Project issued a report claiming that the Congo is run as a violent kleptocracy.^[148]

In June 2020, a court in the Democratic Republic of Congo found President Tshisekedi's chief of staff Vital Kamerhe guilty of corruption. He was sentenced to 20 years' hard labour, after facing charges of embezzling almost $50m (£39m) of public funds. He was the most high-profile figure to be convicted of corruption in the DRC.^[149] However, Kamerhe was released already in December 2021.^[150]

In November 2021, a judicial investigation targeting Kabila and his associates was opened in Kinshasa after revelations of alleged embezzlement of $138 million.^[151]

Human rights

The International Criminal Court investigation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was initiated by Kabila in April 2004. The International Criminal Court prosecutor opened the case in June 2004. Child soldiers have been used on a large scale in DRC, and in 2011 it was estimated that 30,000 children were still operating with armed groups.^[152] Instances of child labor and forced labor have been observed and reported in the U.S. Department of Labor's Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the DRC in 2013^[153] and six goods produced by the country's mining industry appear on the department's December 2014 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has prohibited same-sex marriage since 2006,^[154] and attitudes towards the LGBT community are generally negative throughout the nation.^[155] Violence against women seems to be perceived by large sectors of society to be normal.^[156] The 2013–2014 DHS survey (pp. 299) found that 74.8% of women agreed that a husband is justified in beating his wife in certain circumstances.^[157] The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 2006 expressed concern that in the post-war transition period, the promotion of women's human rights and gender equality is not seen as a priority.^[158][159] Mass rapes, sexual violence and sexual slavery are used as a weapon of war by the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and armed groups in the eastern part of the country.^[160] The eastern part of the country in particular has been described as the "rape capital of the world" and the prevalence of sexual violence there described as the worst in the world.^[161][162]

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is also practiced in DRC, although not on a large scale. The prevalence of FGM is estimated at 5% of women.^[163][164] FGM is illegal: the law imposes a penalty of two to five years of prison and a fine of 200,000 Congolese francs on any person who violates the "physical or functional integrity" of the genital organs.^[165][166]

In July 2007, the International Committee of the Red Cross expressed concern about the situation in eastern DRC.

The Congolese National Police are the primary police force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.^[174]

Economy

The

The DRC is widely considered one of the world's richest countries in natural resources; its untapped deposits of raw minerals are estimated to be worth in excess of US$24 trillion.[177]^[178][179] The DRC has 70% of the world's coltan, a third of its cobalt, more than 30% of its diamond reserves, and a tenth of its copper.^[180][181]

Despite such vast mineral wealth, the economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has declined drastically since the mid-1980s. The DRC generated up to 70% of its export revenue from minerals in the 1970s and 1980s and was particularly hit when resource prices deteriorated at that time. By 2005, 90% of the DRC's revenues derived from its minerals.

The DRC is the world's largest producer of cobalt ore, and a major producer of copper and diamonds.^[184] As of 2023, the country is estimated to possess around 70% of the world's cobalt production.^[183] Diamonds come from Kasaï Province in the west. By far the largest mines in the DRC are located in southern Katanga Province and are highly mechanized, with a capacity of several million tons per year of copper and cobalt ore, and refining capability for metal ore. The DRC is the second-largest diamond-producing nation in the world,^[d] and artisanal and small-scale miners account for most of its production.

At independence in 1960, DRC was the second-most-industrialized country in Africa after South Africa; it boasted a thriving mining sector and a relatively productive agriculture sector.^[185] Foreign businesses have curtailed operations because of uncertainty about the outcome of long-term conflicts, lack of infrastructure, and the difficult operating environment. The wars intensified the impact of such basic problems as an uncertain legal framework, corruption, inflation, and lack of openness in government economic policy and financial operations.

Conditions improved in late 2002, when a large portion of the invading foreign troops withdrew. A number of International Monetary Fund and World Bank missions met with the government to help it develop a coherent economic plan, and President Kabila began implementing reforms. Much economic activity still lies outside the GDP data. Through 2011 the DRC had the lowest Human Development Index of the 187 ranked countries.^[186]

The economy of DRC relies heavily on mining. However, the smaller-scale economic activity from

Katanga Mining Limited, a Swiss-owned company, owns the Luilu Metallurgical Plant, which has a capacity of 175,000 tonnes of copper and 8,000 tonnes of cobalt per year, making it the largest cobalt refinery in the world. After a major rehabilitation program, the company resumed copper production operations in December 2007 and cobalt production in May 2008.^[191]

In April 2013, anti-corruption NGOs revealed that Congolese tax authorities had failed to account for $88 million from the mining sector, despite booming production and positive industrial performance. The missing funds date from 2010 and tax bodies should have paid them into the central bank.^[192] Later in 2013, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative suspended the country's candidacy for membership due to insufficient reporting, monitoring and independent audits, but in July 2013 the country improved its accounting and transparency practices to the point where the EITI gave the country full membership.

In February 2018, global asset management firm AllianceBernstein^[193] defined the DRC as economically "the Saudi Arabia of the electric vehicle age," because of its cobalt resources, as essential to the lithium-ion batteries that drive electric vehicles.^[194]

Transportation

Ground transport in the Democratic Republic of Congo has always been difficult. The terrain and climate of the Congo Basin present serious barriers to road and rail construction, and the distances are enormous across this vast country. The DRC has more navigable rivers and moves more passengers and goods by boat and ferry than any other country in Africa, but air transport remains the only effective means of moving goods and people between many places within the country, especially in rural areas. Chronic economic mismanagement, political corruption and internal conflicts have led to long-term under-investment of infrastructure.^{[citation needed]}

Rail transportation is provided by the Congo Railroad Company (Société nationale des chemins de fer du Congo), the Office National des Transports Congo and the Office of the Uele Railways (Office des Chemins de fer des Ueles, CFU).

The DRC has fewer all-weather paved highways than any country of its population and size in Africa — a total of 2,250 km (1,400 mi), of which only 1,226 km (762 mi) is in good condition. To put this in perspective, the road distance across the country in any direction is more than 2,500 km (1,600 mi) (e.g. Matadi to Lubumbashi, 2,700 km (1,700 mi) by road). The figure of 2,250 km (1,400 mi) converts to 35 km (22 mi) of paved road per one million of population. Comparative figures for Zambia and Botswana are 721 km (448 mi) and 3,427 km (2,129 mi), respectively.^[e] Three routes in the Trans-African Highway network pass through DR Congo:

• Tripoli–Cape Town Highway: this route crosses the western extremity of the country on National Road No. 1 between Kinshasa and Matadi, a distance of 285 km (177 mi) on one of the only paved sections in fair condition.
• Lagos–Mombasa Highway: the DR Congo is the main missing link in this east–west highway and requires a new road to be constructed before it can function.
• Beira–Lobito Highway: this east–west highway crosses Katanga and requires re-construction over most of its length, being an earth track between the Angolan border and Kolwezi, a paved road in very poor condition between Kolwezi and Lubumbashi, and a paved road in fair condition over the short distance to the Zambian border.

The DRC has thousands of kilometres of

As of February 2024[update], DR Congo had one major national airline (Congo Airways) that offered flights inside DR Congo. Congo Airways was based at Kinshasa's international airport. All air carriers certified by the DRC have been banned from European Union airports by the European Commission, because of inadequate safety standards.^[195]

Several international airlines service Kinshasa's international airport and a few also offer international flights to Lubumbashi International Airport.

Energy

Both coal and crude oil resources were mainly used domestically up to 2008. The DRC has the infrastructure for hydro-electricity from the Congo River at the Inga dams.^[196] The country also possesses 50% of Africa's forests and a river system that could provide hydro-electric power to the entire continent, according to a UN report on the country's strategic significance and its potential role as an economic power in central Africa.^[197] The generation and distribution of electricity are controlled by Société nationale d'électricité, but only 15% of the country has access to electricity.^[198] The DRC is a member of three electrical power pools. These are Southern African Power Pool, East African Power Pool, and Central African Power Pool.

Because of abundant sunlight, the potential for solar development is very high in the DRC. There are already about 836 solar power systems in the DRC, with a total power of 83 MW, located in Équateur (167), Katanga (159), Nord-Kivu (170), the two Kasaï provinces (170), and Bas-Congo (170). Also, the 148 Caritas network system has a total power of 6.31 MW.^[199]

Demographics

Population

The CIA World Factbook estimated the population to be over 111 million as of 2023.^[200] Between 1950 and 2000, the country's population nearly quadrupled from 12.2 million to 46.9 million.^[201]

Languages

French is the official language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is culturally accepted as the lingua franca, facilitating communication among the many different ethnic groups of the Congo. According to a 2018 OIF report, 49 million Congolese people (51% of the population) could read and write in French.^[202] A 2021 survey found that 74% of the population could speak French, making it the most widely spoken language in the country.^[203]

In Kinshasa, 67% of the population in 2014 could read and write French, and 68.5% could speak and understand it.^[204]

Approximately 242 languages are spoken in the country, of which four have the status of national languages: Kituba (Kikongo), Lingala, Tshiluba, and Swahili. Although some limited number of people speak these as first languages, most of the population speak them as a second language, after the native language of their own ethnic group. Lingala was the official language of the Force Publique under Belgian colonial rule and remains to this day the predominant language of the armed forces. Since the recent rebellions, a good part of the army in the east also uses Swahili, where it competes to be the regional lingua franca.

Under Belgian rule, the Belgians instituted teaching and use of the four national languages in primary schools, making it one of the few African nations to have had literacy in local languages during the European colonial period. This trend was reversed after independence, when French became the sole language of education at all levels.^[205] Since 1975, the four national languages have been reintroduced in the first two years of primary education, with French becoming the sole language of education from the third year onward, but in practice many primary schools in urban areas solely use French from the first year of school onward.^[205] Portuguese is taught in the Congolese schools as a foreign language. The lexical similarity and phonology with French makes Portuguese a relatively easy language for the people to learn. Most of the roughly 175,000 Portuguese speakers in the DRC are Angolan and Mozambican expatriates.

Ethnic groups

Over 250 ethnic groups and 450 tribes (ethnic subgroups) populate the DRC. They are in the Bantu, Sudanic, Nilotic, Ubangian and Pygmy linguistic groups. Because of this diversity, there is no dominant ethnic group in Congo, however the following ethnic groups account for 51.5% of the population:^[14]

• Luba-Kasaï
• Kongo
• Mongo
• Lubakat
• Lulua
• Tetela
• Nande
• Ngbandi
• Ngombe
• Yaka
• Ngbaka

In 2021, the UN estimated the country's population to be 96 million,

Christianity is the predominant religion of the DRC. A 2013–14 survey, conducted by the

Sixty-two Protestant denominations are federated under the umbrella of the Church of Christ in the Congo. It is often referred to as the Protestant Church, since it covers most of the DRC Protestants. With more than 25 million members, it constitutes one of the largest Protestant bodies in the world.

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", has about three million members,^[217] primarily among the Bakongo of Kongo Central and Kinshasa.

Islam has been present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the 18th century, when Arab traders from East Africa pushed into the interior for ivory- and slave-trading purposes. Today, Muslims constitute approximately 1% of the Congolese population according to the Pew Research Center. The majority are Sunni Muslims.^{[citation needed]}

The first members of the Baháʼí Faith to live in the country came from Uganda in 1953. Four years later the first local administrative council was elected. In 1970 the National Spiritual Assembly (national administrative council) was first elected. Though the religion was banned in the 1970s and 1980s, due to misrepresentations of foreign governments, the ban was lifted by the end of the 1980s. In 2012 plans were announced to build a national Baháʼí House of Worship in the country.^{[citation needed]}

Traditional religions embody such concepts as

In 2014, the literacy rate for the population between the ages of 15 and 49 was estimated to be 75.9% (88.1% male and 63.8% female) according to a DHS nationwide survey.^[224] The education system is governed by three government ministries: the Ministère de l'Enseignement Primaire, Secondaire et Professionnel (MEPSP), the Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et Universitaire (MESU) and the Ministère des Affaires Sociales (MAS). Primary education is not free nor compulsory,^{[citation needed]} even though the Congolese constitution says it should be (Article 43 of the 2005 Congolese Constitution).^[225]

As a result of the First and Second Congo Wars in the late 1990s—early 2000s, over 5.2 million children in the country did not receive any education.^[226] Since the end of the civil war, the situation has improved tremendously, with the number of children enrolled in primary schools rising from 5.5 million in 2002 to 16.8 million in 2018, and the number of children enrolled in secondary schools rising from 2.8 million in 2007 to 4.6 million in 2015 according to UNESCO.^[227]

Actual school attendance has also improved greatly in recent years, with primary school net attendance estimated to be 82.4% in 2014 (82.4% of children ages 6–11 attended school; 83.4% for boys, 80.6% for girls).^[228]

Health

The

The incidence of yellow fever-related fatalities in DRC is relatively low. According to the World Health Organization's (WHO) report in 2021, only two individuals died due to yellow fever in DRC.[235]

According to the World Bank Group, in 2016, 26,529 people died on the roads in DRC due to traffic accidents.^[236]

Maternal health is poor in DRC. According to 2010 estimates, DRC has the 17th highest maternal mortality rate in the world.^[237] According to UNICEF, 43.5% of children under five are stunted.^[238]

United Nations emergency food relief agency warned that amid the escalating conflict and worsening situation following

Air pollution levels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are very unhealthy. In 2020, annual average air pollution in the DRC stood at 34.2 µg/m³, which is almost 6.8 times the World Health Organization PM2.5 guideline (5 µg/m³: set in September 2021).^[240] These pollution levels are estimated to reduce the life expectancy of an average citizen of the DRC by almost 2.9 years.^[240] Currently, the DRC does not have a national ambient air quality standard.^[241]

Largest cities

Largest cities or towns in the Democratic Republic of the Congo [242][243]
	Rank	Name	Province	Pop.
Kinshasa Mbuji-Mayi	1	Kinshasa	Kinshasa	15,628,000	Lubumbashi Kananga
	2	Mbuji-Mayi	Kasai-Oriental	2,765,000
	3	Lubumbashi	Haut-Katanga	2,695,000
	4	Kananga	Kasaï-Central	1,593,000
	5	Kisangani	Tshopo	1,366,000
	6	Bukavu	South Kivu	1,190,000
	7	Tshikapa	Kasaï	1,024,000
	8	Bunia	Ituri	768,000
	9	Goma	North Kivu	707,000
	10	Uvira	South Kivu	657,000

Migration

Given the often unstable situation in the country and the condition of state structures, it is extremely difficult to obtain reliable migration data. However, evidence suggests that DRC continues to be a destination country for immigrants, in spite of recent declines in their numbers. Immigration is very diverse in nature; refugees and asylum-seekers – products of the numerous and violent conflicts in the Great Lakes Region – constitute an important subset of the population. Additionally, the country's large mine operations attract migrant workers from Africa and beyond. There is also considerable migration for commercial activities from other African countries and the rest of the world, but these movements are not well studied.^[244] Transit migration towards South Africa and Europe also plays a role.

Immigration to the DRC has decreased steadily over the past two decades, most likely as a result of the armed violence that the country has experienced. According to the International Organization for Migration, the number of immigrants in the DRC has fallen from just over one million in 1960, to 754,000 in 1990, to 480,000 in 2005, to an estimated 445,000 in 2010. Official figures are unavailable, partly due to the predominance of the informal economy in the DRC. Data are also lacking on irregular immigrants, however given neighbouring countries' ethnic links to DRC nationals, irregular migration is assumed to be a significant phenomenon.^[244]

Figures for Congolese nationals abroad vary greatly depending on the source, from three to six million. This discrepancy is due to a lack of official, reliable data. Emigrants from the DRC are above all long-term emigrants, the majority of whom live in Africa and to a lesser extent in Europe; 79.7% and 15.3% respectively, according to estimated 2000 data. New destination countries include South Africa and various points en route to Europe. The DRC has produced a considerable number of

Since 2003, more than 400,000 Congolese migrants have been expelled from Angola.^[245]

Culture

The culture reflects the diversity of its numerous ethnic groups and their differing ways of life throughout the country—from the mouth of the River Congo on the coast, upriver through the rainforest and savanna in its centre, to the more densely populated mountains in the far east. Since the late 19th century, traditional ways of life have undergone changes brought about by colonialism, the struggle for independence, the stagnation of the Mobutu era, and most recently, the First and Second Congo Wars. Despite these pressures, the customs and cultures of the Congo have retained much of their individuality. The country's 81 million inhabitants (2016) are mainly rural. The 30% who live in urban areas have been the most open to Western influences.

Music

The DRC has a rich musical heritage rooted in traditional rhythms.^[246] The earliest known form of popular partnered dance music in Congo was Maringa, denoting a Kongolese dance practiced within the former Kingdom of Loango, encompassing parts of the present-day Republic of the Congo, Southern Gabon and Cabinda.^[247] The style gained popularity in the 1920s-1930s, introducing the "bar-dancing" culture in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa), incorporating unique elements like a bass drum, a bottle as a triangle, and an accordion.^[248][249]

In the 1940s and 1950s, the influence of Cuban son bands transformed Maringa into "Congolese rumba". Imported records by Sexteto Habanero and Trio Matamoros, often mislabeled as "rumba", played a significant role.^[250] Artists such as Antoine Kasongo, Paul Kamba, Henri Bowane, Antoine Wendo Kolosoy, Franco Luambo, Le Grand Kallé, Vicky Longomba, Nico Kasanda, Tabu Ley Rochereau, and Papa Noel Nedule authentically popularized the style and made significant contributions to it in the 1940s and 1950s.^[250]

The 1960s and 1970s saw the emergence of soukous, an urban dance music style that evolved from Congolese rumba. Soukous led to diverse offshoots, such as ekonda saccadé, reflecting the Mongo rhythmic influence, and mokonyonyon, emulating pelvic thrust dance movements from the Otetela ethnic background.^[250] The same soukous, under the guidance of "le sapeur", Papa Wemba, have set the tone for a generation of young men always dressed up in exorbitant designer clothes. They came to be known as the fourth generation of Congolese music and mostly come from the former prominent band Wenge Musica.^{[251][252][253][254][255]}

Political and economic challenges under Mobutu prompted a mass exodus of musicians to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Europe and Asia, expanding the spread of Congolese urban music.^{[250][256][257]} Notably, the quartet Ry-Co Jazz played a crucial role in globalizing Congolese music, touring West Africa, the Caribbean, and France.^[250] By the 1980s, numerous Congolese musicians were based in Europe, facilitating the global dissemination of their musical prowess. Congolese lead guitarists became a sought-after commodity, attracting bands worldwide eager to infuse a Congolese flavor into their compositions or learn the intricate art of Congolese guitar dexterity.^[250]

In the late 1980s, Ndombolo emerged as a fast-paced, hip-swaying dance music, drawing inspiration from Congolese rumba and soukous.^{[258][259][260][261][262][263]} This genre gained widespread popularity in Africa, Europe, and the Americas, with musicians like Papa Wemba, Koffi Olomide, Werrason, Awilo Longomba, Quartier Latin International, Général Defao, Aurlus Mabélé, Exra Musica, Wenge Musica, Wenge Musica Maison Mére and Fally Ipupa making significant contributions to its evolution and international stage.^{[264][265][266]}

Sports

Many sports are played in the DRC, including football, basketball, baseball, and rugby. The sports are played in numerous stadiums throughout the country, including the Stade Frederic Kibassa Maliba.^[267] As Zaire they participated in the 1974 FIFA World Cup.

Internationally, the country is especially famous for its professional basketball NBA and football players. Dikembe Mutombo is one of the best African basketball players to ever play the game. Mutombo is well known for humanitarian projects in his home country. Bismack Biyombo, Christian Eyenga, Jonathan Kuminga, and Emmanuel Mudiay are others who gained significant international attention in basketball. Several Congolese players and players of Congolese descent—including strikers Romelu Lukaku, Yannick Bolasie, and Dieumerci Mbokani—have gained prominence in world football. DR Congo has twice won the African Cup of Nations football tournament.

DR Congo's women's national volleyball team lastly qualified for the 2021 Women's African Nations Volleyball Championship.^[268] The country featured a national team in beach volleyball that competed at the 2018–2020 CAVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup in both the women's and the men's section.^[269]

Media

Newspapers of the DRC include

Sources

• Young, M. Crawford; Turner, Thomas Edwin (2013). The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State (illustrated, reprint ed.). University of Wisconsin Press.
  ISBN 978-0-299-10113-8. Archived
  from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 7 February 2018.

Further reading

• Clark, John F., The African Stakes of the Congo War, 2004.
• Callaghy, T., The State-Society Struggle: Zaire in Comparative Perspective. New York: Columbia University Press, 1984,
  ISBN 0-231-05720-2
  .
• Deibert, Michael: The Democratic Republic of Congo: Between Hope and Despair, Zed Books, 2013.
• ISBN 978-1-58648-405-7
  .
• Drummond, Bill and Manning, Mark, The Wild Highway, 2005.
• Edgerton, Robert, The Troubled Heart of Africa: A History of the Congo. St. Martin's Press, 2002.
• Exenberger, Andreas/Hartmann, Simon. The Dark Side of Globalization. The Vicious Cycle of Exploitation from World Market Integration: Lesson from the Congo Archived 15 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Working Papers in Economics and Statistics 31, University Innsbruck 2007.
• Exenberger, Andreas/Hartmann, Simon. Doomed to Disaster? Long-term Trajectories of Exploitation in the Congo, Paper to be presented at the Workshop "Colonial Extraction in the Netherlands Indies and Belgian Congo: Institutions, Institutional Change and Long Term Consequences", Utrecht 3–4 December 2010.
• Gondola, Ch. Didier, "The History of Congo", Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002.
• Joris, Lieve, translated by Waters, Liz, The Rebels' Hour, Atlantic, 2008.
• Justenhoven, Heinz-Gerhard; Ehrhart, Hans Georg. Intervention im Kongo: eine kritische Analyse der Befriedungspolitik von UN und EU.
  ISBN 978-3-17-020781-3
  .
• Kingsolver, Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible HarperCollins, 1998.
• Larémont, Ricardo René, ed. 2005. Borders, nationalism and the African state. Boulder, Colorado and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
• Lemarchand, Reni and Hamilton, Lee; Burundi: Ethnic Conflict and Genocide. Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1994.
• Mealer, Bryan: "All Things Must Fight To Live", 2008.
  ISBN 1-59691-345-2
  .
• Melvern, Linda, Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwandan Genocide and the International Community. Verso, 2004.
• Miller, Eric: "The Inability of Peacekeeping to Address the Security Dilemma", 2010.
  ISBN 978-3-8383-4027-2
  .
• Mwakikagile, Godfrey, Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era, Third Edition, New Africa Press, 2006, "Chapter Six: Congo in The Sixties: The Bleeding Heart of Africa", pp. 147–205,
  ISBN 978-9987160488
  , 2015.
• Nzongola-Ntalaja, Georges, The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People's History, 2002.
• O'Hanlon, Redmond, Congo Journey, 1996.
• O'Hanlon, Redmond, No Mercy: A Journey into the Heart of the Congo, 1998.
• Prunier, Gérard, Africa's World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe, 2011 (also published as From Genocide to Continental War: The Congolese Conflict and the Crisis of Contemporary Africa: The Congo Conflict and the Crisis of Contemporary Africa).
• Renton, David; Seddon, David; Zeilig, Leo. The Congo: Plunder and Resistance, 2007.
  ISBN 978-1-84277-485-4
  .
• Reyntjens, Filip, The Great African War: Congo and Regional Geopolitics, 1996–2006 , 2009.
• Rorison, Sean, Bradt Travel Guide: Congo  — Democratic Republic/Republic, 2008.
• Schulz, Manfred. Entwicklungsträger in der DR Kongo: Entwicklungen in Politik, Wirtschaft, Religion, Zivilgesellschaft und Kultur, Berlin: Lit, 2008, (in German)
  ISBN 978-3-8258-0425-1
  .
• Stearns, Jason: Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: the Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa, Public Affairs, 2011.
• Tayler, Jeffrey, Facing the Congo, 2001.
• Turner, Thomas, The Congo Wars: Conflict, Myth and Reality, 2007.
• Van Reybrouck, David, Congo: The Epic History of a People, 2014
• Wrong, Michela, In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo.

External links

Scholia has a topic profile for Democratic Republic of the Congo.

• Official website.
• Country Profile from the BBC News
• Democratic Republic of the Congo. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.
• Democratic Republic of the Congo from UCB Libraries GovPubs
• Democratic Republic of the Congo at
  Curlie
• Wikimedia Atlas of Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Geographic data related to Democratic Republic of the Congo at OpenStreetMap
• The Democratic Republic of Congo from Global Issues
• Karen Fung (ed.). "Democratic Republic of the Congo". Africa South of the Sahara: Selected Internet Resources. Stanford University.

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