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About Congo (The Country)
Source: flickr.com.
Established as a Belgian colony in 1908, the then-Republic of the Congo gained its independence in 1960, but its early years were marred by political and social instability. Col. Joseph MOBUTU seized power and declared himself president in a November 1965 coup. He subsequently changed his name - to MOBUTU Sese Seko - as well as that of the country - to Zaire. MOBUTU retained his position for 32 years through several sham elections, as well as through brutal force. Ethnic strife and civil war, touched off by a massive inflow of refugees in 1994 from fighting in Rwanda and Burundi, led in May 1997 to the toppling of the MOBUTU regime by a rebellion backed by Rwanda and Uganda and fronted by Laurent KABILA. He renamed the country the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), but in August 1998 his regime was itself challenged by a second insurrection again backed by Rwanda and Uganda. Troops from Angola, Chad, Namibia, Sudan, and Zimbabwe intervened to support KABILA's regime. In January 2001, KABILA was assassinated and his son, Joseph KABILA, was named head of state. In October 2002, the new president was successful in negotiating the withdrawal of Rwandan forces occupying the eastern DRC; two months later, the Pretoria Accord was signed by all remaining warring parties to end the fighting and establish a government of national unity. A transitional government was set up in July 2003; it held a successful constitutional referendum in December 2005 and elections for the presidency, National Assembly, and provincial legislatures took place in 2006. In 2009, following a resurgence of conflict in the eastern DRC, the government signed a peace agreement with the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), a primarily Tutsi rebel group. An attempt to integrate CNDP members into the Congolese military failed, prompting their defection in 2012 and the formation of the M23 armed group - named after the 23 March 2009 peace agreements. Renewed conflict has lead to the displacement of large numbers of people and significant human rights abuses. As of February 2013, peace talks between the Congolese government and the M23 were on-going. In addition, the DRC continues to experience violence committed by other armed groups including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda and Mai Mai groups. In the most recent national elections, held in November 2011, disputed results allowed Joseph KABILA to be reelected to the presidency.
Contents
Geography
Central Africa, northeast of Angola
Geographic coordinates
0 00 N, 25 00 E
Area
Slightly less than 1/4 the size of the US.
Climate
Tropical; hot and humid in equatorial river basin; cooler and drier in southern highlands; cooler and wetter in eastern highlands; north of Equator - wet season (April to October), dry season (December to February); south of Equator - wet season (November to March), dry season (April to October).
Terrain
Vast central basin is a low-lying plateau; mountains in east.
Natural Resources
Cobalt, copper, niobium, tantalum, petroleum, industrial and gem diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, uranium, coal, hydropower, timber.
Natural Hazards
Periodic droughts in south; Congo River floods (seasonal); active volcanoes in the east along the Great Rift Valley Volcanism: Nyiragongo (elev. 3,470 m), which erupted in 2002 and is experiencing ongoing activity, poses a major threat to the city of Goma, home to a quarter million people; the volcano produces unusually fast-moving lava, known to travel up to 100 km /hr; Nyiragongo has been deemed a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to its explosive history and close proximity to human populations; its neighbor, Nyamuragira, which erupted in 2010, is Africa's most active volcano; Visoke is the only other historically active volcano.
Environment - Current Issues
Poaching threatens wildlife populations; water pollution; deforestation; refugees responsible for significant deforestation, soil erosion, and wildlife poaching; mining of minerals (coltan - a mineral used in creating capacitors, diamonds, and gold) causing environmental damage.
People
Population
77,433,744 Country comparison to the world: 20 Note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2014 est.).
Age Structure
0-14 years: 43.1% (male 16,810,549/female 16,552,685) 15-24 years: 21.4% (male 8,292,444/female 8,248,326) 25-54 years: 29.4% (male 11,359,385/female 11,405,442) 55-64 years: 3.5% (male 1,287,895/female 1,457,499) 65 years and over: 2.6% (male 849,840/female 1,169,679) (2014 est.)
Median Age
Total: 17.9 years Male: 17.7 years Female: 18.1 years (2014 est.)
Population Growth
2.5% (2014 est.) Country comparison to the world: 30
Urbanization
Urban population: 34.3% of total population (2011) Rate of urbanization: 4.19% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)
Sex Ratio
At birth: 1.03 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 1 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.72 male(s)/female Total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2014 est.)
Infant Mortality Rate
Total: 73.15 deaths/1,000 live births Country comparison to the world: 12 Male: 76.8 deaths/1,000 live births Female: 69.39 deaths/1,000 live births (2014 est.)
Life Expectancy at Birth
Total population: 56.54 years Country comparison to the world: 203 Male: 55.03 years Female: 58.09 years (2014 est.)
Total Fertility Rate
4.8 children born/woman (2014 est.) Country comparison to the world: 22
HIV/AIDS
1.1% (2012 est.) Country comparison to the world: 44
Nationality
Noun: Congolese (singular and plural) Adjective: Congolese or Congo Ethnic Groups: Over 200 African ethnic groups of which the majority are Bantu; the four largest tribes - Mongo, Luba, Kongo (all Bantu), and the Mangbetu-Azande (Hamitic) make up about 45% of the population.
Religion
Roman Catholic 50%, Protestant 20%, Kimbanguist 10%, Muslim 10%, other (includes syncretic sects and indigenous beliefs) 10%
Languages
French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca trade language), Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo, Tshiluba.
Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write French, Lingala, Kingwana, or Tshiluba Total population: 66.8% Male: 76.9% Female: 57% (2010 est.)
Government
Country name
Conventional long form: Democratic Republic of the Congo Conventional short form: DRC Local long form: Republique Democratique du Congo Local short form: RDC Former: Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Congo/Leopoldville, Congo/Kinshasa, Zaire Abbreviation: DRC
Capital
Kinshasha
Time Difference
UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
Legal system
Civil legal system based on Belgian version of French civil law.
Economy
The economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo - a nation endowed with vast natural resource wealth - is slowly recovering after decades of decline. Systemic corruption since independence in 1960, combined with country-wide instability and conflict that began in the mid-90s has dramatically reduced national output and government revenue and increased external debt. With the installation of a transitional government in 2003 after peace accords, economic conditions slowly began to improve as the transitional government reopened relations with international financial institutions and international donors, and President KABILA began implementing reforms. Progress has been slow to reach the interior of the country although clear changes are evident in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. An uncertain legal framework, corruption, and a lack of transparency in government policy are long-term problems for the mining sector and for the economy as a whole. Much economic activity still occurs in the informal sector and is not reflected in GDP data. Renewed activity in the mining sector, the source of most export income, has boosted Kinshasa's fiscal position and GDP growth in recent years. The global recession cut economic growth in 2009 to less than half its 2008 level, but growth returned to around 7% per year in 2010-12. The DRC signed a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility with the IMF in 2009 and received $12 billion in multilateral and bilateral debt relief in 2010, but the IMF at the end of 2012 suspended the last three payments under the loan facility - worth $240 million - because of concerns about the lack of transparency in mining contracts. In 2012, the DRC updated its business laws by adhering to OHADA, the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa. The country marked its tenth consecutive year of positive economic expansion in 2012.
Source: CIA World Factbook - Congo