Congo, Democratic Republic of

Country in central Africa, formerly Zaire (1971-97), bounded west by the Republic of the Congo, north by the Central African Republic and Sudan, east by Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania, southeast by Zambia, and southwest by Angola. There is a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean.

Government

then known as Zaire, the country was until 1991 a one-party state, based on the Popular Movement of the Revolution (MPR). In August 1991, a national conference was convened to debate the country's political future, and in December 1992 a 435-member High Council of the Republic (HCR) was established as an interim legislative and executive authority. The incumbent president Mobutu refused to accept the HCR, creating his own rival government. The political deadlock ended in January 1994 when it was agreed that the rival governments would be merged and in June 1994 a transitional legislature, the High Council of the Republic-Parliament of Transition (HCR-PT), was formed.

History

The area was originally peopled by central African hunters and agriculturalists. The name Zaire (from Zadi ‘big water’) was given by Portuguese explorers who arrived on the country's Atlantic coast in the 15th century. The great medieval kingdom of Kongo, centred on the banks of the Congo River, was then in decline, and the subsequent slave trade weakened it further. The interior was not explored by Europeans until the arrival of Stanley and Livingstone in the 1870s, partly financed by Leopold II of Belgium, who established the Congo Free State under his personal rule in 1885. Local resistance was suppressed, and the inhabitants were exploited. When the atrocious treatment of local labour was made public, Belgium annexed the country as a colony, the Belgian Congo, in 1908, and conditions were marginally improved.

Independence

the country was given full independence in June 1960 as the Republic of the Congo. The new state was intended to be governed centrally from Léopoldville by President Joseph Kasavubu and Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, but Moise Tshombe immediately declared the rich mining province of Katanga (renamed Shaba in 1972) independent under his leadership. Fighting broke out, which was not quelled by Belgian troops, and the United Nations (UN) Security Council agreed to send a force to restore order and protect lives. Meanwhile, disagreements between Kasavubu and Lumumba on how the crisis should be tackled prompted the Congolese army commander, Col Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, to step in and temporarily take over the government. Lumumba was imprisoned and later released, and five months later power was handed back to Kasavubu. Soon afterwards Lumumba was murdered and the white mercenaries employed by Tshombe were thought to be responsible. The outcry that followed resulted in a new government being formed, with Cyrille Adoula as prime minister.

During the fighting between Tshombe's mercenaries and UN forces the UN secretary general, Dag Hammarskjöld, flew to Katanga province to mediate and was killed in an air crash on the border with Northern Rhodesia. The attempted secession of Katanga was finally stopped in 1963 when Tshombe went into exile, taking many of his followers with him to form the Congolese National Liberation Front (FNLC). In July 1964 Tshombe returned from exile, and President Kasavubu appointed him interim prime minister until elections for a new government could be held. In August the country was renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

‘Second republic’

A power struggle soon developed between Kasavubu and Tshombe, and again the army, under Mobutu, intervened, establishing a ‘second republic’ in November 1965.

A new constitution was adopted in 1967, Tshombe died in captivity in 1969, and Mobutu was elected president for a seven-year term in 1970. The following year the country became the Republic of Zaire, and the Popular Movement of the Revolution (MPR) was declared the only legal political party in 1972. In the same year the president became known as Mobutu Sese Seko.

Reform and stability

Mobutu, re-elected in 1977, carried out a large number of political and constitutional reforms. He gradually improved the structure of public administration and brought stability to what had once seemed an ungovernable country, although he faced two revolts in Shaba province. The first, in March 1977, was put down with the support of Moroccan forces airlifted to Zaire by France. The second, in May 1978, was repulsed by French and Belgian paratroopers. Both invasions were instigated by the FNLC, operating from bases in Angola. The harshness of some of Mobutu's policies brought international criticism and in 1983 he offered amnesty to all political exiles. Marshal Mobutu, as he was now called, was re-elected in 1984 for a third term.

After continued pressure, multiparty elections were promised for 1992, and by January 1991, 19 political parties had registered.

Political deadlock and mounting civil strife

In September 1991, as the country's economy disintegrated and rebellious soldiers and mobs ransacked Zaire's cities, Mobutu agreed to share power and form an emergency government with the opposition. Etienne Tshisekedi of the Democratic Union for Social Progress was appointed prime minister. In October 1991, after public disagreement, Mobutu dismissed Tshisekedi, who then set up an alternative government in opposition to the president. Despite domestic and international opposition to his rule, Mobutu announced in December 1991 that he intended to remain beyond his seven-year mandate. Tshiksekedi was reinstated as prime minister in August 1992, although opposed by Mobutu, and an interim parliament, The High Council of the Republic (HCR), set up in December. Rioting had re-erupted in October 1992 after Mobutu refused to accept proposed constitutional changes, and a pay dispute within the army in December resulted in widespread looting and killing, prompting France and Belgium to prepare for evacuation of their civilians.

President Mobutu's refusal to accept the HCR resulted in the creation of two rival governments, one appointed by the president and one by the HCR, which claimed the right to appoint the prime minister. Agreement between Mobutu and the HCR was finally reached and in June 1994 a reconstituted HCR, now known as the Council of the Republic-Parliament of Transition, elected Kengo Wa Dondo as prime minister, and this was accepted by Mobutu. In the summer of 1994 Zaire received a mass influx of refugees from neighbouring Rwanda and, in May 1995, the country's problems were exacerbated by an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus. This was declared over by the World Health Organization in August 1995. A total breakdown in law and order threatened, with continuing secessionist activity in Shaba province and tribal clashes in Kivu province.

Rwandan refugee crisis

In one of the most dramatic mass movements of people of the 20th century, over half a million Hutu refugees returned to Rwanda in 1996 after two years of exile in Zairean refugee camps. The Interahamwe, the Hutu militia who committed genocide and forced two million Rwandans into exile in 1994, had been dislodged by a new military force.

In October 1996, fighting between the Zairean army and Tutsi rebels from the Banyamulenge community of eastern Zaire forced refugees to flee their camps, and civilians to leave home. The Banyamulenge launched an insurrection in southern Kivu and a number of other non-Tutsi groups, with a shared hatred of Zaire's president Mobutu, started rebellions further north. The initial exodus was an attempt to escape the escalating war. By late November 1996 the crisis had eased and the deployment of a planned international force authorized by the UN to help refugees in Zaire was postponed. President Rwigema of Rwanda appealed to the UN to stop its planned military intervention and to use the money to support the reintegration of refugees in Rwanda.

The fall of Mobutu

Zairean government forces bombed three rebel-held towns in eastern Zaire in February 1997 and vowed to intensify the bombardments, which killed at least six people. The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (ADFL), which controlled most of eastern Zaire after launching a war in October 1996 to topple President Mobutu, announced in March that their forces had captured the town of Lubutu. The rebel leader appealed to the UN to help some 170,000 refugees trapped in the fighting. ADFL troops captured Lubutu and nearby Tingi Tingi after heavy fighting in which one rebel and 25 Zairean soldiers were reportedly killed.

After a three-day pause during which they demanded the resignation of President Mobutu, Zairean rebels announced they were restarting the civil war against the Kinshasa-based government in mid-April 1997. The three-day ceasefire had been announced after rebels, led by Laurent Kabila, captured Zaire's second city, Lubumbashi. President Mobutu had announced a state of emergency the day before and government troops in the capital were using tear gas, rifle butts, and batons against demonstrators supporting the opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi.

The rebels had captured the strategic city of Kisangani in March, and then advanced on the southern, mineral-rich provinces of Kasai and Shaba. After taking Mbuji-Mayi, centre of Zaire's diamond industry, the rebels surrounded the copperbelt city of Lubumbashi. They were then positioned to advance on Kasai and Shaba, and by March 1997 they had made great advances against the regime of President Mobutu, who had returned from medical treatment in Paris.

In April 1997, a former prime minister, Etienne Tshisekedi, was returned to office by the transitional assembly, while the rebel advances continued. Later in the month it was reported that, after South African mediation, President Mobutu and the rebel leader, Laurent Kabila, had agreed to meet. At the beginning of May peace talks took place between Mobutu and Kabila, hosted by South African President Mandela. The talks ended with some degree of hope that a diplomatic solution to Zaire's civil war might be found.

President Kabila's rule

The rebels, who continued to advance on Kinshasa, the capital, still insisted on Mobutu's resignation and a transfer of power to Kabila as the only acceptable result. In mid-May, with Kabila's rebels poised to take Kinshasa, government officials announced that President Mobutu was to give up his powers. The rebels entered Kinshasa, the capital, encountering almost no resistance from Mobutu's troops. From Lubumbashi, the rebel headquarters, Kabila claimed victory and the presidency. He renamed Zaire the Democratic Republic of the Congo - the country's name from 1964 until Mobutu renamed it in 1971. President Kabila's administration banned all activities of political parties and public demonstrations in Kinshasa until further notice, citing a need to ensure security.

At the end of May 1997 President Kabila took office as head of state of the Democratic Republic of Congo, promising to hold general elections in April 1999 and to bury the legacy of the ousted Mobutu. In November 1997 there was fighting in Kinshasa between rival factions within the army.

Renewed rebel fighting

During early August 1998 troops loyal to President Kabila battled with rebellious Tutsi fighters in the east and west of the country in an uprising aimed at toppling the president's 14-month-old regime.

In August 1998 Angola and Zimbabwe sent troops and aircraft to help Kabila suppress a rebellion, backed by Rwanda and Uganda. Kisangani and Goma, cities held by the rebels in eastern Congo, came under attack. The rebels launched an assault on Kinshasa, but were repulsed by Angolan and Zimbabwean aircraft and Congolese soldiers. The UN Security Council called for a ceasefire. However, in September 1998 areas near the Ugandan border were bombed, either by Sudanese or Congolese forces, while Chad sent 1,000 troops and Namibia also sent forces to support President Kabila. Rwanda accused Kabila of arming Hutu extremists with a view to genocide. In October 1998, the anti-Kabila rebels captured Kindu, the government's main air base and headquarters in the east. In November 1998 the rebel forces agreed to a ceasefire but demanded direct talks with President Kabila. Later in the month the rebels vowed to fight on; unrest and atrocities continued into 1999.

Peace process

African leaders agreed in May 1999 in Libya on a peace deal that called for a ceasefire between Congo and its rebel fighters. It was the first time that President Kabila and Rwandan president Kagame had met since Congo's war against Rwandan-backed rebels began nine months earlier. The fighting, however, continued.

Talks were held in June 1999 in Zambia between six African leaders and rebel commanders, aimed at ending the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, announced he would dispatch troops to police a ceasefire. A peace plan, designed to end Congo's 11-month war, was signed on 10 July. It provided for a full ceasefire within 24 hours and the creation of a unified army after a three-month ‘national dialogue’ on the country's future. Peace-keeping troops would be sent by the UN, or by the Organization of African Unity (OAU; later African Union).

The six African governments involved in the 11-month war in the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a ceasefire accord in July 1999, but without the rebel groups who had been fighting to oust President Kabila. Kabila said there would be an amnesty for rebels and their supporters, but rebel leaders rejected the ceasefire and continued to fight.

Jean-Pierre Bemba, leader of one of the three rival rebel groups in Congo, signed a peace agreement in August 1999 with President Kabila ending the year-long civil war. However, he announced that the ceasefire was broken three days later after a government bombing raid.

Following a round of shuttle diplomacy, South Africa's foreign minister announced that all three rebel factions in Congo's civil war were ready late August to sign a peace agreement. At the beginning of September - two months after the six countries involved in Congo's civil war signed a peace deal - the Congolese rebel leaders also signed it. One divided rebel group, the Congolese Rally for Democracy, immediately began squabbling about the next stage of the peace process - the make-up of a joint military council - and whether President Kabila should resign before there could be any further dialogue.

General Rashid Lallali, the Algerian UN official who was to head the joint military council, said that between 90,000 and 500,000 peacekeepers would be needed to monitor the peace process. The most optimistic projection of the number of international peacekeepers the UN Security Council might sanction was 20,000.

The fragile ceasefire in Congo in November 1999 came under threat when two rebel groups accused the government of attacking their positions. The leaders of the rebel groups said they had consequently taken up arms again to fight the government of President Kabila, but their main backer, Uganda, said a ceasefire was in operation.

President Kabila, having refused to appear at the UN to discuss the crisis in his country, and having stayed away from a regional summit in January 2000, finally joined leaders of the African countries at war in Congo, at a special session of the UN Security Council in New York, where the aim was to bring an end to the conflict. However, the conflict continued as troops from Uganda and Rwanda, supporting different factions of the Congolese rebels, ignored an agreement to an internationally supervised withdrawal from the rebel-held city of Kisangani, and continued to fight. UN secretary general Kofi Annan urged the UN to impose sanctions on Uganda and Rwanda, to force them out of Congo. As the UN threatened Rwanda and Uganda with sanctions, the two countries agreed to withdraw their troops from a key city in Congo, Kisangani.

In August 2000, government troops were called to stop their 11-month offensive against rebels in the northwest. This marked the first time for two years, in a war in which 1.7 million people are estimated to have died, that President Kabila appeared to be prepared to bring an end to the war through compromise. Three days after the announcement, he met with ten other African leaders in Zambia to attempt to salvage the Congo peace accord and bring UN peacekeepers to the Congo. However, peace talks collapsed in August 2000 after Kabila rejected mediation by UN peacekeepers and by a former president of Botswana. Kabila announced the suspension of the peace accord, and called for a summit with Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi. In mid-October, Kabila said he would allow the deployment of UN troops in the Congo, but by November, it appeared that he was intent on undermining the mission and obstructing the movement of UN personnel. By early November, only 250 of a promised 5,500 soldiers had been deployed. Fighting between government and rebels continued. In December, Rwandan-backed rebels captured the city of Pweto, which was being defended by Zimbabwean troops supporting Congolese forces, causing more than 10,000 refugees to flee to Zambia.

Kabila assassinated

President Kabila was shot and killed on 16 January 2001, allegedly by one of his bodyguards. The Congolese authorities delayed announcing his death for several days. Parliament unanimously approved the appointment of his son, Maj-Gen Joseph Kabila, in his place, and he was sworn in on 26 January.

Fighting continues

In January, around 200 people died in fighting between ethnic groups in the northeast of the country. At the end of the month, President Joseph Kabila met with the South African and French presidents, the US secretary of state, and the United Nations secretary-general in a mission to bring peace to the Congo. Kabila pledged to promote economic liberalization and political pluralism, and to hold free elections at a future date. He also met with the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, who supported rebels in the east of the Congo. In February, Kabila made concessions to Rwanda and Uganda in peace talks held in Lusaka, Zambia. The two countries withdrew some troops from east Congo. In March, the first armed UN troops arrived and confirmed that all warring parties were pulling back.

Cabinet reshuffle

In April, Kabila ousted several allies of his late father from government, raising hopes of peace. Mwenze Kongolo became national security minister, Matungulu Kuyamu economy and finance minister, and Mira Ndjoku interior minister. Kabila also lifted restrictions on the formation and operation of political parties.

Also in April, the Rwandan-backed Rassemblement Congolais pour la Denturymocratie (RCD; Congolese Rally for Democracy) briefly blocked the arrival of 120 UN monitors in Kisangani, in the east of the country. Disarmament of rebel groups, including 58,000 foreign rebel groups, proceeded slower than planned and threatened to spread conflict into Angola, Burundi, and Rwanda.

In May, the International Rescue Committee, a US aid agency, estimated that 2.5 million people had died in the Congo from malaria, dysentry, and violence since August 1998. As peace talks continued, a UN report accused Uganda and Rwanda of looting Congo's minerals.

In July 2002 the government signed a South African-brokered peace agreement with Rwandat. The agreement required Rwanda to pull its troops out of the eastern Congo in return for the government disarming and repatriating for trial the Rwandan Hutu extremists (the Interahamwe) responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.