Quick Facts about DR Congo

Post a Comment » Written on October 9th, 2014     
Filed under: News & Updates
This infomation taken from www.congoweek.org

As Covenant Kids Congo supporters, we all have the best interest of our sponsored children in mind.  If we don’t know some history of the political and economic complexities, we can’t appreciate both the challenges and great opportunities that lie ahead for these kids and their families in Gemena.  Read on, share with your churches, and PRAYand ACT for a conflict-free Congo for the sake of our sponsored kids.

The Democratic Republic of Congo

Flag_of_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo

History & Geography

1. Congo is located in the heart of Africa straddling the equator.
2. Congo is bordered by nine other countries and is the size of Western Europe with a population of 70 million people.
3. The lingua franca is French however four major languages (Lingala, Kikongo, Tshiluba, and Swahili) are spoken among more than 250 ethnic groups.
4. Congo’s Ishango Bones, a binary counting system and lunar calendar, are among the oldest mathematical artifacts in the world, dating to 20,000 BC.
5. The Kongo empire reigned during the period of African enslavement and prior to the Colonization era.
6. Congo was given to King Leopold II of Belgium at the 1884/85 Berlin Conference.
7. King Leopold II ruled Congo as his own personal property for 23 years (1885 – 1908) during which time approximately 10 million Congolese perished.
8. As a result of international grassroots pressure, King Leopold II had to relinquish ownership of the Congo to the Belgian state in 1908 and Belgium ruled as a
colonial power until 1960.

Politics

1. Congo obtained independence from Belgium on June 30, 1960 under the elected leadership of Prime Minister Patrice Emery Lumumba who was summarily
assassinated within months by Western powers and Congolese sycophants.
2. Pursuant to Lumumba’s assassination, the United States installed and backed Joseph Desire Mobutu for over three decades.
3. Rwanda and Uganda, both U.S. allies, invaded the Congo twice (1996 & 1998) which resulted in the removal of Mobutu in 1997 and the unleashing of the deaths of nearly
six million.
4. The overthrow of Mobutu resulted in the installation of Laurent Desire Kabila in 1997, who was assassinated in 2001 and followed by his son Joseph Kabila who is still
in power after elections in 2006 and 2011. The next presidential elections will take place in 2016

The Tragedy

1. It is estimated that nearly six million people have died as a result of conflict and conflict related causes in the Congo since 1996.

2. Congo ranks consistently near the bottom of the UN Human Development Index, in spite of its enormous natural wealth.
3. Hundreds of thousands of women have been raped as weapon of war.
4. Eighty percent of the population lives on 30 cents or less per day.
5. The international community is systematically taking advantage of Congo’s spectacular wealth.

The Potential

1. Congo’s people represent its greatest potential with a population of 70 million, half under the age of 18.
2. Congo is a storehouse of strategic minerals – cobalt, copper, zinc, gold, diamond, silver, magnesium, germanium, uranium, coltan, petroleum and many other
resources.
3. Congo possesses 64 percent of the world’s reserve of coltan (a mineral found in cell phones and other electronic devices).
4. Congo has 34 percent of the world’s cobalt and 10 percent of its copper.
5. Congo is a part of the second largest rainforest in the world, which is vital in the fight against climate change.
6. Congo has the hydro capacity to provide electricity for the entire African continent, southern Europe and parts of the Middle East.
7. Congo has the agricultural capacity to feed all of Africa

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