PROFILE

OFFICIAL NAME:
Democratic Republic of the Congo

Geography
Location: Central Africa. Bordering nations--Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia.
Area: 2.345 sq. km. (905,063 sq. mi.; about the size of the U.S. east of the Mississippi).
Cities: Capital--Kinshasa (pop. 8 million). Regional capitals--Bandundu, Bukavu, Goma, Kananga, Kindu, Kisangani, Lubumbashi, Matadi, Mbandaka, Mbuji-Mayi.
Terrain: Varies from tropical rainforests to mountainous terraces, plateaus, savannas, dense grasslands, and mountains.
Climate: Equatorial; ranges from tropical rainforest in the Congo River basin, hot and humid in much of the north and west, cooler and drier in the south central area and the east.

People 
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Congolese.
Population (2008 est.): 66 million.
Annual growth rate (2008 est.): 3.24%. 
Ethnic groups: More than 200 African ethnic groups; the Luba, Kongo, and Anamongo are some of the larger groupings of tribes.
Religions: Christian 70% (Catholic 50%, Protestant 20%); Kimbanguist 10%; other sects and traditional beliefs 10%; Muslim 10%. 
Language: Official--French. National languages--Lingala, Swahili, Kikongo, Tshiluba. 
Education: Literacy (2004 est.)--65.5% in French or local language. Schooling (2000 est.)--none 41.7%, primary 42.2%, secondary 15.4%, university 0.7%.
Health (2006 est.): Infant mortality rate--129/1,000 live births. Life expectancy--46.1 yrs.

Government 
Type: Republic; highly centralized with executive power vested in the president.
Independence: June 30, 1960 (from Belgium).
Constitution: June 24, 1967; amended August 1974; revised February 15, 1978; amended April 1990; transitional constitution promulgated April 1994; Constitutional Act promulgated May 1997; draft constitution proposed but not finalized March 1998; transitional constitution adopted on April 2, 2003. A new constitution was passed by the transitional parliament on May 2005. The D.R.C. held a constitutional referendum on December 18-19, 2005. Official results indicated that 84% of voters approved the constitution. The new constitution was promulgated in a ceremony on February 18, 2006.
Branches: Executive--President is head of state. Cabinet is appointed by the ruling party in the parliament. Prime minister is elected by the parliament. Legislative--The 500-member lower house of parliament was elected in July 30, 2006 national elections. Provincial Assemblies elected the Senate in October 29, 2006 elections. The Senate elected provincial governors. Judicial--Supreme Court (Cour Supreme).
Administrative subdivisions: Ten provinces and the capital city, Kinshasa.
Political parties: President Joseph Kabila's party is Parti du Peuple pour la Reconstruction et le Développement (PPRD). Two main coalitions represent President Kabila and his presidential run-off challenger, former Transitional Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba. Other opposition parties include Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social (UDPS), Forces du Futur (FDF), Forces Novatrices pour l'Union et la Solidarite (FONUS), Parti Democrate Social Chrétien (PDSC), Mouvement Social Démocratie et Développement (MSDD), Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution--Fait Prive (MPR-FP), Union des Nationalistes et des Fédéralistes Congolais (UNAFEC), and Mouvement National Congolais/ Lumumba (MNC/L). Former rebel movements-turned-political parties include the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (RCD), Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo (MLC), and independent splinter groups of the RCD (RCD/ML, RCD/N, RCD/G). 
Suffrage: 18 years of age and universal.

Economy 
GDP (2007): $9.85 billion.
Annual GDP growth rate (2007): 7%.
Per capita GDP (2007): $300.
Natural resources: Copper, cobalt, diamonds, gold, other minerals; petroleum; wood; hydroelectric potential.
Agriculture: Cash crops--coffee, rubber, palm oil, cotton, cocoa, sugar, tea. Food crops--manioc, corn, legumes, plantains, peanuts. 
Land use: Agriculture 3%; pasture 7%; forest/woodland 77%; other 13%.
Industry: Types--processed and unprocessed minerals; consumer products, including textiles, plastics, footwear, cigarettes, metal products; processed foods and beverages, cement, timber.
Currency: Congolese franc (FC).
Trade: Exports (2006)--$1.587 billion. Products--diamonds, cobalt, copper, coffee, petroleum. Partners--EU, Japan, South Africa, U.S., China. Imports (2006)--$2.263 billion. Products--consumer goods (food, textiles), capital equipment, refined petroleum products. Partners--EU, China, South Africa, U.S.
Total external debt (2006): $11 billion.

GEOGRAPHY 
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.) includes the greater part of the Congo River basin, which covers an area of almost 1 million square kilometers (400,000 sq. mi.). The country's only outlet to the Atlantic Ocean is a narrow strip of land on the north bank of the Congo River.

The vast, low-lying central area is a basin-shaped plateau sloping toward the west and covered by tropical rainforest. This area is surrounded by mountainous terraces in the west, plateaus merging into savannas in the south and southwest, and dense grasslands extending beyond the Congo River in the north. High mountains are found in the extreme eastern region.

D.R.C. lies on the Equator, with one-third of the country to the north and two-thirds to the south. The climate is hot and humid in the river basin and cool and dry in the southern highlands. South of the Equator, the rainy season lasts from October to May and north of the Equator, from April to November. Along the Equator, rainfall is fairly regular throughout the year. During the wet season, thunderstorms often are violent but seldom last more than a few hours. The average rainfall for the entire country is about 107 centimeters (42 in.).

PEOPLE
The population of D.R.C. was estimated at 66 million in 2008. As many as 250 ethnic groups have been distinguished and named. Some of the larger groups are the Kongo, Luba, and Anamongo. Although 700 local languages and dialects are spoken, the linguistic variety is bridged both by the use of French and the intermediary languages Kikongo, Tshiluba, Swahili, and Lingala.

About 70% of the Congolese population is Christian, predominantly Roman Catholic. Most of the non-Christians adhere to either traditional religions or syncretic sects. Traditional religions include concepts such as monotheism, animism, vitalism, spirit and ancestor worship, witchcraft, and sorcery and vary widely among ethnic groups; none is formalized. The syncretic sects often merge Christianity with traditional beliefs and rituals. The most popular of these sects, 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," now claims about 3 million members, primarily among the Bakongo tribe of Bas-Congo and Kinshasa. In 1969, it was the first independent African church admitted to the World Council of Churches.

Before independence in 1960, education was largely in the hands of religious groups. The primary school system was well developed at independence; however, the secondary school system was limited, and higher education was almost nonexistent in most regions of the country. The principal objective of this system was to train low-level administrators and clerks. Since independence, efforts have been made to increase access to education, and secondary and higher education have been made available to many more Congolese. According to estimates made in 2000, 41.7% of the population had no schooling, 42.2% had primary schooling, 15.4% had secondary schooling, and 0.7% had university schooling. At all levels of education, males greatly outnumber females. The largest state-run universities are the University of Kinshasa, the University of Lubumbashi, and the University of Kisangani. The elite continue to send their children abroad to be educated, primarily in Western Europe.

HISTORY 
The area known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo was populated as early as 10,000 years ago and settled in the 7th and 8th centuries A.D. by Bantus from present-day Nigeria. Discovered in 1482 by Portuguese navigator Diego Cao and later explored by English journalist Henry Morton Stanley, the area was officially colonized in 1885 as a personal possession of Belgian King Leopold II as the Congo Free State. In 1907, administration shifted to the Belgian Government, which renamed the country the Belgian Congo. Following a series of riots and unrest, the Belgian Congo was granted its independence on June 30, 1960. Parliamentary elections in 1960 produced Patrice Lumumba as prime minister and Joseph Kasavubu as president of the renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS

The Mobutu Era
Within the first year of independence, several events destabilized the country: the army mutinied; the governor of Katanga province attempted secession; a UN peacekeeping force was called in to restore order; Prime Minister Lumumba died under mysterious circumstances; and Col. Joseph Désiré Mobutu (later Mobutu Sese Seko) took over the government and ceded it again to President Kasavubu.

Unrest and rebellion plagued the government until 1965, when Lieutenant General Mobutu, by then commander in chief of the national army, again seized control of the country and declared himself president for 5 years. Mobutu quickly centralized power into his own hands and was elected unopposed as president

in 1970. Embarking on a campaign of cultural awareness, Mobutu renamed the country the Republic of Zaire and required citizens to adopt African names. Relative peace and stability prevailed until 1977 and 1978 when Katangan rebels, staged in Angola, launched a series of invasions into the Katanga region. The rebels were driven out with the aid of Belgian paratroopers.

During the 1980s, Mobutu continued to enforce his one-party system of rule. Although Mobutu successfully maintained control during this period, opposition parties, most notably the Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social (UDPS), were active. Mobutu's attempts to quell these groups drew significant international criticism.

As the Cold War came to a close, internal and external pressures on Mobutu increased. In late 1989 and early 1990, Mobutu was weakened by a series of domestic protests, by heightened international criticism of his regime's human rights practices, and by a faltering economy. In April 1990 Mobutu agreed to the principle of a multi-party system with elections and a constitution. As details of a reform package were delayed, soldiers in September 1991 began looting Kinshasa to protest their unpaid wages. Two thousand French and Belgian troops, some of whom were flown in on U.S. Air Force planes, arrived to evacuate the 20,000 endangered foreign nationals in Kinshasa.

In 1992, after previous similar attempts, the long-promised Sovereign National Conference was staged, encompassing more than 2,000 representatives from various political parties. The conference gave itself a legislative mandate and elected Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo as its chairman, along with Etienne Tshisekedi, leader of the UDPS, as prime minister. By the end of the year Mobutu had created a rival government with its own prime minister. The ensuing stalemate produced a compromise merger of the two governments into the High Council of Republic-Parliament of Transition (HCR-PT) in 1994, with Mobutu as head of state and Kengo Wa Dondo as prime minister. Although presidential and legislative elections were scheduled repeatedly over the next 2 years, they never took place.

By 1996, the war and genocide in neighboring Rwanda had spilled over to Zaire. Rwandan Hutu militia forces (Interahamwe), who fled Rwanda following the ascension of a Tutsi-led government, were using Hutu refugee camps in eastern Zaire as bases for incursions against Rwanda.

In October 1996, Rwandan troops (RPA) entered Zaire, simultaneously with the formation of an armed coalition led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila known as the Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaire (AFDL). With the goal of forcibly ousting Mobutu, the AFDL, supported by Rwanda and Uganda, began a military campaign toward Kinshasa. Following failed peace talks between Mobutu and Kabila in May 1997, Mobutu left the country.

From Dictatorship to Disintegration
Laurent-Désiré Kabila marched into Kinshasa on May 17, 1997 and declared himself president. He consolidated power around himself and the AFDL and renamed the country the Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C.). Kabila's Army Chief and the Secretary General of the AFDL were Rwandan, and RPA units continued to operate tangentially with the D.R.C.'s military, which was renamed the Forces Armées Congolaises (FAC).

Over the next year, relations between Kabila and his foreign backers deteriorated. In July 1998, Kabila ordered all foreign troops to leave the D.R.C. Most refused to leave. On August 2, fighting erupted throughout the D.R.C. as Rwandan troops in the D.R.C. "mutinied," and fresh Rwandan and Ugandan troops entered the D.R.C. Two days later, Rwandan troops flew to Bas-Congo, with the intention of marching on Kinshasa, ousting Laurent Kabila, and replacing him with the newly formed Rwandan-backed rebel group called the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (RCD). The Rwandan campaign was thwarted at the last minute when Angolan, Zimbabwean, and Namibian troops intervened on behalf of the D.R.C. Government. The Rwandans and the RCD withdrew to eastern D.R.C., where they established de facto control over portions of eastern D.R.C. and continued to fight the Congolese Army and its foreign allies.

In February 1999, Uganda backed the formation of a rebel group called the Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo (MLC), which drew support from among ex-Mobutuists and ex-FAZ soldiers in Equateur province (Mobutu's home province). Together, Uganda and the MLC established control over the northern third of the D.R.C.

At this stage, the D.R.C. was divided de facto into three segments--one controlled by Laurent Kabila, one controlled by Rwanda, and one controlled by Uganda--and the parties had reached military deadlock. In July 1999, a cease-fire was proposed in Lusaka, Zambia, which all parties signed by the end of August. The Lusaka Accord called for a cease-fire, the deployment of a UN peacekeeping operation, MONUC, the withdrawal of foreign troops, and the launching of an "Inter-Congolese Dialogue" to form a transitional government leading to elections. The parties to the Lusaka Accord failed to fully implement its provisions in 1999 and 2000. Laurent Kabila drew increasing international criticism for blocking full deployment of UN troops, hindering progress toward an Inter-Congolese Dialogue, and suppressing internal political activity.

On January 16, 2001, Laurent Kabila was assassinated. He was succeeded by his son Joseph, who reversed many of his father's negative policies. Over the next year, MONUC deployed throughout the country, and the Inter-Congolese Dialogue proceeded. By the end of 2002, all Angolan, Namibian, and Zimbabwean troops had withdrawn from the D.R.C. Following D.R.C.-Rwanda talks in South Africa that culminated in the Pretoria Accord in July 2002, Rwandan troops officially withdrew from the D.R.C. in October 2002, although there were continued, unconfirmed reports that Rwandan soldiers and military advisers remained integrated with RCD/G forces in eastern D.R.C. Ugandan troops officially withdrew from the D.R.C. in May 2003.

National Dialogue, Transitional Government, and Nascent Democracy
In October 2001, the Inter-Congolese Dialogue began in Addis Ababa under the auspices of Facilitator Ketumile Masire (former president of Botswana). The initial meetings made little progress and were adjourned. On February 25, 2002, the dialogue was reconvened in South Africa. It included representatives from the government, rebel groups, political opposition, civil society, and Mai-Mai (Congolese local defense militias). The talks ended inconclusively on April 19, 2002, when the government and the MLC brokered an agreement that was signed by the majority of delegates at the dialogue but left out the RCD/G and opposition UDPS party, among others.

This partial agreement was never implemented, and negotiations resumed in South Africa in October 2002. This time, the talks led to an all-inclusive agreement, which was signed by delegates in Pretoria on December 17, 2002, and formally ratified by all parties on April 2, 2003.

Following nominations by each of the various signatory groups, President Kabila on June 30, 2003 issued a decree that formally announced the transitional government lineup. The four vice presidents took the oath of office on July 17, 2003, and most incoming ministers assumed their new functions within days thereafter.

A transitional constitution was adopted on April 2, 2003; a new constitution was promulgated February 2006. Extensive executive, legislative, and military powers are vested in the president. The legislature does not have the power to overturn the government through a vote of no confidence. The judiciary is nominally independent; the president has the power to dismiss and appoint judges. The president is head of a 35-member cabinet of ministers.

President Joseph Kabila has made significant progress in liberalizing domestic political activity, establishing a transitional government, and undertaking economic reforms in cooperation with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, serious human rights problems remain in the security services and justice system. The eastern part of the country is characterized by ongoing violence and armed conflict, which has created a humanitarian disaster and contributed to civilian deaths (more than 3.8 million, according to a prominent international non-governmental organization). MONUC continues to play an important peacekeeping role in the D.R.C., and in October 2004, its authorized force strength increased to 16,700.

On July 30, 2006 the D.R.C. held its first free, democratic, multi-party elections in more than 40 years. The D.R.C.'s 25 million registered voters were charged with electing a president (from a field of 33 candidates) and 500 deputies to the National Assembly (out of a total of 9,709 candidates). Despite technical and logistical difficulties, coupled with isolated incidents of violence and intimidation, the elections were held in a largely calm and orderly fashion. Voter turnout nationwide was high, particularly in the eastern provinces, compared to the December 2005 constitutional referendum.

The Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) on August 20, 2006 announced official provisional results from the July 30 presidential elections. According to CEI figures, incumbent Joseph Kabila won 44.81% of the votes cast versus Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba's 20.3%. As no candidate won a majority of votes in the first round and in accordance with the country's electoral law, the top two recipients, Kabila and Bemba, faced off in a second round of balloting. The D.R.C.'s transitional process was threatened by military clashes in Kinshasa just hours after provisional election results were announced. This crisis was exclusively confined to the Gombe area of central Kinshasa and was essentially a clash between Vice President Bemba and President Kabila's militias. The runoff presidential elections were held on October 29, 2006. On November 27, 2006 the Congolese Supreme Court declared President Kabila the winner over Vice President Bemba by a margin of 58% to 42%. Kabila was inaugurated on December 6, 2006.

Voters in July 2006 also chose from among 9,709 legislative candidates to fill 500 seats in the National Assembly, representing 169 electoral districts. Approximately one-third of these districts elected one deputy by a simple majority. The rest were multiple-seat districts, ranging from two representatives to a maximum of 17 (in one of Kinshasa's voting districts). In these areas, deputies were chosen by proportional representation using open party lists. To select the winners in multiple-seat districts, all valid votes cast were first divided according to political party. Next, an "electoral quotient" was determined by dividing the number of votes cast by the number of representatives to be elected. Finally, the number of votes a party received was divided by this "electoral quotient" to determine how many seats the party would win. The candidates ultimately elected were those who received the highest number of votes within their particular party lists. National Assembly deputies serve five-year terms and there is no restriction on the number of times they can be re-elected.

Organizing the D.R.C.'s July 2006 elections presented significant logistical challenges. Supported in large part by the MONUC peacekeeping mission, the Independent Electoral Commission opened more than 50,000 polling stations nationwide and employed some 300,000 poll workers on election day and to oversee the ballot counting process. The presidential and legislative ballots were printed in South Africa and altogether weighed nearly 1,800 tons, requiring 75 round-trip flights between the D.R.C. and South Africa.

For the July 2006 elections, the CEI reported that there were approximately 25.42 million voters registered and a voter participation rate of 70.54%. Of the 17.9 million ballots cast, 993,704 (approximately 5%) were disqualified due to empty ballots or marking errors. In 2005, approximately 25.7 million Congolese registered as voters (out of an original estimate of 28 million eligible to do so). In the D.R.C.'s December 2005 constitutional referendum, roughly two-thirds of all registered voters participated.

The D.R.C. legislature held its first session on September 22, 2006. On February 26, 2007, Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga and the new Congolese cabinet formally took office. In May 2007, Kengo wa Dongo was elected Senate President.

The Continuing Search for a Lasting Peace
On September 8, 2007, the Governments of the D.R.C. and Uganda reached an agreement in Ngurdoto, Tanzania, in which they mutually agreed to strengthen bilateral efforts to eliminate all "negative forces" (illegal armed groups) operating in and from the two countries.

On November 9, 2007, the Governments of the D.R.C. and Rwanda, with facilitation by the UN and witness of the United States and the European Union, signed the Nairobi Communiqué, which was designed to put an end to the presence in the D.R.C. of all foreign armed groups, particularly the ex-FAR/Interahamwe (later the Forces Démocratique de Libération du Rwanda, FDLR). These groups were to be disarmed, demobilized, and repatriated.

On January 23, 2008, the Government of the D.R.C. and over 20 armed groups signed a peace accord in Goma, D.R.C., under which the parties agreed on the need for immediate cessation of hostilities, the disengagement of troops, improved adherence to human rights standards, and the creation of UN buffer zones between and among the various factions.

As of October 1, 2008, none of these agreements had been fully implemented, and the eastern part of the country in particular continues to suffer from the activities of numerous illegal armed groups that operate largely with impunity.

Principal Government Official 
President--Joseph Kabila

ECONOMY 
Sparsely populated in relation to its area, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is home to a vast potential of natural resources and mineral wealth. Nevertheless, the D.R.C. is one of the poorest countries in the world, with per capita annual income of about $300 in 2007. This is the result of years of mismanagement, corruption, and war.

In 2001, the Government of the D.R.C. under Joseph Kabila undertook a series of economic reforms aimed at stabilizing the macroeconomic situation and promoting economic growth. Reforms were monitored by the IMF and included liberalization of petroleum prices and exchange rates and adoption of disciplined fiscal and monetary policies. The reform program reduced inflation from over 500% per year in 2000 to only about 7% per year in 2003. Inflation rose to 15-20% percent in 2006.

In June 2002, the World Bank and IMF approved new credits for the D.R.C. for the first time in over a decade. Bilateral donors, whose assistance has been almost entirely dedicated to humanitarian interventions in recent years, also are beginning to fund development projects in the D.R.C. In October 2003, the World Bank launched a multi-sector plan for development and reconstruction.

In July 2003, the D.R.C. became eligible for external debt relief ("decision point") under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. However, the D.R.C. lost its eligibility for interim debt relief when it failed to make its sixth IMF review in 2006 due to fiscal slippages and slow implementation of key structural reforms. If the D.R.C. successfully completes its current non-disbursing staff-monitored program with the IMF and qualifies for a new IMF disbursement program, it will be back on track for HIPC debt relief. This debt relief will help alleviate the D.R.C.'s external sovereign debt burden and provide critically needed resources for poverty reduction programs.

In early 2008, the D.R.C. concluded an agreement with a consortium of Chinese companies to create a joint venture to exploit mining resources and develop Congolese infrastructure. The project will be financed by a $9 billion loan arranged by the consortium. To ensure debt sustainability, some of the loan agreement's provisions must be clarified in order to qualify the D.R.C. for a new IMF Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) program.

The D.R.C. Government is working to implement the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) approved in mid-2006 by the IMF and World Bank boards. The government's five-year program, approved by the National Assembly in February 2007, is based on the PRSP and focuses heavily on President Kabila's five priority areas: infrastructure, employment, education, water/electricity, and health.

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Congolese economy, accounting for 45.7% of GDP in 2006. The main cash crops include coffee, palm oil, rubber, cotton, sugar, tea, and cocoa. Food crops include cassava, plantains, maize, groundnuts, and rice. Industry, especially the mining sector, is underdeveloped relative to its potential in the D.R.C. In 2006, industry accounted for only 27.7% of GDP, with 6.5% attributed to manufacturing. Services reached 26.6% of GDP. The D.R.C. was the world's fourth-largest producer of industrial diamonds during the 1980s, and diamonds continue to dominate exports, accounting for over half of exports ($642 million) in 2003. The D.R.C.'s main copper and cobalt interests are dominated by Gecamines, the state-owned mining giant. Gecamines production has been severely affected by corruption, civil unrest, world market trends, and failure to reinvest.

For decades, corruption and misguided policy have created a dual economy in the D.R.C. Individuals and businesses in the formal sector operated with high costs under arbitrarily enforced laws. As a consequence, the informal sector now dominates the economy. In 2002, with the population of the D.R.C. estimated at 56 million, only 230,000 Congolese working in private enterprise in the formal sector were enrolled in the social security system.

In recent years, the Congolese Government approved a new investment code and a new mining code and designed a new commercial court. The goal of these initiatives was to attract investment by promising fair and transparent treatment to private business. In 2007, shortly after the Joseph Kabila administration took office, the government launched a wholesale review of mining contracts that had been entered into under previous governments. In theory, the purpose of this contract review was to determine which negotiations may have been colored by corruption and revisit/renegotiate their terms as need be. In practice, this process has itself been opaque, with little information provided by the government to foreign (including American) investors.

The World Bank also is supporting efforts to restructure the D.R.C.'s large parastatal sector, including Gecamines, and to rehabilitate the D.R.C.'s neglected infrastructure, including the Inga Dam hydroelectric system.

The outbreak of war in the early days of August 1998 caused a major decline in economic activity. As was noted above, the country was divided de facto into different territories, and commerce among these territories had halted. With the installation of the transitional government in July 2003, the country was reunified, and economic and commercial links began to reconnect. Economic growth resumed in 2002 with a 3% growth rate, continuing in 2007 at 7%.

In June 2000, the United Nations established a Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Congolese Resources to examine links between the wars and natural resource exploitation. Reports issued by the panel indicate that countries involved in the war in Congo developed significant economic interests in the D.R.C. that complicated Congolese Government efforts to control its resources and the mining sector. Although the original Panel of Experts was disbanded when its mandate ended in late 2003, a separate UN Group of Experts continues to look into these issues due to the apparent links between the illegal armed groups in the eastern part of the D.R.C. and natural resource exploitation. The Group of Experts is scheduled to issue a final report on these issues by the end of 2008.

FOREIGN RELATIONS 
The D.R.C.'s location in the center of Africa has made the country a key player in the region since even before independence. Because of its size, mineral wealth, and strategic location, Zaire under Mobutu was able to capitalize on Cold War tensions to garner support from the West. In the early 1990s, however, Cold War-era tolerance of human rights abuses faded, and the mounting evidence of such abuses led Western support for the Mobutu regime to wane just as internal pressure for reform increased.

D.R.C.'s relations with neighboring countries have often been driven by security concerns, leading to intricate, interlocking, and shifting alliances. Domestic conflicts in the Central African Republic, Sudan, Uganda, Angola, Rwanda, and Burundi have at various times created bilateral and regional tensions. The current situation in eastern D.R.C. arose from foreign insurgents' use of D.R.C. territory as a base for attacking their home countries as well as the Congolese Government's inability to secure its own borders.

U.S.-CONGOLESE RELATIONS 
In December 2006, the D.R.C. inaugurated its first democratically elected president in over 40 years, the culmination of both the Congolese people's efforts to choose their leaders through a peaceful, democratic process and international support for numerous domestic and international peace agreements. The United States is proud to have played a role in the peace process in the D.R.C., and continues to encourage Congolese peace, prosperity, democracy, and respect for human rights.

The United States remains a partner with the D.R.C. and other central African nations in their quest for stability and growth on the continent. The United States facilitated the signing of a tripartite agreement on regional security in the Great Lakes region among the D.R.C., Rwanda, and Uganda in October 2004. (Burundi formally joined the Tripartite Commission in September 2005, and the Tripartite Commission is now Tripartite Plus.) The United States also strongly supported UN efforts to create a Joint Verification Mechanism to monitor the border between the D.R.C. and Rwanda. The United States has pursued an active diplomatic strategy in support of these objectives. The United States seeks to strengthen the process of internal reconciliation and democratization in D.R.C., as in all the states of the region, so that the D.R.C. and its neighbors can jointly address mutual security interests and develop mutually beneficial economic relations.

The United States appointed its current ambassador to the D.R.C. in November 2007. The D.R.C. appointed its current ambassador to the United States in 2000. The State Department has consistently issued cautionary travel information about Zaire/D.R.C. since 1977.

Principal U.S. Officials 
Ambassador--William J. Garvelink
Deputy Chief of Mission--Samuel V. Brock