Situation in the country

Capital city: Kinshasa

Area: 2.345.410 km²

Population: 77.000.000

Ethnies: mostly Bantu, divided in about 300 tribes, among which: Teke, Twa, Hutu, Ngbandi, Mongo, Luba.

Religion: 86 % Christians (catholics, protestants and others); 10,7% animists, 3,3% muslims or others.

Infant mortality rate: 77 per thousand

Life expectancy: 55,3 years old (54 males; 56,6 females)

Literacy: 66,8 %

Population below poverty line: 71 %

The Democratic Republic of Congo, in Central Africa, is a former Belgian colony (1908 – 1960). It was called Zaire unti 1997. Its capital city is Kinshasa.

There are many different ethnies living in this country and four bantu languages are acknowledge in addition to French, which is the official language.

After two civil wars, started in 1996 and lasted until 2003, and the Kivu conflict (2004 – 2008), today Congo is still in an unstable situation. In the western area of the country there are no more protests, riots nor conflicts, but in the eastern regions (North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri) there still are armed gangs and non-govermental militias of former soldiers and tribal groups, making raids and plundering the villages, often slaughtering civilians.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Army is currently fighting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, this new conflict has led to serius violations of the international humanitarian law.

Directly involved in the Rwandan genocide (1994), Congo hosted some of the biggest refugees camps in Africa.