Democratic Republic Of The Congo History
Congo (Kinshasa) (06/05)
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. ... [Read More]
Congo (Brazzaville) (04/05)
The December accord, mediated by President Omar Bongo of Gabon, called for follow-on, inclusive political negotiations between the government and the opposition. During the years 2000-01, Sassou-Nguesso's government conducted a national dialogue (Dialogue Sans Exclusif), in which the opposition parties and the government agreed to continue on the path to peace. Ex-President Lissouba and ex-Prime Minister Kolelas refused to agree and have been exiled for all practical purposes. They were tried in absentia and convicted in Brazzaville of charges ranging from treason to misappropriation of government funds. Ex-militiamen were granted amnesty, and many were provided micro-loans to aid their reinsertion into civil society. Not all opposition members participated. One group, referred to as "Ninjas," actively opposed the government in a low-level guerrilla war in the Pool region of the country. Other members of opposition parties have returned and have opted to participate to some degree in p ... [Read More]
US Department Of State Post Report
The Teke are spread over a large area north and northeast of Brazzaville. They are the most traditional of the ethnic groups, engaging in hunting and fishing. Animistic worship is still predominant, although most of the urban population is Christian. In rural areas, the Congolese live in small communities, having little outside contact. There are about 3,000 French nationals in the Congo. Public InstitutionsLast Updated: 6/13/2005 3:10 PM First inhabited by pygmies, the Congo was later settled by Bantu groups who also occupied parts of present-day Angola, Gabon, and the DRC. Several Bantu kingdoms, notably those of the Kongo, the Loango, and the Teke, built trade links along the Congo River basin. The first European contacts came in the late 15th century, and commercial ... [Read More]
Senegal (06/05)
Senegal has participated in many international and regional peacekeeping missions. Its history of participation in peacekeeping is impressive. Most recently, Senegal provided peacekeeping forces for the ECOWAS mission in Liberia (ECOMIL) as well as the ECOWAS mission in Cote d’Ivoire (ECOMICI), with General P.K. Fall, who is now Chief of Defense of the Senegalese Armed Forces, acting as overall Force Commander. In 2000, Senegal sent a battalion to the Democratic Republic of Congo to participate in MONUC, the UN peacekeeping mission, and agreed to deploy a U.S.-trained battalion to Sierra Leone to participate in UNAMSIL, another UN peacekeeping mission. A Senegalese contingent was deployed on a peacekeeping mission to the Central African Republic in 1997, and in 1994, Senegal sent a battalion-sized force to Rwanda to participate in the UN peacekeeping mission there. In 1992 Senegal sent 1,500 men to the ECOMOG peacekeeping group in Liberia, and in 1991, it was the only Sub-Saharan natio ... [Read More]
U.S. Department of State FOIA Electronic Reading Room--Post Reports
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Central African Republic (06/05)
In 1875 the Egyptian sultan Rabah governed Upper-Oubangui, which included present-day C.A.R. Europeans, primarily the French, German, and Belgians, arrived in the area in 1885. The French consolidated their legal claim to the area through an 1887 convention with Congo Free State, which granted France possession of the right bank of the Oubangui River. Two years later, the French established an outpost at Bangui, and in 1894, Oubangui-Chari became a French territory. However, the French did not consolidate their control over the area until 1903 after having defeated the forces of the Egyptian sultan Rabah and established colonial administration throughout the territory. In 1906, the Oubangui-Chari territory was united with the Chad colony; in 1910, it became one of the four territories of the Federation of French Equatorial Africa (A.E.F.), along with Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), and Gabon. The next 30 years were marked by small-scale revolts against French rule and the development of a p ... [Read More]
The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes Region of Africa
On December 17, 2002, the Congolese parties, with the support of South Africa in Pretoria, agreed to a transitional framework. For the first time since the signing of the 1999 Lusaka Accord, the three principal armed belligerents -- the DRC government, the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC), and the Rally for Congolese Democracy – Goma faction (RCD-G) -- all signed the same agreement, which, in turn, was also signed by representatives of Congolese political parties and civil society. This agreement was followed by a March agreement relating to the transitional constitution and security in Kinshasa by the same parties. Talks took place the last week in March on outstanding military integration issues. The Inter-Congolese Dialogue formally ratified the agreement on April 1-2 in Sun City, South Africa, as called for under the Lusaka Accord. ... [Read More]
Rewards for Justice: Fugitives From the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
All these fugitives have been indicted for genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the Geneva Convention and continue to play a destructive role. We are determined to find these fugitives. I am pleased that President Kabila has given his personal assurance to pursue these individuals as an effort to bring peace, justice and improve the lives of his citizens. Their apprehension, however, will require a broad effort on behalf of the international community, the regional governments, and the citizens of the Congo. We urge all governments in the region – the Republic of the Congo, Angola, the Central African Republic, Zambia, Gabon – to join us in this campaign. We ask the citizens of the Congo, anyone and everyone who possesses knowledge as to the whereabouts of those wanted, to come forward to help their country. In order to truly secure peace, the people of the Congo must do their part. We have set up a special task force here in Kinshasa. We ask anyone who knows of the whe ... [Read More]
Rwanda (01/05)
The RPF battalion stationed in Kigali under the Arusha accords came under attack immediately after the shooting down of the president's plane. The battalion fought its way out of Kigali and joined up with RPF units in the north. The RPF then resumed its invasion, and civil war raged concurrently with the genocide for 2 months. French forces landed in Goma, Zaire, in June 1994 on a humanitarian mission. They deployed throughout southwest Rwanda in an area they called "Zone Turquoise," quelling the genocide and stopping the fighting there. The Rwandan Army was quickly defeated by the RPF and fled across the border to Zaire followed by some 2 million refugees who fled to Zaire, Tanzania, and Burundi. The RPF took Kigali on July 4, 1994, and the war ended on July 16, 1994. The RPF took control of a country ravaged by war and genocide. Up to 800,000 had been murdered, another 2 million or so had fled, and another million or so were displaced internally. ... [Read More]
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