Congo Export Republic

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 Congo's economy is based primarily on its petroleum sector, which is by far the country's major revenue earner. The Congolese oil sector is dominated by the French oil company TotalFinaElf. In second position is the Italian oil firm Agip. ChevronTexaco (in partnership with TotalFinaElf) is the primary American oil company active in petroleum exploration or production. Murphy Oil has signed a contract but has not begun exploration or production. Congo's oil production is expected to decline over the next 15 years with fields yielding less. However, based on an agreement with Angola signed in 2002 to jointly administer certain Congo-Cabinda border areas, Congo's production could rise if exploration is successful. Murphy Oil signed a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with Congo in 2003 for two deepwater off-shore permits. Congo hopes to offset declining production in other fields with these new PSAs. ... [Read More]

Congo, Republic of

A local FM radio station rebroadcast Radio France International, VOA, and the BBC. Radio and television broadcasts from the Democratic Republic of the Congo were received in Brazzaville. The private independent radio station, Radio Liberte, continued to broadcast as well as the new privately owned radio station DR-Radio. Local rebroadcasts of the Gabon-based Africa Number One also continued during the year. A Christian missionary group in Pointe Noire broadcast during daylight hours; it voluntarily provided its material to the Government prior to broadcast. Government broadcast media primarily focused their attention on the activities of government officials, but also provided news on other activities by international and local NGOs. During the year, the broadcasts included airing of alternative political views of some opposition members in talk show format, but overall opposition political parties did not have access to the governme ... [Read More]

Congo, Republic of

There were unconfirmed reports that the Republic of Congo was a country of destination; however, it was not a country of transit or origin. There were unconfirmed reports that minor relatives of West African immigrants from Benin and Togo could be victims of trafficking. There was no evidence of trafficking in men or women. Outside of the unconfirmed reports of "minors relatives" of West African immigrants, there were no other reports of trafficking in children. Children from West Africa worked as fishermen, shop workers, street sellers, or domestic servants. There were reports some were physically abused. There were reports of isolated cases of child prostitution, which according to international and local NGOs and others were not linked to trafficking or forced labor. UNICEF and the International Rescue Committee had programs to assist with feeding and sheltering DRC street children. In addition, there was no evidence that any of these street children were from the Republic of Congo ... [Read More]

Congo Basin Forest Partnership: U.S. Contribution

Monte Alen -- Mont de Cristal Inselbergs Forest Landscape (Equatorial Guinea & Gabon) Gamba -- Conkouati Forest Landscape (Gabon, Congo & (Democratic Republic of Congo) Lope -- Chaillu -- Louesse Forest Landscape (Gabon & Congo) Dja -- Minkebe -- Odzala Tri-national Forest Landscape (Cameroon, Congo & Gabon) Sangha Tri-national Forest Landscape (Cameroon, Congo, (Central African Republic) Lac Tele-Lac Tumba Swamp Forest Landscape (Congo & Democratic Republic of Congo) Bateke Plateau Forest Savanna Landscape (Congo & Gabon) Maringa/Lopori -- Wamba Forest Landscape (Democratic Republic of Congo) Salonga -- Lukenie - Sankuru Forest Landscape (Democratic Republic of Congo) Maik ... [Read More]

Central African Republic (06/05)

The Central African Republic is classified as one of the world's least developed countries, with an annual per capita income of $260 (2002). Sparsely populated and landlocked, the nation is overwhelmingly agrarian, with the vast bulk of the population engaged in subsistence farming and 55% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) arising from agriculture. Principal crops include cotton, food crops (cassava, yams, bananas, maize), coffee, and tobacco. In 2002, timber accounted for about 30% of export earnings. The country also has rich but largely unexploited natural resources in the form of diamonds, gold, uranium, and other minerals. There may be oil deposits along the country's northern border with Chad. Diamonds are the only of these mineral resources currently being developed; in 2002, diamond exports made up close to 50% of the C.A.R.'s export earnings. Industry contributes only about 20% of the country's GDP, with artesian diamond mining, breweries, and sawmills making up th ... [Read More]

Signatories to the 1970 UNESCO Convention

Czech Republic ...

1 Amended listings of the signatories to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property" are published by the United States in the Federal Register. The Cultural Property staff keeps an updated list of signers in the interim.  ... [Read More]

Congo, Democratic Republic of the

Government forces continued to control less than half of the country during the year. Several rebel groups, the Congolese Rally for Democracy based in Goma (RCD/Goma), the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC), and the Congolese Rally for Democracy based in Bunia (RCD/ML) controlled the remaining territory, with the active military support of the Rwandan and Ugandan Governments. The RCD/Goma remained dominated by members of the Tutsi ethnic minority and continued to be supported by the Government of Rwanda; in 2000 Adolphe Onosumba, a Kasaian, was named RCD President. The RCD/ML, nominally led by Ernest Wamba dia Wamba until late in the year, commanded fewer troops and, like the largely non-Tutsi MLC, was supported by the Government of Uganda. Although the MLC and the RCD/ML united for much of the year as the Forces for the Liberation of the Congo (FLC) under the leadership of MLC President Jean-Pierre Bemba, in June the FLC split back into the separate MLC and RCD/ML groups; ... [Read More]

USIA, Economic Perspectives, September 1997 -- ExportControl Laws

Any item on the Munitions List requires a license for export toall countries (with a few exceptions for exports to Canada). Under current regulations, licenses are denied for defense goodsand services exports to Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan,Belarus, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Serbia-Montenegro,Syria, Tajikistan, and Vietnam. They are denied also tocountries currently subject to U.S. arms embargoes: Burma, China,the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Liberia, Rwanda,Somalia, and Sudan. ... [Read More]

Congo, Democratic Republic of the

In territory under central government control, the Transitional Government's security forces consisted of a national police force and an immigration service, both under the Ministry of Interior; the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) and the Special Group for Presidential Security (GSSP), both reporting directly to the President; and the Armed Forces, which were integrated at headquarters level only by year's end. The Office for the Military Detection of Anti-Patriotic Activities (DEMIAP), the military's intelligence service, was technically disbanded but continued to operate under the new chief of military intelligence, who was the former chief of DEMIAP. The ANR was responsible for internal and external security, including border security matters. The Armed Forces retained some residual police functions. Military police had jurisdiction over armed forces personnel, but also had domestic security responsibilities, including the patrolling of urban areas. Security forces were poorly tr ... [Read More]