🇨🇩 DRC

The area of the present-day DRC was populated by Central African foragers in the deep prehistoric past. This constitutes the earliest known human settlement of the territory.

In the west, the Kingdom of Kongo governed the territory around the river mouth from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century. Its name was later applied by European sailors to the river and eventually the modern state.

Powerful indigenous empires governed the interior of the Congo basin between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. They represent the pre-colonial state-building tradition of the region.

Leopold II created the Committee for the Study of the Upper Congo, followed in 1879 by the International Association of the Congo. These bodies were the vehicles through which he pursued personal control of the Congo basin.

European powers granted Leopold private control over the territory in 1885, beginning one of the most brutal episodes of colonial rule in Africa, under which rubber production quotas were enforced through mutilation and killing.

The Casement Report documented widespread abuses in the Congo Free State and galvanised international opinion. It was central to the diplomatic pressure that stripped Leopold of control four years later.

The Belgian parliament took over the territory in November 1908 after international outcry over atrocities committed under Leopold's personal rule, during which millions of Congolese are estimated to have died through forced labour, violence and disease; precise death toll estimates remain contested among historians.

The population nearly quadrupled from 12.2 million in 1950 to 46.9 million in 2000, then doubled again to around 105 million by 2021. The DRC is now the fourth-most populous country in Africa and the most populous Francophone state in the world.

At independence the DRC trailed only South Africa in industrial development, with a thriving mining sector and productive agriculture. The economy declined drastically from the mid-1980s onward.

Lumumba's nationalist movement triumphed in the pre-independence parliamentary poll. Lumumba became the first prime minister on 24 June 1960, with Joseph Kasa-Vubu elected president.

Independence was proclaimed on 30 June 1960. Political instability followed almost immediately, including an army mutiny and the secession of the mineral-rich Katanga province, plunging the new state into crisis within weeks.

On 11 July 1960 Katanga under Moïse Tshombe and South Kasai broke away from the newly independent republic, following a mutiny of the Force Publique. Congolese forces invaded South Kasai on 23 August, and Lumumba's appeal to the Soviet Union for aid deepened Cold War involvement.

Kasa-Vubu dismissed Lumumba on 5 September 1960, blaming him for massacres in South Kasai and for inviting Soviet involvement. Both chambers of parliament rejected the dismissal as illegal, but the removal proceeded regardless, precipitating a constitutional crisis.

On 14 September 1960 Mobutu, army chief of staff, seized effective control and ousted Lumumba. The intervention marked the army's entry into politics and set Mobutu on the path to power.

Lumumba, ousted months after independence amid the secessionist crisis in Katanga, was handed to Katangan authorities on 17 January 1961 and killed by Belgian-led Katangan troops. A 2001 Belgian parliamentary inquiry found Belgium morally responsible, and Belgium formally apologised for its role in 2002.

With United Nations military assistance, the Katangan breakaway was terminated in January 1963. Territorial integrity was restored but a succession of short-lived governments followed.

A constitutional referendum promulgated the Luluabourg Constitution, changing the country's official name to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It preceded Mobutu's coup by a year.

Soviet- and Cuban-backed Simba rebels had proclaimed a communist People's Republic of the Congo in Stanleyville. A joint Belgian-American operation rescued hundreds of hostages and retook the city; government forces fully defeated the Simbas by November 1965.

Mobutu overthrew President Joseph Kasa-Vubu on 24 November 1965, ending years of post-independence political turmoil. He later took the name Mobutu Sese Seko and ruled as an autocrat, backed for much of the Cold War by Western governments.

From 1 June 1966 Léopoldville became Kinshasa, Stanleyville Kisangani, Elisabethville Lubumbashi and Coquilhatville Mbandaka. The renaming campaign was part of Mobutu's programme of identification with African nationalism.

By late 1967 Mobutu had co-opted, arrested or politically disabled his rivals. Kasa-Vubu's death in April 1969 removed the last figure with First Republic credentials able to challenge him.

The first Baháʼís arrived from Uganda in 1953 and a national administrative council was elected in 1970. The religion was banned in the 1970s and 1980s owing to misrepresentation by foreign governments, with the ban lifted by the end of the 1980s.

Mobutu's October 1971 decree was part of a wider drive to erase colonial-era names and symbols, under which he also required citizens to adopt African names. The country reverted to the name Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1997.

From 1975 Kituba, Lingala, Tshiluba and Swahili were used in the first two years of primary school, with French the sole medium from the third year. In practice many urban schools continued to use French exclusively.

Having drawn up to 70% of export revenue from minerals in the 1970s and 1980s, Zaire was devastated by falling commodity prices, corruption and hyperinflation. By the early 1990s the formal economy had nearly ceased to exist, with most people relying on subsistence agriculture or barter.

Facing the end of the Cold War and mounting internal demands, Mobutu announced a new constitution supposed to pave the way for democratisation. The reforms proved largely cosmetic, though more than 600 political parties emerged from the process.

The conference resolved to restore the DRC name, but the change was never implemented under Mobutu. It was finally carried out by Laurent-Désiré Kabila in 1997.

Following the Rwandan genocide, Hutu Interahamwe militias used eastern Zairian refugee camps as bases, prompting an invasion by Rwanda and Uganda allied with Laurent-Désiré Kabila's AFDL. Kabila's forces swept across the country and took Kinshasa in May 1997, ending Mobutu's 32-year rule; Mobutu fled and Kabila named himself president, restoring the name Democratic Republic of the Congo in place of Mobutu's 'Zaire'.

The new government tried to stabilise the collapsed currency in 1997. The effort was disrupted by the outbreak of the Second Congo War the following year, which worsened infrastructure breakdown and legal disorder.

On taking power Kabila proclaimed the political system that remains in force. The country's name was simultaneously reverted from Zaire to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

After Kabila asked foreign forces to leave, Rwanda and Uganda sponsored the Rally for Congolese Democracy and the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo against him, while Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia intervened on the government side. The conflict, which began in August 1998 and eventually drew in the armies of at least nine African countries, is sometimes called Africa's World War; the most widely reported death toll is 5.4 million, mostly from disease and hunger, making it the deadliest conflict since the Second World War, though estimates vary widely and remain disputed. A transitional government was formed in 2003.

Kabila was shot at the presidential palace in Kinshasa on 16 January 2001, in the midst of the Second Congo War. His son, Joseph Kabila, then 29, was installed as president days later.

Children enrolled in primary schools rose from 5.5 million in 2002 to 16.8 million in 2018, and secondary enrolment from 2.8 million in 2007 to 4.6 million in 2015. This reversed the wartime collapse in which over 5.2 million children received no education.

On 17 January 2002 three streams of fluid lava ran from Nyiragongo, one flowing directly through Goma, killing 45 people and leaving 120,000 homeless. Over 400,000 people were evacuated; the volcano erupted again in 2006 and January 2010.

The DRC ratified the Rome Statute on 11 April 2002, accepting the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. Kabila initiated an ICC investigation into the country in April 2004 and parliament aligned its criminal codes with the statute in December 2015.

In October 2002 the new president successfully negotiated the withdrawal of Rwandan forces occupying the eastern DRC; two months later the Pretoria Accord was signed by all remaining warring parties to end the conflict and establish a government of national unity.

The Armed Forces of the DRC were established after the Second Congo War through the incorporation of many former rebel factions. Nominally the largest military in Central Africa, it has since fought over 100 armed groups in the east and Kasaï.

Nominal GDP rose from US$9.02 billion at the war's end in 2003 to US$72.48 billion in 2024, with PPP GDP rising from $29.23 billion to $190.13 billion. Despite this, 73.5% of the population lived below the international poverty line in 2024.

A transitional constitution was adopted in April 2003 as part of the peace process ending the Second Congo War, under which Kabila shared power with former rebels. The first transitional cabinet took office in June 2003 and the two chambers of parliament were organised in July 2003.

The WHO designated the outbreak in the DRC a public health emergency of international concern. It came amid a sharp fall in child vaccination and paediatric healthcare attendance recorded in early 2025.

The announcement on 7 February 2026 followed the loss of South African soldiers in fighting with M23 the previous year and came as the African Union prepared to take over peacekeeping responsibilities in the eastern DRC.

Ngoma died along with at least eight others near the Rubaya mining area of North Kivu on 24 February 2026. M23 held a symbolic funeral for the victims.

The five-year deal, announced on 26 February 2026, combines 900 million dollars in US assistance with 300 million dollars in increased Congolese domestic health spending, part of broader US engagement following the Washington peace accord.

The discovery, announced on 26 February 2026, came amid ongoing fighting for control of the South Kivu town, which had changed hands between the army and M23 rebels several times since late 2025. Investigators had not yet determined responsibility for the killings.

The two-year term began in January 2026, alongside Liberia among the new members, giving Kinshasa a platform to press its case over the conflict with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.

Congolese soldiers re-entered the city on 18 January 2026, weeks after M23 rebels had consolidated control there in December 2025. The city, on the border with Burundi, had changed hands repeatedly during the conflict.

The collapse on 28 January 2026 buried artisanal miners working the site, one of the world's most important sources of coltan, a mineral used in electronics. Early reports gave higher, unconfirmed casualty figures before officials settled on a toll of more than 200.

The deal was signed on 4 December 2025 in a ceremony presided over by US President Donald Trump, following months of diplomacy after M23's capture of Goma and Bukavu earlier in the year. Violence between the FARDC, M23 and allied militias continued in parts of eastern Congo despite the accord.

The agreement, reached on 15 November 2025, built on an earlier Qatar-mediated ceasefire and set out steps including prisoner releases and the restoration of state authority in rebel-held areas, ahead of the Washington accord signed the following month.

The former president was condemned to death in absentia for alleged collaboration with the M23 rebel group. The verdict marked an extraordinary rupture between the current government and its predecessor.

The ruling on 30 September 2025 accused Kabila, president from 2001 to 2019, of supporting the M23 rebellion, a charge he denied. He had lived outside government-held territory since the case against him began.

The agreement of 27 June 2025 required Rwandan withdrawal from eastern Congo within 90 days and an end to DRC support for the FDLR, alongside a regional economic integration framework. A Declaration of Principles on a ceasefire followed in Doha in July 2025.

The initiative aimed to protect a large portion of the Congo Basin forest while supporting sustainable economic development. It followed a doubling of deforestation between 2015 and 2019 and the highest deforestation rate in Africa in 2023.

In early 2025 M23, supported by thousands of Rwandan troops, seized the two largest eastern cities. UN human rights investigators found hostilities increased through July 2025 and alleged massacres of hundreds of civilians in Rutshuru, North Kivu.

Tshisekedi secured a second term in the December 2023 presidential election. In 2024 he appointed Judith Suminwa as prime minister, the first woman to hold the office.

Minerals and metals, chiefly cobalt and copper, made up 80% of exports in 2023, with China taking 41% of exports in 2024. Cobalt's centrality to lithium-ion batteries has made the DRC pivotal to the electric vehicle supply chain.

Tshisekedi began replacing most of the high command with younger, proven officers and increased defence spending for 2022–24. The aim was a more cohesive national army capable of confronting the eastern insurgencies.

M23 re-emerged in 2022 backed by Rwanda, which accused Kinshasa of supporting the FDLR Hutu militia. The renewed insurgency reopened full-scale conflict in the eastern provinces.

Accession to the AfCFTA formed part of a shift away from a state-dominated economy towards market liberalisation and partial privatisation in mining and telecommunications. The country aligned with EAC and SADC competition standards in 2023.

After a coalition government in August 2019, Tshisekedi consolidated control by winning the backing of nearly 400 of 500 National Assembly members and forcing out pro-Kabila parliamentary speakers. The April 2021 cabinet excluded Kabila loyalists entirely.

The pandemic reached the DRC in March 2020, straining an already fragile health system. A vaccination campaign began on 19 April 2021.

A major measles epidemic left almost 5,000 dead in 2019. It compounded a public health crisis that also included a two-year Ebola outbreak which ended in June 2020 after 2,280 deaths.

The general election held on 30 December 2018, postponed from 23 December after a warehouse fire destroyed voting machines, produced Tshisekedi as declared winner on 10 January 2019; he was sworn in on 24 January. It marked the country's first peaceful transfer of power since independence, though independent polls suggested Martin Fayulu had actually led and suspicions of a Kabila deal persisted.

Kabila's term ended on 20 December 2016 but elections were postponed, sparking nationwide protests in which dozens were killed and hundreds arrested. Human Rights Watch reported that he recruited former M23 fighters to suppress the demonstrations.

The EITI had suspended the country's candidacy over insufficient reporting, monitoring and audits earlier that year. After improving accounting and transparency practices, the DRC was admitted to full membership.

The Security Council created a brigade within the UN mission with a mandate to neutralise armed groups. It marked an unusually offensive peacekeeping posture in the DRC's long-running eastern conflict.

As of February 2013 peace talks between the government and the M23 were ongoing in Kampala. The DRC continued to experience violence by other armed groups, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda and Mai Mai militias.

Bosco Ntaganda and CNDP troops loyal to him mutinied and briefly seized the provincial capital of Goma in November 2012. The episode demonstrated the persistent vulnerability of the eastern provinces to Rwandan-backed insurgency.

An attempt to integrate CNDP members into the Congolese military failed, prompting their defection in 2012 and the formation of the M23, named after the 23 March 2009 peace agreements. Renewed conflict displaced large numbers of people and brought significant human rights abuses.

In the national elections of November 2011, disputed results allowed Joseph Kabila to retain the presidency amid widespread criticism of the vote's credibility.

Following a resurgence of conflict in the eastern DRC, the government signed a peace agreement on 23 March 2009 with the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), a primarily Tutsi rebel group.

Nkunda defected from the RCD-Goma with loyal troops to launch an armed rebellion in the east. He was arrested by Rwandan troops in March 2009 under a deal with Kinshasa, after which the CNDP signed a peace treaty and agreed to integrate into the national army.

The agreement created the joint venture Sicomines, majority-owned by China Railway Engineering Corporation with Gécamines holding the rest. Production began in 2015 and Tshisekedi's 2024 renegotiation raised the infrastructure commitment to US$7 billion.

Polling on 30 July 2006 was the first free national election in over four decades. A disputed result triggered fighting between Kabila and Bemba supporters in Kinshasa; Kabila won the October run-off and was sworn in that December.

Same-sex marriage has been banned in the DRC since 2006. Attitudes towards the LGBT community remain generally negative across the country.

A referendum in December 2005 adopted the Constitution of the Third Republic, which came into effect in February 2006. It provided the legal framework for the country's return to multi-party rule.

A transitional government was set up in July 2003. It held a successful constitutional referendum in December 2005, and elections for the presidency, National Assembly and provincial legislatures took place in 2006, the country's first multiparty polls in four decades.

By June 2003 all foreign armies except Rwanda's had pulled out, and a transitional government was installed pending elections. Economic stability improved that year with international donor assistance following the withdrawal.