"Geology of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The geology of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, commonly abbreviated as DRC, also known as Congo-Kinshasa and formerly as Zaire and Belgian Congo, is extremely old, on the order of several billion years for many rocks. The country spans the Congo Craton: a stable section of ancient continental crust, deformed and influenced by several different mountain building orogeny events, sedimentation, volcanism and the geologically recent effects of the East Africa Rift System in the east. The country's complicated tectonic past have yielded large deposits of gold, diamonds, coltan and other valuable"
"Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) The Republic of the Congo () was a sovereign state in Central Africa that was created with the independence of the Belgian Congo in 1960. From 1960 to 1966, the country was often known as Congo-Léopoldville (after its capital) in order to distinguish it from its north-western neighbour, also called the Republic of the Congo or Congo-Brazzaville. With the renaming of Léopoldville as Kinshasa on 1 June 1966, it was known as Congo-Kinshasa until 1971. On 1 August 1964, the state's official name was changed to Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1971, the state's"
"settled out of court. Republic of the Congo Civil War (1997–99) The Republic of the Congo Civil War was the second of two ethnopolitical civil conflicts in the African state of Republic of the Congo, beginning on 5 June 1997 and continuing until 29 December 1999. The war served as the continuation of the civil war of 1993–94 and involved militias representing three political candidates. The conflict ended following the intervention of the Angolan army, which reinstated former president Denis Sassou Nguesso to power. The Republic of the Congo (Congo–Brazzaville) gained its independence from France in 1960, and soon entered"
"Rally for Congolese Democracy The Congolese Rally for Democracy (; abbreviated RCD), also known as the Rally for Congolese Democracy, is a political party and a former rebel group that operated in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It was supported by the government of Rwanda, and was a major armed faction in the Second Congo War (1998-2003). It became a social liberal political party in 2003. In 1997 Laurent-Désiré Kabila was installed as President of the DRC following the victory by the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (ADFL) in the"
"of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL), led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila. In 1997, Mobutu fled Zaire and Kabila named himself president and changed the name of the country back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Following his victory, tensions soon rose between Kabila and the various factions of the AFDL who came to oppose his rule. Rwandan forces retreated to Goma on the Rwandan border and formed the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RDC) and in response Ugandan forces instigated the formation of Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC) under the command of Jean-Pierre Bemba. These"
"Republic of the Congo Civil War (1997–99) The Republic of the Congo Civil War was the second of two ethnopolitical civil conflicts in the African state of Republic of the Congo, beginning on 5 June 1997 and continuing until 29 December 1999. The war served as the continuation of the civil war of 1993–94 and involved militias representing three political candidates. The conflict ended following the intervention of the Angolan army, which reinstated former president Denis Sassou Nguesso to power. The Republic of the Congo (Congo–Brazzaville) gained its independence from France in 1960, and soon entered a period of political"
"Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present-day name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colonial rule in the Congo began in the late 19th century. King Leopold II of Belgium attempted to persuade the Belgian government to support colonial expansion around the then-largely unexplored Congo Basin. Their ambivalence resulted in Leopold's establishing a colony himself. With support from a number of Western countries, Leopold achieved international recognition for a personal colony, the Congo Free State, in 1885."
"were abandoned and all the Katangese territories fell under the command of the regional headquarters in Lubumbashi. Rally for Congolese Democracy The Congolese Rally for Democracy (; abbreviated RCD), also known as the Rally for Congolese Democracy, is a political party and a former rebel group that operated in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It was supported by the government of Rwanda, and was a major armed faction in the Second Congo War (1998-2003). It became a social liberal political party in 2003. In 1997 Laurent-Désiré Kabila was installed as President of the DRC"
"and purposes, the Democratic Republic of the Congo had effectively come to an end, but it would be another year before Mobutu officially changed the country's name to Zaire. Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) The Republic of the Congo () was a sovereign state in Central Africa that was created with the independence of the Belgian Congo in 1960. From 1960 to 1966, the country was often known as Congo-Léopoldville (after its capital) in order to distinguish it from its north-western neighbour, also called the Republic of the Congo or Congo-Brazzaville. With the renaming of Léopoldville as Kinshasa on 1"
"restore order, and began an attempt at reorganisation of the nation. When Kabila gained control of the capital in May 1997, he faced substantial obstacles to governing the country, which he renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from Zaïre. Beyond political jostling among various groups to gain power and an enormous external debt, his foreign backers proved unwilling to leave when asked. The conspicuous Rwandan presence in the capital rankled many Congolese, who began to see Kabila as a pawn of foreign powers. Tensions reached new heights on 14 July 1998, when Kabila dismissed his Rwandan chief of staff"
"of the French colony of Equatorial Africa. The Republic of the Congo was established on the 28th of November 1958 but gained independence from France in 1960. In 1970, the People's Republic of the Congo was established as a Marxist–Leninist one-party state; this lasted until 1991. The sovereign state has had multi-party elections since 1992, although a democratically elected government was ousted in the 1997 Republic of the Congo Civil War, and President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who first came to power in 1979, has ruled for 33 of the past 38 years. The Republic of the Congo has become the"
"In 1988, the province of Kivu was split into three. In 1997, the country was renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the three provinces that had been renamed in 1971 either retook their previous name or took another. Article 2 of the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, adopted in 2006, specifies a territorial organisation into 26 provinces, again resembling the previous ""provincettes"" and original colonial districts. The reorganisation was scheduled to take effect within three years of the new constitution's promulgation, however progress was slow. In October 2007 the Minister for Decentralisation, Denis Kalume Numbi, presented"
"proxy rebel group, the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL), led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila. The AFDL invaded Zaire in late 1996 in what became known as the First Congo War. The AFDL and their Rwandan and Ugandan allies forced the refugees back into Rwanda and scattering the RDR fighters to countries such as Zambia, Angola, Congo-Brazzaville, the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, Burundi and Tanzania. The AFDL continued on to Kinshasa, overthrowing Mobutu Sese Seko and installing Kabila as president on 17 May 1997. Kabila then announced that the name of the country was being changed"
"territory from the poorly organised and demotivated Zairian army with little fighting, and controlling the whole country by 1997. Mobutu fled into exile, and Zaire was renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). However, Rwanda fell out with the new Congolese government in 1998, and Kagame supported a fresh rebellion, leading to the Second Congo War, which would last up until 2003 and cause millions of deaths and massive damage. A United Nations (UN) report in 2010 accused the Rwandan army of committing wide scale human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the Congo during those wars, charges"
"national army either joined the AFDL or deserted. Men from villages and towns throughout Zaire spontaneously joined the AFDL's advance. The AFDL was only slowed down by the country's decrepit infrastructure. In several parts of the country, no paved roads existed; the only links to the outside world were irregularly used dirt paths. On 16 May 1997, after seven months of rebellion and the failure of peace talks, Mobutu fled the country. The AFDL marched into Kinshasa a day later. Kabila declared himself president and renamed the country to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The AFDL then became"
"that up to 10,000 children served under him. By mid-1997, the ADFL had almost completely overrun the country and the remains of Mobutu's army. Only the country's decrepit infrastructure slowed Kabila's forces down; in many areas, the only means of transit were irregularly used dirt paths. Following failed peace talks held on board of the South African ship SAS ""Outeniqua"", Mobutu fled into exile on 16 May. The next day, from his base in Lubumbashi, Kabila proclaimed himself president. Kabila suspended the Constitution, and changed the name of the country from Zaire to the Democratic Republic of the Congo—the country's"
"Miss Congo (RDC) Miss Congo (DRC) or Miss Democratic Republic of the Congo (""Formerly known as Miss Zaire"") is a national Beauty pageant in Congo. Miss DRC began in 1968. The pageant was known as Miss Zaire until 1997. The pageant was sponsored by Ministry of Tourism in Kinshasa. The country has competed in the Miss Universe, Miss World, and Miss International competitions. Since 2009, the country does not exist to compete due to lack of funding and sponsorship. In 2016 Miss RD Congo Organization set new feature between Ministère du Tourisme, Pygma Communication as the production company. The pageant"
"Republic of Congo or MONUC, an acronym of its French name ""Mission de l'Organisation des Nations Unies en République démocratique du Congo"", until 2010. The initial UN presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, before the passing of Resolution 1291, was a force of military observers to observe and report on the compliance on factions with the peace accords, a deployment authorised by the earlier Resolution 1258 (1999). Resolution 2348 (2017) provides the authority for the current MONUSCO mandate. Since 1999, about US$8.74 billion has been spent to fund the UN peacekeeping effort in DRC. , the total strength"
"Republic of the Congo. He marched unopposed into Kinshasa three days later. Zaire's top-level domain was "".zr"". It has since changed to "".cd"". Zaire Zaire (), officially the Republic of Zaire (; ), was the name for the Democratic Republic of the Congo that existed between 1971 and 1997 in Central Africa. The country was a one-party totalitarian dictatorship, run by Mobutu Sese Seko and his ruling Popular Movement of the Revolution party. Zaire was established following Mobutu's seizure of power in a military coup in 1965, following five years of political upheaval following independence known as the Congo Crisis."
"to overthrow Mobutu's dictatorship. After successfully removing Mobutu from power with the help of Hutu and Tutsi forces in 1997, Kabila proclaimed himself president and renamed the country the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Disagreements between Kabila and his former allies Rwanda and Uganda over compensation and the future relationships of the neighboring states led to a growing sense of vulnerability as the Rwandan and Ugandan armies used to defeat Mobutu's army now stood uncontested in the capital Kinshasa. The Second Congo War began in 1998 as alliances shifted. Kabila and his former allies grew apart due to Rwanda and"
"Zaire Zaire (), officially the Republic of Zaire (; ), was the name for the Democratic Republic of the Congo that existed between 1971 and 1997 in Central Africa. The country was a one-party totalitarian dictatorship, run by Mobutu Sese Seko and his ruling Popular Movement of the Revolution party. Zaire was established following Mobutu's seizure of power in a military coup in 1965, following five years of political upheaval following independence known as the Congo Crisis. Zaire had a strongly centralist constitution, and foreign assets were nationalised. The period is sometimes referred to as the Second Congolese Republic. A"
"Zairians had resumed use of their given names. After Mobutu was forced to flee the country in the First Congo War in 1997, President Laurent Kabila renamed the country the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Authenticité (Zaire) Authenticité, sometimes Zairianisation in English, was an official state ideology of the Mobutu regime that originated in the late 1960s and early 1970s in what was first the Republic of Congo-Léopoldville, later renamed Zaire. The authenticity campaign was an effort to rid the country of the lingering vestiges of colonialism and the continuing influence of Western culture and to create a more centralized"
"war to remove Mobutu. Mobutu had supported the ""genocidaires"" based in the camps and was also accused of allowing attacks on Tutsi people within Zaire. The Rwandan and Ugandan governments supported an alliance of four rebel groups headed by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, which began waging the First Congo War. The rebels quickly took control of North and South Kivu provinces and then advanced west, gaining territory from the poorly organised and demotivated Zairian army with little fighting. They controlled the whole country by May 1997. Mobutu fled into exile and the country was renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Rwanda"
"into the presidency in 1997. Kabila renamed the country the ""Democratic Republic of the Congo"" (DRC). ""(See First Congo War.)"" Kabila attempted to sever his connections with his Rwandan backers in 1998, resulting in the deadliest conflict since World War II, which drew in eight nations and many more armed groups. Museveni apparently persuaded an initially reluctant High Command to go along with the venture. ""We felt that the Rwandese started the war and it was their duty to go ahead and finish the job, but our President took time and convinced us that we had a stake in what"
"Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (ADFL), an alliance of four rebel groups headed by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, which began waging the First Congo War. The ADFL, helped by Rwandan and Ugandan troops, took control of North and South Kivu provinces in November 1996 and then advanced west, gaining territory from the poorly organised and demotivated Zairian army with little fighting. By May 1997, they controlled almost the whole of Zaire except for the capital Kinshasa; Mobutu fled and the ADFL took the capital without fighting. The country was renamed as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)"
"exile four months later. Afterwards, Kabila named himself the new president and changed the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, the relationship between Kabila and his Rwandan and Ugandan backers turned sour. An attempt by Rwanda and Uganda to overthrow Kabila in 1998 grew into the Second Congo War, the world's deadliest conflict since World War II. While peace was officially declared in 2003, ethnically inspired violence continues to afflict the Kivus. Rwanda continues to struggle with the aftermath of genocide and large-scale forced migration. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and community"
"Postage stamps and postal history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire and the Belgian Congo. The Congo Free State was established in 1885 as a personal initiative of Leopold II of Belgium, which was formally annexed, becoming the Belgian Congo, in 1907. Both entities issued their own stamps. In 1960, the Belgian Congo became independent as the Republic of the Congo. On 1 August 1964, the state's official name was changed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In"
"in 1960. Ganao then served as Congo's foreign minister from 1963 until 1974. Ganao next worked at the United Nations, based in Vienna, Austria. He participated in the 1991 Sovereign National Conference, which eliminated the Congolese Party of Labour government, replaced the country's flag and national anthem, and removed the word """"People's"""" from the official name of the Republic of Congo. Ganao also founded the Union of Democratic Forces political party. Ganao was appointed as Prime Minister by President Pascal Lissouba in 1996. Lissouba was overthrown in October 1997 during the Republic of the Congo Civil War, shortly as Ganao"
"by increasing the number of provinces from six to 21 while increasing their autonomy. The constitution also changed the name of the state from the Republic of the Congo to Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was ratified in a constitutional referendum in June 1964 and Parliament was dissolved to await new elections. Kasa-Vubu appointed Tshombe, the exiled Katangese leader, as interim Prime Minister. Although personally capable, and supported as an anti-communist by Western powers, Tshombe was denounced by other African leaders such as King Hassan II of Morocco as an imperialist puppet for his role in the Katangese secession."
"Second Congo War The Second Congo War (also known as the Great War of Africa or the Great African War, and sometimes referred to as the African World War) began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August 1998, little more than a year after the First Congo War, and involved some of the same issues. The war officially ended in July 2003, when the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took power. Although a peace agreement was signed in 2002, violence has continued in many regions of the country, especially in the east. Hostilities have"
"supposedly said: ""Some countries go to war to get their names out there, and wars cost a lot more than $10 million."" Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was the military dictator and President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (which he renamed Zaire in 1971) from 1965 to 1997. He also served as Chairman of the Organisation of African Unity in 1967–1968. During the Congo Crisis, Mobutu, serving as chief of staff of the army and supported by Belgium and the United"
"CIA activities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Congo, short for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a country in Africa. The Congo was colonized by Belgium in 1908, and known as Belgian Congo until independence in 1960. In recent decades, the CIA has been involved in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially in relation to the CIA's considerations and plans to assassinate former Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba (and accusations of CIA involvement in his eventual assassination). Patrice Lumumba was the first prime minister of the independent country. Even before the independence of the Congo, the"
"""Republic of the Congo"" was issued on 28 November 1959. Congo gained full independence on 15 August 1960. Between 1970 and 1991, the country was known as ""The People's Republic of the Congo"". Postage stamps and postal history of the Republic of the Congo This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the Republic of the Congo, a former French colony known as Middle Congo or French Congo, and now often known simply as ""The Congo"". The Republic of the Congo is a country in central Africa bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the"