Democratic Republic of Congo

The nation today known as the Democratic Republic of Congo (République Démocratique du Congo) or DRC experienced a number of name changes over the course of its history, which may prove quite confusing to those not very familiar with African history. As with much of this part of Africa, archaeoligical evidence suggests the original inhabitants were Pygmies that were displaced by late-Neolithic period Bantu-speakers who later populated the region. Out of these Bantu emigrants would later emerge the Kingdom of Luba, which spread over most of the present DRC as well as parts of Angola and Zambia from 1585 to 1889. The Luba had developed metallurgical technology, and controlled regional trade with most Arabs seeking slaves, ivory and precious metals.

Belgium began to show interest in the Congo in the late 19th century, engaging the services of Sir Henry Morton Stanley to explore the region. By means of the Conference of Berlin in 1885, King Leopold II of Belgium obtained personal property rights to the land, declaring it the Congo Free State, and proceded to exploit the natural resources for as much profit as possible. The indigenous population were forced to work on rubber plantations, which earned Leopold a fortune. To enforce the rubber quotas, an army known as the Force Publique (FP) was created and brutalized the local population. During the period of 1885–1908, millions of Congolese died as a consequence of exploitation and disease. Bowing to international pressure and condemnation, in 1908 the Belgian government assumed control of the Free State as a colony, renaming it Belgian Congo.

In the late 1950s, a wave of nationalism had begun to pass over much of Africa, taking hold in the Belgian Congo as the Mouvement National Congolais or MNC Party, led by Patrice Lumumba. In 1960, the MNC won parliamentary elections and appointed Lumumba as Prime Minister, and Joseph Kasavubu as President. The new Republic of the Congo (République du Congo) offically declared independence on 30 June 1960, but was almost immediately faced with a crisis as the province of Katanga declared its intent to secede. At nearly the same time, a mutiny of the Force Publique led to looting and terrorization of the European population, with thousands fleeing the country. Following a Belgian military intervention to secure the safety of the remaining European population, most Belgians left the country (including officers and senior Army NCOs), leaving a newly renamed Armée Nationale Congolaise (ANC) with little trained leadership.

Initially supported by local Belgian businesses and several thousand Belgian military personnel, the State of Katanga was declared on 11 July 1960, to the violent opposition of the Congolese government. Patrice Lumumba was shortly thereafter kidnapped and executed under mysterious circumstances, leaving Kasavubu as president, but the real power lay with Joseph Mobutu who controlled of the ANC. The resulting war involved a sizeable number of European Katangese and mercenaries fighting for Katanga, and eventually led to a military intervention by the United Nations on the side of the Congolese government. Under intense international and military pressure and with little outside support, Katanga eventually capitulated after its capital fell on 15 January 1963. On 25 November 1965, Mobutu siezed power from president Kasavubu and declared a one-party state. A series of mutinies in 1966 and 1967 involving former Katangese gendarmes and European mercenaries were both quelled, and in 1971 the name of the country would be changed to Zaire. Mobutu ruled the nation with an iron fist until 1997 when he was deposed during the First Congo War by a coalition of militias calling themselves the Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaïre (AFDL). Under the leadership of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, the ANC was defeated and the country renamed Democratic Republic of Congo, with Kabila as president.