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Warring groups today wreak havoc on a country first exploited as a Belgium colony. From the awful times of enforced rubber quotas, when punishment meant cutting off limbs, till today the scene remains one of misery and destitution.
Uranium reserves of the country have been exploited by the US to build atomic bombs. World powers fought, using this country as a scapegoat. Finally freedom in 1960 gained the nation Patrice Lumumba as prime minister after whom Mobutu seized power, but not peace in earnest. Mobutu Sese Seko named the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC Zaire. His regime turned into a period of human rights abuses and rampant corruption till he died in 1997 in Morocco.
Since then, there have been many internal conflicts where all sides have been supported from various neighbors. The conflict has also been fueled by weapon sales and by military training. The weapons have come from the former Soviet bloc countries as well as the United States, who have also provided military training.
Conflict in Congo began in 1998, making it the world’s most lethal conflict since World War II. The five-year conflict pitted government forces, supported by Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe, against rebels backed by Uganda and Rwanda. Despite a peace deal and the formation of a transitional government in 2003, the threat of civil war remains. Three million dead is the legacy of the war.
How are the people suffering?
• Death and Destruction
• Bad sanitation and diseases
• Hunger and malnutrition
• Conflicts over basic resources such as water, access and control over rich minerals
• Repeated military operations and violence, including rape and other forms of attacks on civilians, in areas rich in mineral resources
• Rebels Targeting harvests, destroying hard work and spirit in no time.
• Forced labor and displacement
This armed conflict is a muse to over exploit DRC’s rich natural resources including timber, diamonds, copper, cobalt, gold, uranium and cotton. Local militias, backed by Uganda, Rwanda and mining multinationals, get supplies of food, money, and military hardware in exchange for smuggled resource riches. Powerful economic and geopolitical interests of neighboring countries further fuel the conflict.
Putting an end to the corruption and impunity in the mining sector would bolster the democratic election results and allow the DRC to take advantage of its own natural wealth. This nation of 63 million people, in the heart of Africa is in dire need of peace and stability.
RSS 
Congolese have suffered an uninterrupted series of foul political administrations, military authorities and armed political groups that have burgled the region and committed human rights abuses with impunity.
Increasing poverty and hunger from the war, as well as more people moving into these areas to exploit the minerals results in hunting more wildlife is making the condition even worse.
Well Pooja, you are absolutely right in saying that >>
That is no doubt need of the hour but I do expect UN to do something positive to save those thousands of lives in Congo. Or do their lives mean nothing to anyone?
Congo is on war with itself with all the basic infra destroyed every bomb and every bullet is pushing the country back in terms of modern era.
the milita is using the rich mineral resources to buy weapons the very resources that can be used for the countries development in peace times.
what is UN doing they seem to be worried abt Iraq and Afghanistan are people of Congo not humans?
As you said Kanchan-
\”This armed conflict is a muse to over exploit DRC’s rich natural resources including timber, diamonds, copper, cobalt, gold, uranium and cotton.\”
However, U.S. corruption and conflicts of interest between mining corporations have one more \’conflicting mineral\’ is Columbo-tantalite, i.e. coltan, found in three-billion-year-old soils like those in the Rift Valley region of Africa. The tantalum extracted from the coltan ore is used to make tantalum capacitors, tiny components that are essential in managing the flow of current in electronic devices. Eighty percent of the world’s coltan reserves are found in the DRC. Niobium is another high-tech mineral with a similar story.
But most surprisingly the information that isn’t included in the manuals that come with our cell phones, pagers, computers, or diamond jewelry. Perhaps, mobile phones should be outfitted with stickers that read: “Warning! This device was created with raw materials from central Africa. These materials are rare, nonrenewable, were sold to fund a bloody war of occupation, and have caused the virtual elimination of endangered species. Have a nice day.” We need to realize, that there is a direct link between the gadgets that make our lives more convenient and sophisticated—and the reality of the violence, turmoil, and destruction that plague our world.
The need of the hour is humanitarian aid also certain diplomatic reconciliation must be initiated between Congo\’s east and west. Certain strategies should be framed among it’s neighboring nations to keep their armies away. But real progress will only occur when all of Congo\’s leaders and citizens decide to make things better for themselves.