Government; Capital
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a sizable country located in the heart of Africa. At about one-fourth the size of the United States, it is the second largest country in Africa. This country goes by many names, such as DR Congo, DRC, or Congo-Kinshasa after of its capital city. After becoming an independent country, the capital city was renamed Kinshasa in 1966 (formerly called Léopoldville). Currently, the government is a difficult subject to address. As the country attempts to be a Democratic Republic, current conditions have created a situation in which laws are being ignored in order for President Joseph Kabila to remain in power.
Under the current Constitution, each president is allocated a 5-year term with the chance for re-election once. After becoming President in 2001 after his father was assassinated, Kabila was elected in 2006 and re-elected in 2011. This means that his presidential term should have expired in November/December 2016, yet Joseph Kabila is still in power over 1 year later. After postponing elections to December 2017 for “violence”, they were canceled again for the same reasons (Al Jazeera). With the new date for elections set for December 23, 2018, many people wonder if they will just be postponed again in order for Kabila to remain in power. Al Jazeera states, “[DRC] has seen widespread anger over what some see as President Kabila’s refusal to relinquish power,” showing how the people want a new leader. Currently, I believe that the government is more of a dictatorship than a democratic republic. With Kabila’s extended reign of power combined with the show of military force to repel protests, the Democratic Republic of the Congo may soon become a full dictatorship unless the people are able to reform the government.
The government is set up in 3 branches like the US government. The legislative branch is the lawmaking body of DR Congo, oversees the duties of the Prime Minister, and is made up of 2 houses: the National Assembly and the Senate. The National Assembly is the lower house consisting of 500 members, with “61 members…elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies and 439 members…elected by open list proportional representation in multi-member constituencies” (Global Edge). The 108 members of the Senate are “indirectly elected by provincial assemblies by proportional representation vote” (CIA World Factbook). Like the president, all members of the legislative branch have 5-year terms.
The executive branch takes care of all executive duties and is headed by the current President, Joseph Kabila. The president is allowed two 5-year terms as stated before, and he is elected by a majority vote. As the Chief of State, the president is allowed to appoint the Prime Minister, who is currently Bruno Tshibala (Global Edge). Under the most recent constitution (2006), the prime minister’s duties are to lead the Cabinet and to advise the president in making decisions.
The judicial branch is in charge of all court cases. According to the CIA World Factbook, the highest courts are the Court of Cassation and the Constitutional Court. With 26 justices, the Court of Cassation reviews the most important cases in DRC. Global Edge states that the justices are “nominated by the judicial service council, an independent body of public prosecutors and selected judges of the lower courts”, and that they have no term limit. The Constitutional Court has 9 judges and reviews all cases involving the constitution and changes that should be made to it (CIA World Factbook).
As mentioned previously, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is Kinshasa. Located on the other side of the Congo River from Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa is the 3rd most populated city in Africa (World Atlas). According to Britannica, residents of the city are referred to as Kinois. Ever since the times of being a Belgian colony, the land of Kinshasa was the capital city because of its location. Along the Congo river, goods could easily be sent out into the Atlantic Ocean to Belgium or for trade to other nations. Currently, water travel plays a large role in the trade of Congolese goods. Overall, Kinshasa was the best place to put the capital city of DRC.
5 Themes of Geography
Religion
Religion in the Kongo region dates back thousands of years to early inhabitants of the land. Each individual ethnic group/tribe had its own varying religion to others in the region. Different people would practice their beliefs differently, and there are too many individual religions to account for. By the time the Kingdom of Kongo came about, many of the people had converted to the Bakongo religion (PHILTAR). Practicers of the Bakongo religion believe that “this world”, the “nza yayi”, and “the land of the dead”, the “nsi a bafwa”, exist in harmony and are divided by a body of water called the “Kalunga”. The people believe that the worlds rotate, with the “nza yayi” taking place in the daytime and the “nsi a bafwa” taking place at night. According to PHILTAR, members of this religion believe that after a person dies, they become a ghost, or “n’kuyu”, that lives in the “nsi a bafwa”.
The roots of the Bakongo religion go back to the Kingdom of Kongo. Many people practiced this belief for many years until Portuguese explorers arrived in the 1480s. PHILTAR states that the explorers “were regarded as visitors from the land of the dead”, and they were soon able to spread Christianity in the form of the Church of Christ in Congo (also called the CCC) and the Roman Catholic Church. The King himself, Nzinga Nkuwu, was baptized into Christianity although he never really practiced it. Their work of converting all Bakongo people into Christians continued with the Jesuits in the 1500s (PHILTAR).
Throughout the centuries, Christianity continued to gain followers and it eventually became the dominant church in the Congo region. As of 2017, World Atlas reports that 43% of DR Congo citizens identify as Roman Catholic, 25.8% say that they are Protestant, and 11.2% practice other forms of Christianity such as being Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormon, Jamaa, etc. Other sources, such as the CIA World Factbook, state that up to 50% of the population is Roman Catholic and only 20% identify as Protestant. Under the DRC constitution, every citizen is allowed to have freedom of religion. However, many citizens identify with specific churches such as the Roman Catholic Church for education purposes. About 60% of all primary school students and about 40% of all high school students were taught by Roman Catholic Churches (World Atlas). World Atlas also states that “some observers contend that the church is doing a better job at managing state functions, such as healthcare and education, than the government has historically done.” I agree with this statement, as the church is willing to take in students to educate them when the government cannot hold itself together to create a working education system.
Although Christianity makes up the religious beliefs for many of the country’s citizens, another major religion in DRC is Islam. During the 1700s, Arab traders set up mosques and spread Islam mostly throughout the regions of Maniema, Orientale, and Kinshasa. About 90% of Muslims are Sunni, while the other 10% is made up of mostly Shia Muslims (World Atlas). Like the Roman Catholic church, Quran schools (Islamic schools) were opened to teach the people of DR Congo. As about 10%-13% of DRC citizens practice Islam, that means about 70% of all school-children are taught by churches and not government schools (World Atlas; CIA World Factbook).
Another large religion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the Kimbanguist Church. Founded by Simon Kimbangu on April 6, 1921, Kimbanguism is based on Christian teachings (IRR.org). The CIA World Factbook states that about 10% of the population practices Kimbanguism, making it the 4th most practiced religion in DR Congo. Practicers of this religion do things that other Christian religions do, such as reading the Bible and working for the church. Along with these, practicers of Kimbanguism also has strict rules involving confessing sins, abstaining from using addictive substances, and not engaging in polygamy. Love is also a large part of this religion, as the members are pushed to love everybody regardless of their race, gender, etc. (IRR.org).
Finally, a substantial percentage of people practice their indigenous and ethnic beliefs. With over 200 separate ethnic groups in DRC, there can be hundreds of separate beliefs (Britannica). Although many of the ethnic groups are Bantu, each person may practice their religion in a different way. Some citizens also combine their traditional beliefs with those of a major religion. All in all, there are many unique religious beliefs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
History
The history of DR Congo goes back thousands of years to circa 1000 BC when the land was populated by Bantu-speaking people. In loose tribes, limited technological advancements were made in the following centuries. However, in the early 1100s, the people joined together to create the Kingdom of Kongo. Soon, the united people became a great power in Africa. At its peak, the Kingdom reached from current Angola to Western Congo to lakes Kisale and Upemba (BBC). After a few centuries under prosperous rule, the Kongo people had some European visitors. In 1482, Portuguese navigator Diogo Cao established partial political ties with the king of the Kongo people. Soon thereafter, the Portuguese people began to spread Christianity and creating the Church of Congo (as mentioned in the Religion section).
For many years, conditions were peaceful in the Kongo lands. However, in the mid to late 1500s, the slave trade took its toll on the government. As the provincial leaders gained more power, they each had their own conflicting views and the Kingdom of Kongo soon was unable to defend attacks from neighboring peoples (Britannica). Returning to the old form of individual ethnic groups ruling, it was a simple task for King Leopold II of Belgium to attempt to colonize the Congo lands in the late 1800s. Following Henry Stanley’s expeditions to the Congo River from 1874-1877, Leopold II created the Comité d’Études du Haut Congo. Later renamed the Association Internationale du Congo, the committee oversaw Stanley’s expedition to Congo to unite the individual groups under Belgian rule (Britannica). According to Britannica, Stanley’s missions succeeded and by 1884 King Leopold II had control over 450 separate African groups in/near the Congo region.
The next year, Leopold’s claims of Congo were recognized by many European powers at the Conference of Berlin. King Leopold II established the Congo Free State in the Congo Basin under his full control (BBC). However, conditions in the Belgian colony were not as the name implied. Workers were severely overworked, forced to meet unreachable demands in order for freedom for their families (Britannica). BBC states, “Millions of Congolese are said to have been killed or worked to death during Leopold’s control of the territory…” As a result of the King’s actions, the Belgian Parliament annexed the land in 1908 to effectively stop Leopold’s unrelenting rule.
Over the next nearly 50 years, not much changes in the Belgian Congo. Following the discovery of diamonds and other precious minerals, the Congolese people continued to be worked under harsh conditions, but not as bad as before. According to Human Rights Watch, the Belgian government passed a law in 1935 stating that “all Congolese [people] must do 60 days of compulsory labor each year”. This raised tensions between the Belgians and the Congolese and eventually caused labor strikes in 1941. In response to the protests, Belgian officials used brutal tactics to keep the rebellious people in order. The following year, the forced labor requirement was increased to 120 days per year (Human Rights Watch). Still, the outcries for fair working conditions got louder and louder, forcing the Belgian government to introduce a minimum wage in 1948. However, tensions remained high with the publishing of the “Thirty-Year Plan for the Political Emancipation of Belgian Africa” in 1955/1956 (BBC/Britannica). Antoine van Bilsen called for a self-governing Congo, and soon Joseph Kasavubu was able to unite the Congolese people in protests against Belgian control. Following countless nationalist protests throughout the country, including major protests/riots in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa), the Belgian government was unable to keep its command over the Congo lands. Under strong vocal leadership from Joseph Kasavubu and Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was established as an independent country on June 30, 1960.
Soon after gaining independence from Belgium, the country was already facing trouble.
Attractions
Currently, conditions in DR Congo may scare many people away from visiting. Yet, the natural beauty of National Parks and lakes bring in tourists every year. From visiting the capital city to the extensive lands of Virunga National Park, there are many exciting and beautiful things to explore in DR Congo.
Starting off the list of attractions to DRC is its capital city, Kinshasa. You can explore the city or go to Lola ya Bonobo. As it is the only sanctuary for orphaned bonobos, tons of tourists visit every year (Google). With over 30 hectares of land, Lola ya Bonobo is a modest preserve that accommodates many of the endangered creatures. If I were traveling to DR Congo, this would be one of my top destinations.
Another place dedicated to preserving wildlife is Kahuzi Biega National Park in the South Kivu Province. Named after the 2 extinct volcanoes that tower over the park, the hiking trails and wildlife offer many great opportunities for tourists to explore (The Crazy Tourist). Founded in 1970 to protect the endangered Eastern Lowland Gorillas, the National Park has since expanded to protect many other animals such as elephants and genets (The Crazy Tourist). According to Google, Kahuzi Biega National Park is 2,317 square miles, making it a substantial preserve in DRC.
An additional top tourist destination is Virunga National Park. In combination with being a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is also the oldest national park in DR Congo (The Crazy Tourist). Google states that the park is 3,012 square miles, making it one of the largest national parks in DRC. While visiting the park, tourists can see anything from glacier-topped mountains to lava plains, and from mountain gorillas to Okapi. The Crazy Tourist reports, “[Virunga National Park] has three distinct areas, all worth a visit: The Rwenzori Mountains, Lake Edward area, and the Mikeno volcano area,” showing how diverse the land is.
One final notable attraction is Lake Kivu. Located on the DR Congo/Rwanda border, and it is one of the largest lakes in Africa (The Crazy Tourist). In combination with being very broad, Lake Kivu is a freshwater lake, meaning that thousands, if not millions, of African people can use it as a water source. The lake can also be used by tourists for recreational activities as well, such as swimming and boating. The Crazy Tourist states that “Lake Kivu offers lovely scenic drives,” adding to the beauty of the tourist destination.
Although there are many attractions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as I stated before many people may not want to visit at this time. The political turmoil and the violence in the country may not make your travel safe. If someone is planning to visit DRC, they need to take extra precautions in order to stay protected from trouble. But overall, DR Congo would be a great place to visit for someone that loves the outdoors and wildlife.
Major Industries; Products of Import/Export; Economy
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a developing country with a growing economy. Ever since the election of Joseph Kabila in 2006, imports and exports in DRC have greatly increased (The Observatory of Economic Complexity [“OEC” for future reference]). OEC reports that DR Congo had $5.69 billion USD worth of exports and $5.64 billion USD worth of imports in 2015. The CIA World Factbook estimates that exports could be up to as much as $8.598 billion USD and imports up to about $8.845 billion USD as of 2017. In just 2 years, this substantial growth could mean that DR Congo is thriving and beginning to become more developed. However, with the number of imports being higher than exports, the country’s $5.324 billion USD of debt will continue to rise (CIA World Factbook).
Although exports in DRC are a high amount for a developing country, most of the exports come from the same industries. As stated by OEC, metals, mineral products, and precious metals make up over 90% of the total exports. This makes for a very fragile trade system because if the demand for these materials declines, then DR Congo will have a dramatically lower GDP. Refined copper alone makes up 47% of the total exports according to OEC. Other notable exports include cobalt, cobalt ore, copper ore, cobalt oxides and hydroxides, raw copper, diamonds, gold, and wood products (OEC and CIA World Factbook).
The destination of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s exports varies slightly, but a majority of exports travel to the same destinations. OEC states that about 68% of all exports go off to Asia, with China, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea receiving 46%, 10%, and 5.1%, respectively. To finish off the top 5, Zambia receives 16% of exports, placing it in second, and Belgium receives 4.4%, putting it in fifth (OEC). The CIA World Factbook reports that the percentages of exports could currently be at 35.3% for China, 15.8% for Zambia, 8.7% for South Korea, 8% for Saudi Arabia, and 5.2% for Belgium.
Imports in DRC tell a much different story than its exports. According to OEC, no one single product makes up more than 4% of the total imports. The CIA World Factbook and OEC agree when stating that the most imported items into DR Congo include machines (for mining), foodstuffs, fuels, and transportation. OEC also lists medicines and cleaning supplies as one of the main imports into the country. Machines make up about 24% of total imports, chemical products take up about 14%, fuels are about 8.1%, and transportation and foodstuffs each take up about 7.6%.
Coincidentally, many of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s imports come from their main export partners. This shows the world’s willingness to trade freely with DRC, possibly alluding to a period of substantial economic growth in the near future. Anywhere between 20.2% and 25% of imports come from China, about 15.8% arrive from South Africa, and around 8.9% come from Zambia, give or take a few tenths of a percent (combined data from OEC and the CIA World Factbook).
These numbers may seem high for a developing country, but the people and their conditions of life lack far behind standard (based off of GDP). The official exchange rate puts the national GDP of DR Congo at about $40.42 billion (CIA World Factbook). However, CIA World Factbook estimates that the GDP per capita in 2017 was only at about $800, putting it at 227th highest out of 229 recognized countries/dependencies. The very poor economy can be blamed on the lack of a good government/ruling figure, although changes in the right direction are being made. In addition, one of the only reasons that high amounts of metals and minerals are being dug up is because of military force at the mining sites (Our Africa). Our Africa states that the “lack of paved roads, many areas rich in gold, diamonds and coltan are not accessible to large mining companies.” This shows how the lack of infrastructure in the Democratic Republic of the congo is limiting its economic potential.
Buildings and Architecture
There is a great variety of buildings in DRC. From the rural houses in the countryside to the tall, modern buildings of Kinshasa, there are many different forms of architecture to explore. More than half of the population lives in rural areas of DR Congo, contributing to the lack of architectural development. In the other more modernized and urban areas, such as major cities, architectural levels still fall behind other developing countries. The lack of infrastructure and low GDP per capita combine to give the people of DRC a bad chance for better architecture in their communities.
The buildings in rural areas are relatively primitive, with round or rectangular mud huts making up many of the structures. EveryCulture.com gives a description of the building process for the homes, stating: “The frame is built by tying vines around sticks and palm frond stems. A mixture of sand, water, and often cement is then used to fill in the structure and a grass roof completes the home.” Although the houses themselves made be crude, the process used by the people has been refined over the years to make a sturdy and easy to create shelter. Tin may also be used for the roofs if it can be afforded by the residents (Milios 52). The people also use the resources that are available to them, proving how well the culture and architecture in DRC have advanced over the years. In the villages, there may be up to hundreds of individual huts with varying purposes. Examples include some houses for living, others for cooking, and more just for storage (EveryCulture.com).
In urban areas, the quality of architecture varies much more than in the rural lands. From the mud houses on the outskirts of the city to the high-rises of Kinshasa, living conditions are very different from one another. Some homes near the capital are made of iron instead of mud and can get very hot and unpleasant in the summer (EveryCulture.com). As you move closer to the heart of the city, houses of concrete begin to appear (Democratic Republic of Congo). The best living conditions are probably in the large homes and apartments featuring Western designs. These usually appear inside or by the tall, concrete buildings of Kinshasa. The corporation buildings and government buildings feature the best architecture in the country, as well as being the most expensive to build. However, few people in DR Congo can afford to live near or in these places as much of the population is too poor to afford such a home.
Why it is a Great Country
In my opinion, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is not a “great country”. Over the years, the people have constantly been suppressed by dictators and limiting regimes. Placed in the middle of a troubled region, not many chances have arisen for DRC to become a better country. Although there is currently a lot of public dissent and violence in the region, the people themselves offer a rich culture rooted deeply in their past. The struggles that the people faced, such as overcoming political changes, dealing with slavery and the slave trade, and fitting in with new social reforms (like religion, for example), make the citizens a strong group of individuals all united under their ancestry. The country itself may not be a great place to live in, but the inhabitants of DRC have potential to create a new, reformed country led by the government that the citizens choose. All in all, the united people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo make the country truly great.
Social and Environmental Problems
Each new day seems to bring a new problem to DR Congo. From the political turmoil (as mentioned in the Government section) to the lack of basic necessities, the people of DRC face lots of trouble. One main contemporary issue is the intense violence between the government and the people. Nearly every day, protests against the Kabila regime end with at least one protester dead. Kabila is unrelenting in rule and has shown that he will use military force to keep control of his country.
One of the main problems in DRC at the moment is hunger. The Guardian states that “The number of people coping with extreme hunger has risen by 2 million over the past six months, reaching 7.7 million – about 10% of the population.” As one of the country’s environmental problems, the average climate in DR Congo makes it difficult to grow crops. As mentioned earlier, about 7.6% of their imports involves foodstuffs. DRC is also a very dry country, getting low amounts of rainfall annually (as mentioned in the 5 Themes of Geography section). With few lakes with drinkable water, droughts are common in the region. However, the social problems, like extreme violence and poor infrastructure, causes the food and water to not be delivered to those in dire need.
Violence is one of the other main issues in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to Global Issues, over 5.4 million people have died in the violence surrounding the Second Congo War and the following years. With protests surrounding the Kabila regime getting shut down by military force, more and more people continue to die to violence performed by the government.
Heritage.org has created a system to track economic freedom for most of the world’s countries. Based off of its grading scale, DR Congo has received an average score of 52.1 out of 100. This puts the country in the bottom 50%, but many of the social problems contribute to its low score. The country received only a 27.3 on government integrity, which supports the claims that the government poses a social problem to the people. Labor freedom is listed at a 47.8, showing how controlling the government is to its citizens.
Future of the Country
The future of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is unknown, to say the least. With elections scheduled for December 2018, DRC may have its first “fair” election in 7 years. However, just like the scheduled elections for December 2017, they may be postponed due to social and political issues. As Joseph Kabila prolongs his presidency, unforeseen actions may occur, such as an assassination or an uprising. At the moment, DR Congo is already close to repeating history with a military coup d’état based off of current events surrounding Kabila and the government. Or maybe individual religious/ethnic groups could make a grab for power and possibly ignite another civil war. There are endless possibilities for the future, with drastically different outcomes when DRC is in the hands of different people.
From a population standpoint, WorldOMeters projects that by the end of 2018 the population should just reach 84 million. This number could jump to 89.5 million by the end of 2020, and possibly reach 104 million by 2025 (WorldOMeters). According to WorldOMeters, this would give DRC 1.1%, 1.15%, and 1.27% of the world population, respectively. The skyrocketing population would have major consequences on the country, as they are already short on much-needed food, water, medicine, and other supplies. The population density would also climb steadily, from 36 people per square kilometer to 46 people per square kilometer by 2025 (WorldOMeters). This could make life in the already crowded cities of Kinshasa and Lubumbashi even more difficult.
Overall, depending on what political changes occur in the near future, the entire coming years for the Democratic Republic of the Congo can be changed drastically. In the end, the future comes down to whether or not a fair election will be held in order to get a leader that the people want in command. If not, many different grabs for power may occur, sending the country into a downward spiral to anarchy. Nonetheless, if the right moves are made by the government and the people, DR Congo can possibly become a flourishing country in the heart of Africa. The future may be unknown for now, but surely the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be a very different country within the coming years.
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