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DR Congo Factsheet:
Name: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Population: 56 million (UN, 2005)
Capital: Kinshasa
Area: 2.34 million sq km (905,354 sq mi)
Major languages: French, Lingala, Kiswahili, Kikongo, Tshiluba
Major religions: Christianity, Islam
Life expectancy: 42 years (men), 44 years (women) (UN)
Main exports: Diamonds, copper, coffee, cobalt, crude oil
GNI per capita: US $120 (World Bank, 2006)
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For a brief history of the current situation in the DR Congo please reference our Fact Sheet.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is an immense and complex country in central Africa. Plagued by decades of war yet brimming with valuable natural resources, the DR CONGO is suffering from a horrific humanitarian emergency, yet holds tremendous hope for the future of all of Africa.
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A Short Summary of the War and the Humanitarian Crisis Today:
DR Congo: The World's Deadliest Emergency
The war in DR Congo is by far the world's deadliest conflict since World War II. The International Rescue Committee's latest mortality survey in 2004 demonstrated that 3.9 million people had died because of the conflict. To date 39,000 continued to die every month, with nearly half of these deaths being children under the age of five.
The conflict in the DR Congo began at the conclusion of the Rwandan genocide. The Interahamwe, the Hutu militias responsible for the massacre of 1 million in Rwanda over a period of four months, were pushed across the border into the DR Congo. There they set up camp and began terrorizing the Congolese people.
Various militias and government forces were sent in to fight first the Interahamwe, then each other. The chaos erupted into what has been termed "Africa's First World War" at times including up to nine neighboring countries. The UN has accused all nations involved of using the war as a cover for looting diamonds, coltan, gold, and other resources from this mineral-rich region.
Though a peace accord was reached in 2003 and the first democratic elections in over 40 years have just taken place, the conflict continues to cause a complete shut-down of vast regions of the country. Civilians have been left to fend for themselves against brutal attacks, torture, looting, child soldier recruitment, rape and murder. Deprived of the most basic conditions necessary for life, millions have been forced to flee their homes. Security issues have severely limited access of humanitarian relief and basic services, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths every month, primarily from easily preventable diseases and malnutrition.
In areas where the UN has maintained a presence, the number of deaths drops dramatically. Additionally, with a major up-scaling of humanitarian aid, simple and cost-effective interventions can easily prevent these deaths. National judicial reform, effective and transparent economic policies and monitoring can end the economic exploitation and looting that many see as one of the main causes of the conflict.
Considering the DR Congo's vast resources, an end to the conflict could transform this long-neglected nation into a major stabilizing influence on all of its nine neighboring countries.
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