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Sub-Saharan Africa
On paper, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) is a wealthy country: it has an abundance of natural resources – mineral wealth, water resources and massive tropical rainforests. However, decades of exploitation under colonial rule, followed by decades of dictatorship, have reduced this Central African country to abject poverty. The United Nations Human Development Index (HDI 2010) currently ranks the DR Congo last but one in its list of the world's countries.
In 1885, the territory of what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo became a Belgian colony. King Leopold II's regime was characterised by ruthless exploitation of people and the environment. Although its colonial rulers developed the country's infrastructure, including the road network and the health system, the indigenous population had no access to education or governance and were excluded from the benefits derived from the country's great resource wealth. Faced with increasing resistance to its authoritarian and colonialist policies, Belgium withdrew from the Congo in the late 1950s, leaving the country woefully unprepared for independence in 1960.
The country's first prime minister was Patrice Lumumba, the leader of the Congolese independence movement. However, due to the serious shortage of local managerial and skilled workers, internal conflicts and frequent intervention from outside, he was unable to unite and bring peace to this young country. In 1961, Lumumba was deposed and murdered. In 1965, Joseph Mobutu assumed power in a coup. In 1971, he renamed the country the Republic of Zaire. Mobutu presided over one of the most corrupt and long-lasting dictatorships in Africa.
One of the factors which spelled the end for the Mobutu regime was the ethnic conflict between Hutu and Tutsi in Rwanda and Burundi, which spilled over into their neighbour country in 1994. Zaire, as it was called at that time, became engulfed in a civil war which also involved Uganda, Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Chad and is sometimes known as the "African World War". Mobuto was deposed in 1997, when rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila seized power; the name of the country reverted from Zaire back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A peace agreement was concluded in 2003. By this point, the country's institutional structures and economy had completely collapsed and its infrastructure was in ruins. The war is thought to have claimed more than three million lives; precise figures are not available. According to the United Nations, an estimated two million people have been displaced internally in the eastern part of the country.
In 2006, Joseph Kabila – who had taken over the presidency in 2001 following the assassination of his father – was officially confirmed in office following free elections. With the international community's support, he is now attempting to bring peace and stability to the country.
To avoid any confusion, it is important to note that besides the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there is another Congolese state: the much smaller Republic of the Congo (capital: Brazzaville), which lies to the west of the DR Congo.
Support from Germany
Germany has been a development cooperation partner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for more than 35 years. Even during the civil wars in the 1990s, development cooperation did not cease completely. During this period, Germany's activities focused on humanitarian programmes which supplied people with the basic necessities of life.
After the conclusion of the peace agreement in 2003, development cooperation officially resumed in late 2004. Germany supported the country's first free elections in 2006, as well as the demobilisation process and the provision of assistance to the victims of war.
The first government negotiations between the DR Congo and Germany for 20 years were held in 2008. Since then, cooperation has focused on the following priority areas: water supply and sanitation; biodiversity and sustainable management of natural resources; and microfinance.
German Embassy

German Embassy in the DR Congo
82, Avenue du Roi Baudouin
Kinshasa-Gombe
P.O. Box 8400
Kinshasa 1
Telephone: 00 243 / 81 556 13 80






