A woman carrying firewood in Kibati Goma, DR Congo

    Political situation A difficult political legacy

    For decades now, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been experiencing a deep-seated political and economic crisis. Between 1996 and 2003 the country was ravaged by two wars; the eastern provinces are still in a state of unrest to this day. In May 2021, martial law or a “state of siege” was declared in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri. The security situation, which had already been tight, however, has only deteriorated further.

    Following the election of President Félix Tshisekedi in 2019 and his re-election at the end of 2023, the first reform programmes have been presented for the security, justice and administrative sectors and for the commodities trading sector – but so far little implementation has taken place. Weak institutions, corruption and political self-interest are holding back progress; key goals like achieving peace in Eastern Congo and stopping the illegal trade in commodities remain unachieved.

    The Congolese government has named good governance, structural reforms, stability and peace as its development goals. By pursuing these goals, the government wants to generate national revenues, mobilise investment and create jobs.

    The new National Development Plan is aligned with the goals of the 2030 Agenda. The Plan envisages that, by 2050, the potential of the commodities and agricultural industries will be realised in full, there will be a diversified economy, poverty will have been overcome and peace will have been achieved throughout the entire country.

    United Nations peace mission

    The United Nations is facilitating the peace and reform process in the eastern part of the DR Congo through its peacekeeping mission MONUSCO (Mission de l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en République démocratique du Congo). The roughly 13,000 blue berets are there to protect the civilian population and support the efforts of the government to stabilise the security situation in Eastern Congo.

    As at: 26/11/2025