The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Located in the central Africa region, the DRC is classified as one of the worst conflict regions in Africa. The DRC is surrounded by nine other African countries: Central African Republic, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, and the Republic of the Congo (Congo Brazzaville). Its population is made up of some 250 ethnic groups who speak 700 local languages and dialects.

The DRC (Zaire until 1996) was a colony owned by the King of Belgium until 1960. It suffered a period of civil unrest after independence until Mobutu Sese Seko was able to depose all of his rivals and take over the presidency in the 1965 coup d’etat. Though he initially declared he would be president for five years after which a free election would take place, Mobutu remained in power for over three decades, ruling Zaire with an iron grip. In 1996, Laurent Desire Kabila, with the help of the Rwandan army, and a number of other African countries, including Zimbabwe (all of whom had interest in the DRC’s mineral wealth) was able to overthrow Mobutu and declared himself president. His regime continues to be supported by Rwanda and Uganda. Shortly after Kabila came to power, unrest swept the country once more, and in 1998, six different groups (most identified by ethnic labels) fought each other on the land of the DRC. Laurent Kabila was assassinated in 2001 and was succeeded by his son Joseph Kabila, who launched peace talks and managed to have Uganda and Rwanda partially withdraw their troops from the DRC.

Since 1998, the DRC has been characterized by a long conflict. Violence, depicted by ethnic clashes, massacres, recruitment of children and rape still causes mass population displacement. These conflicts in Congo have claimed the lives of millions of people and displaced hundreds of thousands causing them to flee the country as asylum seekers or to become internally displaced persons. This is an ongoing problem.

The DRC will have presidential elections in 2006. However, this does not mean that it will be safe for Congolese refugees scattered around the world to return after the elections. In fact, there is strong evidence that violence and conflict will continue, even increase, after the elections.

At AMERA we receive a number of Congolese asylum seekers including unaccompanied minors.