By Rachel Steinberg

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was one of 17 African countries that gained independence from colonial powers in 1960. Liberation, however, brought with it new trouble as a multitude of parties fought for control of the young country and its wealth of natural resources, like diamonds and valuable minerals. In 1998, a number of factors, many of them tied to then-President Laurent-Désiré Kabila’s ambition to gain and retain increased power, resulted in the outbreak of a war resulting in the greatest number of casualties since World War II.

Independence can be greatly credited to Patrice Lumumba. He and his Congolese National Movement sought to create an independent country on the terms of the nationalists, not those of colonial Belgium. In 1959, after Belgian forces crushed a riot in Leopoldville, nationalist and militant attitudes spread and reached a new fervor. Though the Belgians had been orchestrating a plan eventually leading to an independent Congo, the Leopoldville riots resulted in increased expediency; the force of the Congolese reaction to the riots surprised the colonial powers and, sensing an increasingly hostile and unstable environment, the Belgians organized a Roundtable Conference in Brussels, resulting in an agreement to hand over power to the Congolese in the summer of 1960. On June 30, 1960, the new independent Congolese government, led by President Joseph Kasa-vubu and Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, took power.

The government didn’t last long. A disagreement over Soviet intervention led to the dissolution of the Kasa-vubu–Lumumba partnership, with each claiming the right to rule. In a military coup, Joseph Mobutu, Lumumba’s former chief of staff, took control of the country, renaming it Zaire. After a Mobutu-initiated campaign intended to mar Lumumba’s reputation both at home and internationally, Lumumba was assassinated, some say with the assistance of the United States, Belgium or both. What followed were 30 years of oppressive, tyrannical rule under Mobutu, who exploited his country’s natural resources, amassing millions (some say even billions) of dollars for himself and his family, crippling and debilitating the country he claimed to be freeing from years of exploitation by former ruling powers.

In 1994, Zaire received an influx of Hutu refugees from neighboring Rwanda. An extremist wing of Hutus had recently been responsible for the genocide of an estimated half-million to million people, the majority of whom were members of the Tutsi ethnic group. Backed by Mobutu, a group of the Hutu refugees in Zaire launched attacks against Tutsi in Rwanda. Seeking an ally in Zaire, the Rwandan Tutsi government turned to Laurent-Désiré Kabila, a Lumumba sympathizer hoping to topple the Mobutu autocracy. Kabila readily aligned himself with Rwanda. An alliance of Kabila-led rebels and Rwandan forces finally defeated Mobutu in 1997. Mobutu fled the country, and Kabila, touted as a liberator and a savior, rose to power. Like his predecessor, Kabila’s first order of duty was to change the name of the country he was to rule: the Democratic Republic of the Congo was born. Peace, however, was short-lived. Kabila, once a rebel on the fringe, was now in a position which many argue he was not prepared for. He proceeded to make a number of tactical decisions that would plunge his country into its most deadly conflict yet.

Kabila’s rise to power did not stop the cross-border violence between Hutu and Tutsi. By 1998, Rwanda and Uganda were upset that Kabila was unable to fulfill a promise of border protection. They became further incensed upon discovering that Kabila had begun to make alliances with the very Hutu he had previously declared his enemy. Furthermore, Kabila had ordered all Rwandan staff out of his government—and the country. Kabila had also been steadily alienating and angering the people within his own borders, banning other political parties, imprisoning dissenters, bungling opportunities for Western alliances and refusing to cooperate with the United Nations. This was not the Kabila that people hoped would be key to their country’s renaissance. This was rather the Kabila that Che Guevara witnessed in 1961 when he visited the Congo and briefly entertained supporting Kabila’s rebel group. Instead, Guevara dismissed the leader, declaring him incompetent.

With former allies Rwanda and Uganda against him and rising resentment within the Congolese people, Kabila needed to find some allies quickly. With the promise of natural riches, Kabila convinced Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia to align themselves with his army. Over the next few years, a number of other countries moved in and out of the conflict. Many viewed the chaos as an opportunity to take advantage of remaining Congolese resources; groups also acted in self-interest, extracting valuable minerals from Congolese mines on occupied territory. Others joined seeking revenge or retribution for enemy actions elsewhere on the African continent. Meanwhile, rebel groups broke out, most notably the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD), which provided a constant challenge for Kabila. A clash in the Kisangani region led to a breakup of the alliance between Rwanda and Uganda, leading to infighting between the former allies within the borders of the Congo.

In 1999, the first major attempt at a peace treaty occurred in Lusaka, with six countries signing a ceasefire. The two major rebel groups, the RCD and the Ugandan-backed Congolese Liberation Movement, agreed to what became known as the Lusaka Accord. Stipulations of the accord included the disarmament of militia groups, a joint military commission and the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers in the region. It also called for talks, led by a neutral facilitator, to outline the conditions of the political regime that was to be established in the region. Unfortunately, the United Nations Stabilization Mission for Congo (MONUC), which began in 2000 and has since become the most expensive UN mission in the world, was unable to control simmering tension between the groups and to this day struggles to maintain order amongst the many factions.

On January 16, 2001, President Kabila was sitting in his presidential suite when one of his own bodyguards entered the room and fired several shots at him. Kabila attempted to escape but was shot again as he left his office. He was taken to a hospital where he later died of his wounds. Ten days later, Kabila’s son, Joseph, was sworn in as president. Unlike his father, Joseph Kabila remained open to the United Nations. A year later, Joseph negotiated peace and withdrawal deals with both Rwanda and Uganda. Though smaller clashes continued to occur, the central conflict seemed to have subsided. A constitution was ratified in 2006 and Joseph Kabila was declared winner of the DRC’s first free election since 1960.

All is not well, however, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In January 2008, the International Rescue Committee reported that 5.4 million people had died since 1998, either in or as a result of the conflict. In the years since his election, Joseph Kabila’s government has been forced to deal with constant violent outbreaks, in addition to a recurring threat from a Ugandan rebel group and a Rwandan militia. Kabila’s ethics and leadership have come also into question as NGOs and humanitarian organizations continue to issue reports of human rights violations in the country, including the looting of villages and rape of Congolese women by both rebel forces and the Congolese army, as well as corruption on both sides. On New Year’s Day, 2011, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported a mass rape of 33 women in an east Congo village.

Is there hope on the horizon? Four days after the MSF-reported rapes, the DRC announced that 2011 elections will occur on schedule, despite reported delays. Several candidates are rumored to have the intention of running. Only time will tell if a regime change will at last result in a peaceful, empowered independent Congo.