Congo-Kinshasa

The project to reconstruct Central Africa is moving painfully slowly and with very little money, over six months after the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko’s regime spurred hopes...

A brass plaque outside the smart new offices of the Banque de Commerce et de Développementin Kinshasa's main street, Boulevard du 30- Juin, proclaims that they were opened...

Few Congolese cared much about the funeral of Mobutu Sese Seko, in a Catholic cemetery in Rabat, Morocco, on 13 September. He died of cancer, aged 66, but...

Should the United States and other potential donors make economic assistance conditional upon whether the new Congo government allows the United Nations' inquiry into refugee massacres to proceed?...

Congo-Kinshasa's neighbours and foreign investors had high hopes of business gains following the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko but the old dictator's legacy of institutional collapse and corruption...

Veteran opposition leader Étienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba still has huge support in the capital Kinshasa and his arrest on 26 June was for many Kinois the final stage...

As the regime of Mobutu Sese Seko tottered to its end, his generals were negotiating a rescue package with former South African military men. The President approved the...

After his triumphal debut at the Organisation of African Unity summit (2-4 June) in Harare, Laurent-Désiré Kabila returned to Kinshasa and a sea of problems. Security is the...

Zaïre has a new name, République Démocratique du Congo (RDC), a new strongman, Laurent-Désiré Kabila and a new burst of goodwill from most of the world's capitals with...

The shape of Africa resembles a revolver, wrote Algeria's Franz Fanon, 'and Zaïre is the trigger'. Over 30 years after Fanon's assessment, new fingers are on the trigger...

However Mobutu Sese Seko is finally chased from the Presidency, Zaïre's new rulers will inherit a formal economy that barely exists. In 1996 gross domestic product was just...

KIVU• Empain-Schneider (France) sold goldmining concession of Société Minière du Kivu to Cluff Minerals (Britain) and Banro (Canada).

Several 'companions of the road' have given their support to 59 year-old Laurent-Désiré Kabila's political struggle. They are an odd bunch, from Maoist guerrillas to Wall Street investors...

Burundian rebels may have lost part of their Zaïrean safe-haven but they fight on and have even acquired a navy. On 25 March, the Hutu hardline Forces pour...

As they go from victory to victory, Laurent-Désiré Kabila and his forces are having to face some tough political questions: firstly, about the composition of their Alliance des...

The 'government' or Executive Committee of the Alliances des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaïre, which now administers about a quarter of the country, has ten members:...

Even government officials say it is only a matter of time before Zaïre's third city, Kisangani, and the military headquarters based there fall into rebel hands. Rebels have...

President Mobutu Sese Seko and his government may believe that the negotiations in Cape Town with Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaïre officials are the...

Prime Minister Kengo wa Dondo's claims of military successes in the Forces Armées Zaïroises' 'massive counter-offensive' against rebels in Kivu Province seem overblown. Less than a week after...

The strategic town of Bunia, on the north-eastern border with Sudan and Uganda, fell to rebel forces on 26 December. This was a stinging blow to President Mobutu...