{
  "id": "RL31080",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL31080",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 101069,
      "date": "2001-08-14",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:21:38.291941",
      "title": "Democratic Republic of the Congo: Peace Process and Background",
      "summary": "The Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, is a vast, resource-rich country of nearly\n50\nmillion people. In August 1998, Congo was plunged into its second civil war in 2 years. A peace\naccord was concluded in Lusaka, Zambia, in July and August 1999, and the United Nations later\nagreed to send peace monitors and protecting troops, in a force known as MONUC, to assist in the\npeace process. Deployment was slow, but the assassination of President Laurent Kabila on January\n16, 2001, was followed by progress in the peace process under a new regime headed by Joseph\nKabila, Laurent\u2019s son. On June 15, 2001, the U.N. Security Council approved plans to\nexpand\nMONUC to its authorized level of 5,537 personnel. \n \n Recent instability in Congo has been rooted in ethnic and political unrest in the eastern part of\nthe country, and also in the fact that guerrillas seeking the overthrow of the governments of Rwanda\nand Uganda are based in the east. Both countries have sent troops into Congo, and have allied\nthemselves to rebel groups opposed to the Congo government. Some reports indicate that interests\nin both countries are exploiting Congo\u2019s rich resources of timber, gold, and diamonds. \nBurundi is\nalso fighting Burundi guerrillas based in Congo.\n \n Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has deployed more than 11,000 troops to back the Congo\ngovernment, and reports allege that Zimbabwe interests are also profiting from Congo\u2019s\nresources. \nAngola also backs Congo government, evidently in the hope that this will help prevent UNITA, the\nAngolan armed opposition movement, from using bases in Congo. \n \n The 1996-1997 rebellion began in eastern Zaire, but won broad support due to high poverty\nlevels and dissatisfaction with the regime of President Mobutu Sese Seko, who had ruled since 1965. \nRwanda, which had suffered an anti-Tutsi genocide in 1994, supported the rebellion, and broke up\nlarge Hutu refugee camps in eastern Zaire. These camps had been sheltering Hutu militants who\nwere staging incursions into Rwanda. Rebel leader Laurent Kabila took power in May 1997, and\nsuspended the activities of all political parties, except for his Alliance of Democratic Forces for the\nLiberation of Congo-Zaire (AFDL). Human rights activists maintain that he suppressed dissent in\nan attempt to hold onto power indefinitely. Kabila showed considerable distrust of the western\ndonor community, which pressed for democratization, and this sharply limited aid inflows. Upon\nMobutu\u2019s death in September 1997, Congo was left with a $14 billion foreign debt.\n \n Congo was ill-prepared for independence in 1960; its first civil war broke out almost\nimmediately, leading to U.N. intervention. U.S. policymakers took a strong interest in Zaire during\nthe Cold War years because of its resources and central location, but relations with Mobutu cooled\nin the post-Cold War era. Policymakers initially welcomed Laurent Kabila\u2019s pledge of\nelections in\n2 years, but problems in democratization and economic reform complicated relations. A limited aid\nprogram focusing on democracy, health, the private sector, and the environment was resumed. \nSecretary of State Colin Powell has urged all parties to respect the Lusaka agreement and said he is\n\u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d about implementation.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL31080",
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "African Affairs",
    "Foreign Affairs"
  ]
}