1. What You Should Know About The Democratic Republic Of Congo
And why you should be aware …

2. The First Congo War (Oct.1996-May 1997)
Started as a result to the Rwandan genocide in 1994
Between the Congolese Tutsi and the Rwandans
-Congolese Government wanted Peace and Stability and for Rwandans to leave
-Rwandans wanted to terrorize Congo and keep it as an army base
Led by Laurent Kabila and the Ugandans+Rwandans
Killed an est. of 5.4 million people
Resulted in a new government with Kabila as president
Leads to another war

3. 2nd Congo War/The Great War of Africa (Aug.1998-July 2003)
Despite New Government, Congo was still an unstable war zone.
Kabila and Congolese vs. Rwandans and Ugandans
Kabila supported by Angola, Namibia, and Zimbabwe

4. Post-war issues
Despite Peace treaty in August of 2003, there are still problems of:
-Rebels from other countries out breaking into deadly riots
-Diseases and malnutrition because of the war
-Human rights being extremely violated such as huge numbers of rapes, being forced to serve in rebellious militia
-Many countries uniting to take over DR Congo’s resources…

5. How the US has been involved…
Questions to consider:
Why don’t a lot of Americans know about the Congo issue ?
Why doesn’t the Congo get any global attention ?
-After all, there have been a total of 3.9 million deaths, more deaths than World War one.
The US and Mobutu(Former Dictator of the Congo) had deals in which the US was allowed access to resources in return of installing Mobutu as president. Even after Mobutu’s death, ties are still enforced entitling the US to resources while the Congo is suffering a crisis.

6. How The Congo is in your everyday life …
Congo= Richest, most valuable country in the world
Has 24$ TRILLION worth of resources including
-diamonds,
-copper (Weapons)
-zinc (Army equipment)
-uranium (Bombs)
-tantalum also known as Coltan. (AKA smart phones, Laptops, gaming systems, and just about anything electronic)

7. QUESTIONS ? ? ?