Han Ning NO. s07682
 School of Environmental Science 
Research Paper Supervisor : Dr. Sekou Conde
Minzhu University of China
2007-2008 Academic Year
 
Abstract: The arm conflict and its influence have bring great influence to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Even though, after Joseph Kabila won presidential elections in 2006, the Democratic Republic of Congo is going into a new development period, there are still exist lots of problems because of the war which is once called “Africa’s first world war”. So it is necessary to discuss what the war conflict has left to the country. And this paper mainly talks about how the war started and its influences to the Democratic Republic of Congo after the brief introduction of the current situation in the DRC. This paper mainly writes on the ground of data analysis and fact narration, which linked to the DRC. From the discus we know that the DRC is going into a new stage which needs a great effort to establish and people’s lives there badly need improvement. So from the case of DRC we know that people in the county which is going through war conflict are miserable and life is hard for them and need a change.
Key words: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), arm conflict, influences.
 
 
Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC), a vast country in the heart of central Africa, is bounded by (clockwise from the southwest) Angola, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, the Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania across Lake Tanganyika, and Zambia. The country straddles the Equator, with one-third to the north and two-thirds to the south. The size of Congo, 2,345,408 square kilometers (905,567 sq mi), is comparable to that of Western Europe. See Fig.1.

Fig.1 The map of Democratic Republic of Congo from the CIA World Factbook
The culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo reflects the diversity of its hundreds of ethnic groups and their differing ways of life throughout the country — from the mouth of the River Congo on the coast, upriver through the rainforest and savanna in its centre, to the more densely populated mountains in the far east.
The population was estimated at 62.6 million people according to the United Nations 2007 estimate, growing quickly from 46.7 million in 1997. And as many as 250 ethnic groups have been distinguished and named. Among whom the most numerous people are the Kongo, Luba, and Mongo. And there are an estimated total of 242 languages spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Although seven hundred local languages and dialects are spoken, the linguistic variety is bridged both by the use of French and the intermediary languages Kongo, Tshiluba, Swahili, and Lingala.
The DRC is rich in biodiversity because of the rainforest located there such as such as both species of chimpanzee: the common chimpanzee and the bonobo (also known as the Pygmy Chimpanzee), mountain gorilla, okapi and white rhino , and it is also abundant in different kinds of natural resources. For example, The Congo is the world's largest producer of cobalt (as ore, see table1) and a major producer of copper and industrial diamonds. It has significant deposits of tantalum, which is used in the fabrication of electronic components in computers and mobile phones.
 
Table1 COBALT: WORLD MINE PRODUCTION, BY COUNTRY
(Metric tons, cobalt content)

Country

Years

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

Australia

6,300

6,700

6,900

6,700

6,000

Botswana

325

269

294

223

200

Brazil

1,003

1,099

1,097

1,236

1,200

Canada

5,326

5,148

4,327

5,060

5,533

China

150

1,000

700

1,260

1,300

Congo (Kinshasa)

12,000

14,500

14,500

20,500

22,000

Cuba

3,425

3,442

3,274

3,554

3,600

Kazakhstan

300

300

300

300

300

Morocco

1,242

1,453

1,391

1,600

1,600

New Caledonia

1,400

1,400

1,400

1,400

1,200

Norway

100

100

--

--

--

Russia

4,600

4,600

4,800

4,700

5,000

South Africa

560

520

400

460

400

Zambia

8,000

10,000

11,300

10,000

9,300

Zimbabwe

95

99

79

59

250

Total

44,800

50,600

50,800

57,100

57,900

Source: United States Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program
However, nowadays lives in Congo become harder and harder because of the war taken place which has been described as“Africa’s first world war” that involved seven countries and enveloped the region. During the war millions of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have lost their lives in the conflict1, which bring great pains to the Congolese and life is harder especially to children and women. Here are some numbers that can reflect what have happened to the Congolese (from the survey of The International Rescue Committee (IRC)) since August 1998:
l        Some 5.4 million people have died
l        It has been the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II
l        The vast majority have actually died from non-violent causes such as malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition—all typically preventable in normal circumstances, but have come about because of the conflict
l        Although 19% of the population, children account for 47% of the deaths
l        Although many have returned home as violence has slightly decreased, there are still some 1.5 million internally displaced or refugees
l        Some 45,000 continue to die each month
These shocking figures would usually be more than enough to get media attention the world over, especially if it were to threaten influential nations in some way. Yet, perhaps as a cruel irony, influential nations in the world benefit from the vast resources coming from the DRC for which people are dying over. And this paper mainly focus on how the war started and what it brought to the country of Democratic Republic of Congo, and what should be done to change the current situation.
 
The War Started
The ensuing regional war raged from 1998 to 2003. And there have been a number of complex reasons, including conflicts over basic resources such as water, access and control over rich minerals and other resources as well as various political agendas. This has been fueled and supported by various national and international corporations and other regimes which have an interest in the outcome of the conflict. And these reasons can be divided into political reasons2 and resources reasons3 (or economic reasons as the resources often usually relate to economics). 
Political Reasons
a. The cruel control of the primary leader (1965-1997).
Before 1997, the country was ruled by Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled the country with an iron fist and a greedy purse from 1965 until his overthrow in 1997. During Mobutu's 32-year rule time, Congolese leaded a hard life and no right and women’s statue is quite low.
b. The genocide
  The origins of Congo's war are intimately connected to the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda, where some 800,000 people from the minority Tutsis and political moderates from the majority Hutus were slaughtered at the instigation of the extremist Hutu government. Rwanda's post-war Tutsi government invaded Congo in 1996 to pursue extremist Hutu militias that had crossed the border, in the process helping Congolese rebels end Mobutu's 32-year rule.
c. Struggle for political power
The US backed the dictator Mobutu in the overthrow of the previous leader, Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in 1960. And corruption, siphoning off massive personal wealth, a plunge in copper prices, and mounting debt led to enormous economic downturns.
And the impact of this corruption is felt on the citizens “Today, Mobutu is deposed and dead, but his legacies live on. His family holds his fortune, and his country holds his $12 billion debt. In a nation with an annual income of $110 per capita, each resident theoretically owes foreign creditors $236.”By David Malin Roodman4.
Since then, there have been many internal conflicts where all sides have been supported from various neighbors. The conflict has also been fueled by weapons sales and by military training. The weapons have come from the former Soviet bloc countries as well as the United States, who have also provided military training.
d. other countries’ involvement
The reasons for different regions getting involved are all murky. Rwanda is one example, summarizing a Daily Telegraph news report (31 August 2002): The role of Rwanda, though small, has had a number of forces in large areas of the country. This has been in the backdrop of the genocide when more than 800,000 mainly Tutsi Rwandans were slaughtered. Hutu interahamwe militia carried out most of the massacres and fled to neighboring Congo in the eastern region of the DRC after the genocide. From there, they often launched attacks into their home country, prompting a Rwandan invasion. As a result, Rwanda has justified its role in the four-year war by saying it wanted to secure its border, while critics accused it of using the interahamwe attacks as an excuse to deploy 20,000 troops to take control of Congolese diamond mines and other mineral resources5.
Meanwhile the role that the US plays is also complex. The United States military has been covertly involved in the wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a US parliamentary subcommittee has been told6.
Resources Reasons
There are many resources and minerals etc being exploited, including (but not limited to): water, diamonds, coltan, cassiterite, tin, copper, etc.  Due to the immense natural resources in this nation, various foreign powers, as well as internal, have sought to gain an advantage.
Laurent Kabila (the new leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo) had accused some of his former allies, such as Rwanda and Uganda as having ulterior motives, especially in terms of resources, such as water, diamonds, and other vast, rich resources and minerals. In fact, all sides have been accused of having commercial interests in this war due to the vast resources involved. For example the trade in Colton, a rare mineral used in computers and mobile phones, had social effects “akin to slavery”
“Many governments overtly or covertly exerted pressure on the [...]