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10/13/2005:

"Leopold leaves a lasting legacy"

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the current incarnation of a nation that has been known to history by various names, although most of us will have known it as Belgian Congo or Zaïre. It is presently known in some circles as Congo-Kinshasa, to distinguish it from its neighbour, Republic of Congo, or Congo-Brazzaville. Much of DRC’s western border is comprised of the Congo River, which it shares with Republic of Congo in an undefined way; no specific agreements have been reached on the division of the river, its islands, or its resources.

This nation of approximately 55 million people straddles the equator in central Africa, an area called by author Joseph Conrad the “Heart of Darkness”. When you hear the phrase “darkest Africa”, this is it.

DRC is comprised of more than 200 ethnic groups and is surrounded by Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Angola. It is virtually landlocked although there is a narrow band of a few dozen miles along the western Bight of Africa.

And the country has had a troubled history that leads squarely back to one man: King Leopold II of Belgium.
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