Statistical InformationPopulation: 68.7 million
Capital City: Kinshasa (pop. 8 million)
Official Language: French
National Holiday: Independence Day – June 30 (1960)
Religion: Roman Catholic (50%), Protestant (20%), Muslim (10%), Kimbanguist (10%), Other (10%)
Government Personnel: President – Joseph Kabila, Prime Minister – Adolphe Muzito
Orphans: 4.2 million (source - UNICEF and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
Life Expectancy at Birth: males – 52, females – 56 (in Canada: males – 79, females – 84)
Infant Mortality Rate: 81 deaths/1000 births (in Canada: 5/1000)
People living with HIV/AIDS: 1.1 million (2003 Est.)
50% of the population is younger then 16.4 Years old (50% of Canadians are younger then 40 years old)
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Political HistoryEstablished as a Belgian colony in 1908, the Republic of the Congo gained its independence in 1960, but its early years were marred by political and social instability.
Col. Joseph MOBUTU seized power and declared himself president in a November 1965 coup. He subsequently changed his name - to MOBUTU Sese Seko - as well as that of the country - to Zaire. MOBUTU retained his position for 32 years through several sham elections, as well as through the use of brutal force. Ethnic strife and civil war, touched off by a massive inflow of refugees in 1994 from fighting in Rwanda and Burundi, led in May 1997 to the toppling of the MOBUTU regime by a rebellion backed by Rwanda and Uganda and fronted by Laurent KABILA.
He (Kabila) renamed the country the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), but in August 1998 his regime was itself challenged by a second insurrection again backed by Rwanda and Uganda. Troops from Angola, Chad, Namibia, Sudan, and Zimbabwe intervened to support KABILA's regime. A cease-fire was signed in July 1999 by the DRC, Congolese armed rebel groups, Angola, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zimbabwe but sporadic fighting continued.
Laurent KABILA was assassinated in January 2001 and his son, Joseph KABILA, was named head of state. In October 2002, the new president was successful in negotiating the withdrawal of Rwandan forces occupying eastern Congo; two months later, the Pretoria Accord was signed by all remaining warring parties to end the fighting and establish a government of national unity.
A transitional government was set up in July 2003. Joseph KABILA as president and four vice presidents represented the former government, former rebel groups, the political opposition, and civil society. The transitional government held a successful constitutional referendum in December 2005 and elections for the presidency, National Assembly, and provincial legislatures in 2006.
KABILA was inaugurated president in December 2006. The National Assembly was installed in September 2006. Its president, Vital KAMERHE, was chosen in December. Provincial assemblies were constituted in early 2007, and elected governors and national senators in January 2007.
Father’s Heart Projects Strategy for the DRC We have made contact with a man who currently lives in Canada, but was born and has land in the eastern district of the DRC. He has asked us to come to his country and minister and serve with his help.
As God provides the means, we hope to begin helping through a Child Sponsorship Program, and with the land that is available to us, we hope to begin a Father’s Heart Primary School and to offer various levels of Community Development including Water Wells and Farming Assistance Projects.
Please pray that God will provide the resources we need to enter and be effective in the DRC.
If you have a heart for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and you would like to help us serve this country, please prayerfully consider financially contributing to the DRC General Fund.
To contribute now, please click here.