%

Languages: French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca trade
language), Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo,
Tshiluba

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write French,
Lingala, Kingwana, or Tshiluba

total population: 77.3%

male: 86.6%

female: 67.7% (1995 est.)

Congo, Democratic Republic of the Government

Country name: conventional long form: Democratic Republic of the
Congo

conventional short form: none

local long form: Republique Democratique du Congo

local short form: none

former: Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Congo/Leopoldville,
Congo/Kinshasa, Zaire

abbreviation: DROC

Government type: dictatorship; presumably undergoing a transition to
representative government

Capital: Kinshasa

Administrative divisions: 10 provinces (provinces, singular -
province) and one city* (ville); Bandundu, Bas-Congo, Equateur,
Kasai-Occidental, Kasai-Oriental, Katanga, Kinshasa*, Maniema,
Nord-Kivu, Orientale, Sud-Kivu

Independence: 30 June 1960 (from Belgium)

National holiday: Independence Day, 30 June (1960)

Constitution: 24 June 1967, amended August 1974, revised 15 February
1978, amended April 1990; transitional constitution promulgated in
April 1994; in November 1998, a draft constitution was approved by
former President Laurent KABILA but it has not been ratified by a
national referendum

Legal system: based on Belgian civil law system and tribal law; has
not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory

Executive branch: chief of state: Joseph KABILA (since 26 January
2001); note - the president succeeded his father Laurent Desire
KABILA after his assassination on 16 January 2001; as president he
is both chief of state and head of government

head of government: Joseph KABILA (since 26 January 2001); note -
the president succeeded his father Laurent Desire KABILA after his
assassination on 16 January 2001; as president he is both chief of
state and head of government

cabinet: National Executive Council, appointed by the president

elections: before Laurent Desire KABILA seized power, the president
was elected by popular vote for a seven-year term; election last
held 29 July 1984 (next was scheduled to be held in May 1997);
formerly, the prime minister was elected by the High Council of the
Republic; note - elections were not held in 1991 as called for by
the constitution

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