3.5 million (2004)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.5% (2004)

Transnational Issues Congo, Democratic Republic of the

Disputes - international:
heads of the Great Lakes states and UN pledge to end conflict but
unchecked tribal, rebel, and militia fighting continues unabated in
the northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
drawing in the neighboring states of Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda; the
UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(MONUC) has maintained over 14,000 peacekeepers in the region since
1999; thousands of Ituri refugees from the Congo continue to flee
the fighting primarily into Uganda; 90,000 Angolan refugees were
repatriated by 2004 with the remainder in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo expected to return in 2005; in 2005, DROC and Rwanda
established a border verification mechanism to address accusations
of Rwandan military supporting Congolese rebels and the DROC
providing rebel Rwandan "Interhamwe" forces the means and bases to
attack Rwandan forces; the location of the boundary in the broad
Congo River with the Republic of the Congo is indefinite except in
the Pool Malebo/Stanley Pool area

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 45,060 (Sudan) 100,000 (Angola)
19,552 (Burundi) 6,626 (Republic of Congo) 19,743 (Rwanda) 18,953
(Uganda)
IDPs: 2.33 million (fighting between government forces and rebels
since mid-1990s; most IDPs are in eastern provinces) (2004)

Illicit drugs:
illicit producer of cannabis, mostly for domestic consumption;
while rampant corruption and inadequate supervision leaves the
banking system vulnerable to money laundering, the lack of a
well-developed financial system limits the country's utility as a
money-laundering center

This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005

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@Congo, Republic of the

Introduction Congo, Republic of the

Background:
Upon independence in 1960, the former French region of Middle Congo
became the Republic of the Congo. A quarter century of
experimentation with Marxism was abandoned in 1990 and a
democratically elected government installed in 1992. A brief civil
war in 1997 restored former Marxist President SASSOU-NGUESSO, but
ushered in a period of ethnic unrest. Southern-based rebel groups
agree