ue to flee
the fighting primarily into Uganda; 90,000 Angolan refugees were
repatriated by 2004 with the remainder in the DRC expected to return
in 2005; in 2005, DRC and Rwanda established a border verification
mechanism to address accusations of Rwandan military supporting
Congolese rebels and the DRC 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): 106,772 (Angola), 42,360 (Rwanda),
19,032 (Burundi), 18,954 (Uganda), 11,723 (Sudan), 5,243 (Republic
of Congo)
IDPs: 1.1 million (fighting between government forces and rebels
since mid-1990s; most IDPs are in eastern provinces) (2006)

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 8 February, 2007

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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 took office in 1992. A brief civil
war in 1997 restored former Marxist President Denis SASSOU-NGUESSO,
and ushered in a period of ethnic and political unrest.
Southern-based rebel groups agreed to a final peace accord in March
2003, but the calm is tenuous and refugees continue to present a
humanitarian crisis. The Republic of Congo was once one of Africa's
largest petroleum producers, but with declining production it will
need to hope for new offshore oil finds to sustain its oil earnings
over the long term.

Geography Congo, Republic of the

Location:
Western Africa, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Angola
and Gabon

Geographic coordinates:
1 00 S, 15 00 E

Map references:
Africa

Area:
total: 342,000 sq km
land: 341,500 sq km
water: 500 sq km

Area - comparative:
s