tional long form: Democratic Republic of the Congo
conventional short form: none local short form: none former: Congo
Free State, Belgian Congo, Congo/Leopoldville, Congo/Kinshasa, Zaire
local long form: 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 was not ratified by a national
referendum; one outcome of the ongoing inter-Congolese dialogue is to
be a new constitution

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: President Joseph KABILA (since
26 January 2001); note - following the assassination of his father,
Laurent Desire KABILA, on 16 January 2001, Joseph KABILA succeeded
to the presidency; the president is both the chief of state and
head of government head of government: assassination of his father,
Laurent Desire KABILA, on 16 January 2001, Joseph KABILA succeeded to
the presidency; the president is both the chief of state and head of
government cabinet: National Executive Council, appointed by the president
elections: before Laurent Desire KABILA seized power on 16 May 1997, 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,
there was also a prime minister who was elected by the High Council
of the Republic; note - elections were not held in 1991 as called for
by the constitution note: November 1965 until forced into exile on 16
May 1997 when his government was overthrown militarily by Laurent Desire
KABILA; KABILA immediately assumed governing authority and pledged to hold
elections by April 1999, but, in December 1998, announced that elections
would be postponed until all foreign military forces attempting to topple
the gove