Why DRC Matters Infographic

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Image Description

Why DRC Matters

The “Why” and “Matters” are in green handwritten cursive. “DRC” is in a blue simple calligraphic-style serif. Titles are a mix of these two. Text is a body text-friendly version of the calligraphic style.

Quick History

This is a timeline sidebar on a light yellow field along the left side of the image. A blue line with rounded ends lines the left side of the field.

To 1885: Kingdom of Kongo. (Footnote 1: Beginning date varies between 7th & 14th centuries, depending on source.)

1482: Portuguese traders arrived.
1491: Missionaries began to arrive. The king converted to Christianity.
1500s-1800s: Portugal bought/exported illegally enslaved people.
1665: Portugal won the Battle of Mbwila against the kingdom. The kingdom divided.

1885-1908: Congo Free State.

1885: Leopold II of Belgium announced the Congo Free State, headed by him.
1885-1908: Congolese people were forced, via kidnap, torture, mutilation, & murder, to extract ivory, rubber, & palm oil. As many as 15 million people were killed. (Footnote 2: Estimates vary widely due to lack of reliable demographic sources.)
1890s: Leopold’s savagery exposed by British journalist.

1908-1960: Belgian Congo.

1908: Belgium took Congo Free State from Leopold and annexed it.
1935: Belgium required all Congolese do 60 days of compulsory labor every year.
1942: Forced labor requirement increased to 120 days, possibly in response to labor strikes.
1942: Shinkolobwe mine began supplying the US with uranium for the Manhattan Project.
1959: Anti-colonial riots and demands for independence began.
1960: Congolese political leaders were invited to the Brussels Round Table talks.

1960: Democracy.

May 1960: Patrice Lumumba elected the Republic of Congo’s first Prime Minister.
June 30, 1960: Congolese independence.
July 1960-Feb 1961: Lumumba deposed, imprisoned, & assassinated.

1960-Present: Dictators to Today.

1965: Joseph Mobutu, part of the coup, seized power.
1971: Mobutu changed country’s name to Zaire.
1996: 1st Congo War began.
1997: Rebel group, led by Laurent Kabila, forced Mobutu into exile. Kabila became the next president & renamed Zaire the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
1998: 2nd Congo War began.
2001: Kabila assassinated. Joseph Kabila, Laurent’s son, took power.
2002-2003: Peace negotiations with Rwanda.
2003-2006: Transitional government led by Kabila.
2006: Kabila elected president.
2011: Kabila reelected. (Footnote 3: The results of these elections are disputed.)
2012: March 23 Movement (M23) formed.
2018: Felix Tshisekedi elected president.
2023: Tshisekedi reelected. (Footnote 4: So are these.)

122,224 Congolese Killed in Conflict

Through 2022. There’s a green arrow pointing left and down to a note that “Including people killed by effects from the conflicts, that total grows to as high as 6 million people.” (Footnote 5: The popular estimate has been disputed by a claim that the number is only 1-2 million.)

Column chart at the top of the right side of the image. It’s layered rather than stacked, showing the annual number of people killed directly in conflicts in yellow. Extending above the yellow columns are red ones that indicate the cumulative number (except for 1996, of course, where those numbers are the same).

There are brackets along the bottom of the chart with labels explaining peaks in the numbers:

1996-1997: 1st Congo War.

1998-2002: 2nd Congo War.

2009: Increased military & rebel activity.

2012-2013: M23 emerges.

2017: delayed elections led to increased rebel & police violence.

2022 to present: M23 resurfaces.

7.9 Million Displaced Congolese

There are two donut charts. On the left, it shows that Children (in green) make up 58.5% of the 6.8 million internally displaced people while Adults (in blue) make up the remaining 41.5%.

On the right, it shows Adults (in blue) make up 53.5% of the 1.06 million refugees, while children make up the remaining 46.5%.

The internal displacement numbers are as of January 31, 2024. The number of refugees to Rwanda are as of February 29, 2024, and the number of refugees to other countries are as of December 31, 2024.