Congo: a brief history (CBC)

United
Nations peacekeepers patrol in territory held by Laurent Nkunda's rebel
movement near Rutshuru, 80 kilometres north of Goma, in eastern Congo. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)

1840-1872

Scottish explorer David Livingstone explores the Congo River and surrounding area.

1878

King Leopold II of Belgium makes plans for colonization of Congo. He
commissions former journalist Henry Morton Stanley to ink treaties with
local chiefs.

1885

Congo Free State established under Leopold after being formally recognized by European powers at Conference of Berlin.

1890-1908

Belgian forces annex a number of areas of the Congo basin, forcing
control of trade. Congolese are pressed into forced labour to harvest
rubber and ivory and to build transportation and other infrastructure.
Millions of Congolese are killed by Leopold's enforcement squads.

1908

Reacting to outcry over atrocities committed against Congolese, the
Belgian parliament annexes Congo Free State. It is renamed Belgian
Congo.

June 30, 1960

The Republic of the Congo gains independence from Belgium. Patrice
Lumumba, leader of the Congolese National Movement (the country's first
nation-wide party), wins the first national election. He is deposed
within months by army leader Joseph Désiré Mobutu and killed by
secessionists on Jan. 16 of the following year.

Displaced
people wait for their names to be called at a Red Cross aid
distribution point in a camp in Kibati, just north of Goma. (Karel Prinsloo/Associated Press)

July 1960-June 1964

Up to 20,000 UN peacekeepers are sent to the Congo after the newly
independent country asks for help resisting Belgian troops. The UN
Security Council asks Belgium to withdraw. In the years immediately
following independence, a number of secessionists (including foreigners
and Congolese nationals) clash with the provisional UN forces for
control.

November 1965

Mobutu installs himself as president.

November 1970

Mobutu officially elected president in national elections.

1971-1973

Mobutu changes the country's name to Zaire (and changes his own name
to Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga, which is usually
translated as "the all-powerful warrior who, because of his endurance
and inflexible will to win, will go from conquest to conquest leaving
fire in his wake" or also" the rooster that watches over all hens").
Foreign interests are nationalized.

1975

Most nationalized property returned to former owners.

December 1977

Mobutu re-elected.

1977-1978

Zairian rebels launch raids from Angola and Zambia into the Katanga
region of Zaire. They are repelled with the help of French and Belgian
troops.

1982

For the first time, Mobutu allows legislative elections (although not the formation of opposition parties).

1984

Mobutu is re-elected president for the third time. It is his 20th year in office.

1990

Mobutu declares the Third Republic and promises multi-party
elections. Canada is among a number of countries that cut off aid to
Zaire after a group of protesting students are killed by government
fighters.

1991

Mobutu fires newly acclaimed Prime Minister Étienne Tshisekedi (who
opposes Mobutu) and replaces him with a series of puppet leaders.
Western nations react by cutting off all ties with Zaire and pulling
their citizens out of the country.

1996-1997

While Mobutu is out of the country, Tutsi rebels take control of a
large portion of eastern Zaire. With the help of Rwanda, they take the
capital.

May 1997

Laurent-Désiré Kabila becomes president and re-names Zaire the
Democratic Republic of Congo. The following year, troops from Rwanda
and Uganda invade in hopes of removing Kabila from power. They are
halted by Angolan, Namibian and Zimbabwean troops allied with Kabila.

July 1999

After more than two years of fighting, the countries involved sign
the Lusaka peace accord. But the fighting continues, even despite the
presence of a contingent of more than 5,000 UN peacekeepers sent to
monitor the ceasefire.

January 2001

Laurent Kabila killed by a bodyguard and succeeded by son Joseph.
Later that year, Joseph Kabila reaches an agreement for Rwandan- and
Ugandan-backed troops to pull back and for the withdrawal of UN troops.
By this point, an estimated 2.5 million people had died in the
fighting, according to the U.S.-based International Rescue Committee.

2002

Separate peace deals are reached between the Congo and Rwandan- and
Ugandan-backed troops for their withdrawal. Most pull out, but pockets
of soldiers remain in the country, virtually unchecked by opposition.

April 2003

New constitution signed, providing for the installation of a provisional government agreed upon by rival factions.

May 30, 2003

The United Nations votes to send a multinational peacekeeping force
into the Congo. France leads a force into the Bunia region with
instructions to take all necessary means to gain control. Since the
pullout of Ugandan troops earlier in the month, Bunia had been racked
by violence between warring tribal groups.

June 6, 2003

Residents of the Congolese town of Bunia cheer as French troops
begin to arrive in the region. UNICEF says the hostilities are
preventing it from aiding millions of people. As many as 500 people had
been killed in the eastern province of Ituri in the past month. That
prompted the UN to authorize a 1,400-troop force led by France to go to
the Democratic Republic of Congo to attempt to restore order.

June 10, 2003

The first 40 French combat troops arrive in the Congolese town of
Bunia, with the aim of ending years of tribal violence. The troops will
be part of a 1,400-strong international contingent that's taking shape
under a mandate from the European Union and the UN. More than 600
French troops are scheduled to arrive in Bunia within a week.

July 13, 2003

More than a month after French troops first arrived to demilitarize
the Congolese city of Bunia, the crackle of gunfire continues to break
the night time silence. People have started to trickle back after a
spike in fighting in May 2003 sent many streaming out. But there are
still skirmishes on the outskirts of the city. Earlier in the week, the
UN-mandated force was showing off how safe Bunia was; now it refuses to
take journalists along on night-time patrols.

July 17, 2003

Congo's two main rebel leaders are sworn in as vice-presidents in a
new power-sharing government. The development is viewed as a major step
toward ending a bloody civil war, but it comes amid renewed violence in
the expansive African country. Jean-Pierre Bemba and Azarias Ruberwa
were sworn in at a ceremony attended by thousands in the capital,
Kinshasa. Also sworn in as vice-presidents were a member of the
political opposition and an ally of standing president Joseph Kabila.
The new government's mandate is to reunify the country, which has been
torn apart by a five-year civil war.

UN
special envoy Olusegun Obasanjo, right, is greeted by Rwandan-backed
rebel leader Laurent Nkunda in rebel-held town of Jomba, near the
Uganda border. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press) May 30, 2004

Fighting between the Congolese army and armed men loyal to a
suspended military officer breaks out in Bukavu, near the border with
Rwanda. Col. Jules Mutebutsi is a former officer with the Rally for
Congolese Democracy, a Rwanda-backed rebel group that joined the
power-sharing government.

June 2, 2004

Two groups of renegade soldiers seize Bukavu despite the presence of
several hundred UN peacekeepers. The rebels say the region's army
commander was persecuting Tutsis in eastern Congo. The UN Security
Council condemns the seizure and Congolese President Joseph Kabila
accuses Rwanda of helping the renegades.

June 9, 2004

Government forces retake Bukavu without firing a shot, marching into
the centre of the city as residents sing, beat drums and honk horns.
Troops loyal to Col. Mutebutsi fled the city the previous night.

July 27, 2006

A violent riot in Kinshasa leaves at least five people dead days
before Congo's first free multi-party elections in 46 years. A mob
attacks and kills a soldier who reportedly fired into a crowd at a
campaign rally. The UN says two police officers were killed, and
officials for candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba say three civilians died.

July 30, 2006

Millions of Congolese cast ballots in the first multi-party
parliamentary and presidential elections since the African country won
independence from Belgium. About 25 million people are registered to
cast ballots for 33 presidential, 9,000 national legislative and 10,000
provincial assembly candidates. About 60,000 Congolese police, 17,000
UN peacekeepers and 1,000 soldiers from Europe provided security for
the vote.

October-November 2008

Fighting continues between fighters loyal to Tutsi warlord Laurent
Nkunda, militia groups and the army. A total of between 1.4 million and
two million people have been displaced since 2007 in the North Kivu
province, says the UN World Food Program.

Nkunda calls a unilateral ceasefire and asks for direct negotiations
with the country's government. The ceasefire comes after four days of
violence as Nkunda's followers tried to take the city of Goma.

Leaders of Congo and Rwanda agree to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to help resolve the conflict.

Violence continues despite the talks and ceasefires, with reports of
drunk Congo army soldiers pillaging and raping in Goma and renegade
government forces looting and burning refugee camps.

The UN Security Council unanimously agreed on Nov. 20 to send 3,100
more peacekeeping troops to Congo. The current mission involving 17,000
peacekeepers, the world's largest UN contingent, is considered
ineffective because it is spread thin in an area as large as Western
Europe and unable to stop the fighting.