DRC country brief.

University of Denver Colorado

Conflict In The Congo

Killian Harvey Fargas

International Arms Control 4002

Professor Dr. Martin Widzer

April 8, 2019

Democratic Republic of the Congo is a central sub-Saharan nation with an estimated 24 trillion dollars of natural resources comprised ofcobalt, gold, coltan, diamonds, copper, uranium, oil all of which the critical to modern global markets. The Democratic Republic of Congo also known as the DRC formerly known as Zaire was once a former Belgium colony from 1876 to 1960 in which the region was controlled through brutal rule as the Dutch disengaged in controlling a puppet monarchy which soon became weak and dissolved (Soderlund 2012). In 1965 a rebellious leader named Joseph Mobutu gained power and amidst the cold war era tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States of America that he leveraged for arms deals financial perks. During the civil from 1997 to 2003 were a power struggle ensued after Mobutu death in 1997.when the war concluded Laurent Kabila was in power till his death in a plane crash; his son soon thereafter Joespesh Kabila was named and has since been the president of the DRC. The DRC is a nation that still has areas within its borders it does not control; these particular areas are defended by rebel groups who are well armed and receive consistent material support from the DRC neighboring countries that hope to impede their influence of resource rich lands.

Theses frequent conflict s large and small have created an in flukes of weapons to flood the nation without them being impeded against by the DRC or foreign entities that have laxed export laws in regards of tracking and threat assessment for likely conflict areas. Many of the nations that partake in this practice are china, Uganda, Sudan and former Soviet Union states these lacks inhibition has create a dilemma were all parties are armed with similar armaments. With instability comes the determination of infrastructure which causes economic losses as well as a human health cost with outbreaks such as Ebola, which hasn’t been eradicated in these conflict zones within the Democratic Republic of the Congo because aide works can’t treat the infected and dispose of the deceased responsibly.