Notable people
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2023) |
- Future D. Fidel, playwright
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 5,522 (by birth, 2016) [1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Congolese-born people by state or territory | |
| Queensland | 1,183 |
| Victoria | 736 |
| Western Australia | 711 |
| South Australia | 678 |
| Languages | |
| French · English · Swahili [2] | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| African Australians, South Sudanese Australians, Ugandan Australians, Rwandan Australians, Burundian Australians, Tanzanian Australians, Zambian Australians, Angolan Australians, Cameroonian Australians | |
Congolese Australians are a people who were either born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or the Republic of the Congo, or are of Congolese heritage, who have since settled in Australia. The Congolese Australian population has seen a marked increase since the end of the 20th century, growing from 21 individuals in 1996, to 5,522 by the 2016 Census. The influx of Congolese immigrants in the 1990s were initially the result of the First Congo War, a civil war in the country of Zaire (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo), as well as the effects of the Rwandan genocide on the eastern border of the country, which created rebel militia groups, completely destabilizing state authority at the time. [3] According to the 2016 Census, approximately 80% (3,228) of all Congolese-born Australians arrived in Australia between 2006 and 2016, [4] this sudden increase in Congolese immigration was the result of a conflict between the Democratic Republic of the Congo's conflict against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, an ongoing conflict beginning in 2004. The Congolese Australian population have settled evenly across the country's states and territories, with the largest populations being located in Queensland, Western Australia, and Victoria. Like most African Australians, it is not uncommon for Congolese Australians to experience racism, and research on their experience has been ongoing following their arrival in the early 2000s.
The Congo attained independence from Belgium in 1960, however the Belgian preparation of the Congo for this was hasty, and therefore there was not sufficient infrastructure for a new Congolese government to effectively function, [3] and as a result, the 1960s and 1970s saw a couple of internal conflicts.
These internal tensions, resulting from resistance to the rule of the current President Mobutu Sese Seko, existing tensions between existing ethnic groups, and the Rwandan genocide forcing 1.5 million Hutu and Tutsi people to seek refuge in the Congo in 1994 [3] were the causes of the First Congo War, lasting from October 1996 – May 1997, and caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, both of combatants and civilian groups. [5] The government installed after the war by the AFDL (consisting of Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Angola, SPLA, and Eritrean aggressors) faced the same issues as Mobutu's administration, and therefore caused the outbreak of the Second Congo War. The 1990s and 2000s saw continuing conflicts, and thereby caused the exodus of 300,000 Congolese people into neighboring countries. [6] Most Congolese people who have arrived in Australia since 2004, have immigrated through the Australian Government's Humanitarian Program. [6] The 2016 Census records that Congolese immigration to Australia prior to 2001 was very small, [7] however, 38.9% (1,596 people) of the Congolese-born Australian population arrived between 2006 and 2010, and an even greater proportion, equaling 39.8% (1,632) arrived between 2011 and 2016, showing a clear increasing trend in the immigration of Congolese nationals to Australia
Australia's Congolese population has distributed across all the states of Australia since their arrival, the largest concentration of Congolese Australians are located in Queensland, with 1,183 people as of 2016. [8] Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia also have large populations, all over 600 Congolese born people, smaller states and territories; the Northern Territory, Tasmania and the ACT, have a small population. Further, despite being one of the more populous states, New South Wales has a comparatively small Congolese population, [8] with only 550 individuals stating they were born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In terms of languages, the Congolese Australian community is for the most part, heterogenous; English, French, Lingala, Nyanga and Swahili are the most commonly spoken languages by people who have arrived from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, [9] there is also a wide variation of dialects in their Swahili, leading to difficulty in interpreting and translating; Congolese Swahili, by comparison to Standard Swahili, uses more words with an etymology similar to Bantu, than Arabic. Other official languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo that may be spoken by Congolese Australians are Kongo and Tshiluba.
Swahili is the most commonly reported first language for those born in the DRC (53%) and the Republic of Congo (36%), followed by French, 17% of DRC arrivals and 29% for the Republic of Congo. [9] According to the 2016 Census, 8.2% of Congolese-born Australians speak English as their sole language, whereas 72.2% of the population are both proficient at English and other languages, with only 18.1% can speak other languages but cannot speak English well. [8]
The wide variety of languages spoken by Congolese-born Australians, including minority languages such as Lingala, means that the Census omits some instances of multilingualism, this can mean that these minority languages may not be reported in the Census. [9] The underreporting of speakers of these languages means that appropriate resources have not been allocated to having interpreters for those languages.
Racism against Congolese Australians, similarly to all African-Australian groups, is not uncommon, [10] with African Australians feeling as though they are criminalized and scrutinized due to their skin colour, [10] even rejected by the society they are seeking to participate in due to the prejudices of members of the population. [10] Given that most Congolese Australians are fleeing from conflict in their home country, they simultaneously are removed from the country they fled, but also due to this racialization, lack a feeling of belonging. [10]
Access to healthcare is another element of Australian resettlement that has barriers affecting Congolese-born refugees, of these, the commonly reported barriers are the differences between the Australian and Congolese health system, the complexity of the Australian healthcare system and communication issues. [11] The main difference between the two systems is the ease of purchasing medication in Africa when compared with Australia; purchasing necessary medications in Africa did not require a prescription, including antibiotics, [11] unlike Australia where diagnosis and prescription of medicine by a professional is usually required before being allowed to purchase more serious medicines. The Australian pharmacy system can also be a barrier, with the combination of generic and brand names for medicines, requiring multiple medicines for newly diagnosed conditions and prescriptions, none of which are present in the Congolese system. [11] The language barrier is a common problem also, and can make the previous issues more severe, many feel that their English is not adequate to describe their symptoms to a GP or a pharmacist, and made it difficult for healthcare professionals to communicate with their patients.
Employment is often used as an indicator for assessing the successful integration of migrants into their new host country [12] for purposes of acculturation, as well as being able to provide for any family members who have migrated with them. [12] Demographic factors are associated with successful employment applications for Congolese Australians; gender, age, English proficiency and how long the applicant has been living in Australia. Male migrants between the ages of 25 and 44 with strong English skills were far more likely to find employment than others, [12] as for length of stay in the host country, the longer the time spent and the greater their understanding of Australian cultural practices, the greater their odds of finding employment. The difficulty in attaining employment status due to these barriers can induce stress in some applicants when compounded with the preexisting stress of needing to adjust living in a new country. [12]
Proficiency in English, particularly ability to speak it fluently, is a key factor for successful resettlement of African youths in Australia, [13] youths that were proficient have found settling into Australian culture faster and smoother. The lack of recognition by Australian schools for previous schooling is an existing issue for African youths settling, seeing as older students may not be able to complete their schooling and may be required to attend adult education centers. [13] Having proficiency in the English language is also a barrier for youths seeking to access medical treatment, African Australian youths have a high degree of mental health issues, namely Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) due to the trauma of enforced separation from their home country and potentially even family members.
Finding employment is a challenge for refugee youths from the DRC, given that most job listings in Australia are placed online, refugees who are not familiar with the technologies required to apply for these jobs face additional barriers. [13] Congolese-born refugee youths socialize within their community; playing sports with other Congolese people, or engaging through functions hosted by their local church. [13] Most Congolese-born youths are Christian in belief; oftentimes attending church multiple times in a week, and also serves a social role in the lives of the youths. [13] Financial support is offered to Congolese Australian refugees through welfare, however financial difficulties are still a serious issue, along with the availability of housing. [13]
| | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2023) |
Demographic features of the population of the Democratic Republic of the Congo include ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
The Tutsi, also called Watusi, Watutsi or Abatutsi, are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi.
DR Congo, officially the Democratic Republic of the Congo, also known as the DRC, Congo-Kinshasa or simply Congo, is a country in Central Africa. By land area, DR Congo is the second-largest country in Africa and the 11th-largest in the world. With a population of around 109 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populous Francophone country in the world. The national capital and largest city is Kinshasa, which is also the economic center. The country is bordered by the Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, the Cabinda exclave of Angola, and the South Atlantic Ocean.
The Second Congo War, also known as Africa's World War or the Great War of Africa, was a major conflict that began on 2 August 1998 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), just over a year after the First Congo War. The war initially erupted when Congolese president Laurent-Désiré Kabila turned against his former allies from Rwanda and Uganda, who had helped him seize power. Eventually, the conflict expanded, drawing in nine African nations and approximately 25 armed groups, making it one of the largest wars in African history.
Banyamulenge is a community that lives mainly in South Kivu province. The Banyamulenge are culturally and socially distinct from the Tutsi of South Kivu, with most speaking Kinyamulenge, a mix of Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Ha language, and Swahili. Banyamulenge their role in Mobutu's war against and victory over the Simba Rebellion, which was supported by the majority of other tribes in South Kivu, their role during the First Congo War and subsequent regional conflicts (Rally for Congolese Democracy–Goma, Movement for the Liberation of the Congo, National Congress for the Defence of the People, and more importantly for the fact that two of the most influential presidents of their country declared them as enemy of the State both in 1996 and 1998.
The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire, also known by the French acronym AFDL, was a coalition of Rwandan, Ugandan, Burundian, and Congolese dissidents, disgruntled minority groups, and nations that toppled Mobutu Sese Seko and brought Laurent-Désiré Kabila to power in the First Congo War. Although the group was successful in overthrowing Mobutu, the alliance fell apart after Kabila did not agree to be dictated by his foreign backers, Rwanda and Uganda, which marked the beginning of the Second Congo War in 1998.
The Army for the Liberation of Rwanda was a rebel group largely composed of former members of the Interahamwe and Rwandan Armed Forces. Operating mostly in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo along the border with Rwanda, it carried out attacks throughout the Second Congo War against forces aligned with Rwanda and Uganda. In 2000, the ALiR agreed to merge with the Hutu resistance movement based in Kinshasa into the new Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). ALiR was largely supplanted by the FDLR by 2001.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a multilingual country where an estimated total of 242 languages are spoken. Ethnologue lists 215 living languages. The official language, since the colonial period, is French, one of the languages of Belgium. Four other languages, all of them Bantu based, have the status of national language: Kikongo-Kituba, Lingala, Swahili and Tshiluba.
Islam is a minority religion within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the large majority of the population is affiliated with various Christian denominations and sects. It was first introduced to the Congo basin from the East African coast during the 19th century and remains largely concentrated in parts of Eastern Congo, notably in Maniema Province. Most Congolese Muslims are Sunni and follow the Shafi‘i and Maliki schools of jurisprudence (fiqh). Though estimates vary, it is generally believed that between one and 10 percent of the country's population identify as Muslim.
African Australians are Australians descended from any peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa, including naturalised Australians who are immigrants from various regions in Sub-Saharan Africa and descendants of such immigrants. At the 2021 census, the number of ancestry responses categorised within Sub-Saharan African ancestral groups as a proportion of the total population amounted to 1.3%. Note that Australian official statistics are based on country of origin not race, hence African immigrants of European descent and their descendants are included as African Australians.
Masisi Territory is a territory which is located within the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its political headquarters are located in the town of Masisi.
Taiwanese Australians are Australian citizens or permanent residents who carry full or partial ancestry from the East Asian island country of Taiwan or from preceding Taiwanese regimes.
Minembwe is a cluster of several villages located in the highlands of Lulenge, within the Fizi Territory of South Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is situated at an altitude of about 2,500 meters above sea level, in a hilly and mountainous region covered with forests, which provides fertile land for agriculture. It lies approximately 150 kilometers southward of Bukavu. The region is interspersed with myriad streams and rivers that flow towards Lake Tanganyika, the second-deepest lake in the world.
Congolese Americans are Americans descended from the peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo, which consist of hundreds of ethnic groups.
Laurent Nkunda is a former General in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is the former warlord operating in the province of North-Kivu, and a officer of the Tutsi-dominated government of neighbouring Rwanda. Nkunda, who is himself a Congolese born Tutsi, commanded the former DRC troops of the 81st and 83rd Brigades of the DRC Army. He speaks English, French, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Lingala and Kinande. On January 22, 2009, he was put under house arrest in Gisenyi when he was called for a meeting to plan a joint operation between the Congolese and Rwandan militaries.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1445 was adopted unanimously on 4 December 2002. After recalling all previous resolutions on situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the council expanded the military component of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) to a level of 8,700 military personnel–up from 4,250–in two task forces.
The Great Lakes Twa, also known as Batwa, Abatwa or Ge-Sera, are a Bantu speaking group native to the African Great Lakes region on the border of Central and East Africa. As an indigenous pygmy people, the Twa are generally assumed to be the oldest surviving population of the Great Lakes region. Current populations of Great Lakes Twa people live in the states of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2000 they numbered approximately 80,000 people, making them a significant minority group in these countries. The largest population of Twa is located in Burundi estimated in 2008 at 78,071 people.
Kenyan Australians are Australian citizens and residents of Kenyan origin and descent. They may be of indigenous African, European, or Indian heritage.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Uganda is one of the largest refugee-hosting nations in the world, with 1,529,904 refugees. The vast influx of refugees is due to several factors in Uganda's neighboring countries, especially war and violence in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and associated economic crisis and political instability in the region. Uganda has relatively 'friendly' policies that provide rights to the refugees, such as rights to education, work, private property, healthcare and other basic social services.
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Ancestral background of Australian citizens | ||
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