Ground transport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has always been difficult. The terrain and climate of the Congo Basin present serious barriers to road and rail construction, and the distances are enormous across this vast country. Furthermore, chronic economic mismanagement and internal conflict has led to serious under-investment over many years.
The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the state organisation responsible for defending the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The FARDC was rebuilt patchily as part of the peace process which followed the end of the Second Congo War in July 2003.
Kinshasa, formerly Léopoldville, is the capital and the largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city is situated alongside the Congo River.
The Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) is the air force of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. It was known as the Rhodesian Air Force until 1980. The Air Force of Zimbabwe saw service in the Mozambican Civil War in 1985 and the Second Congo War of 1998–2001.
The Second Congo War began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August 1998, little more than a year after the First Congo War, and involved some of the same issues. The war officially ended in July 2003, when the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took power. Although a peace agreement was signed in 2002, violence has continued in many regions of the country, especially in the east. Hostilities have continued since the ongoing Lord's Resistance Army insurgency, and the Kivu and Ituri conflicts.
Kitona is a town of about 4,000 persons in the Bas-Congo province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located to the southwest of the country along the Atlantic Ocean, about 190 miles southwest of the capital city of Kinshasa. Following the Second World War, a Belgian military base, including an airbase, was established there, along with another at Kamina. Both bases played important roles during the early 1960s Congo Crisis.
Bravo Air Congo was an airline based in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo operating domestic and regional passenger services. Its main base was N'djili Airport.
James Kabarebe is a Rwandan military officer who has served as a Senior Presidential Adviser on security matters in the government of Rwanda, since 19 October 2018.
N'djili Airport, also known as N'Djili International Airport and Kinshasa International Airport, serves the city of Kinshasa and is the largest of the four international airports in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is named after the nearby Ndjili River.
Articles related to the Democratic Republic of the Congo include:
Goma International Airport is an airport serving Goma, a city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa.
Muanda Airport or Moanda Airport is an airport serving Muanda, an Atlantic coastal city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
N'Dolo Airport, also known as Ndolo Airport, is a secondary airport in the city of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, located in the commune of Barumbu near the city center.
EUFOR RD Congo was a short European Union deployment in 2006 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On 25 April 2006, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1671 (2006), authorising the temporary deployment of a European Union force to support the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) during the period encompassing the general elections in the DR Congo, which began on 30 July 2006.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Democratic Republic of the Congo:
The Congolese Air Force is the air force branch of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa). From 1971 to 1997, it was known as the Zairian Air Force.
Lignes Aériennes Congolaises, also known by its acronym LAC, was an airline of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with its head office in Kinshasa, and its central administration on the property of N'djili Airport in Kinshasa. The carrier has the latter airport as the base of its flight operations. It was liquidated in 2013.
The Land Forces, also called the Congolese army, are the land warfare component and the largest branch of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC).
Rigobert Massamba Musungu is a major general in the Air Force of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Massamba commanded the Kitona Air Base until June 2007, when he was appointed as the chief of air force staff of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was replaced at some point as the air force chief by Brigadier General Numbi Ngoie Enoch, and by 2015 Massamba was the Inspector General of the Armed Forces. In July 2018, he retired and John Numbi replaced him as FARDC Inspector General.
Operation Kitona was a Rwandan/Ugandan offensive that marked the beginning of the Second Congo War. Rwanda hoped to depose Laurent-Désiré Kabila and install a government more favorable to Rwanda's interests by quickly taking control of Kinshasa and the strategic western province of Bas-Congo. On August 4, 1998, joint Rwandan and Ugandan forces launched a surprise attack on Kitona airbase in Western Congo using hijacked civilian airliners. While initially successful in taking control of major ports and infrastructure, Zimbabwean and Angolan intervention prevented the Rwandans and Ugandans from taking control of Kinshasa. The invading forces were forced to withdraw to the jungles of Angola until they were evacuated by air to Rwanda ending December 24, 1998.
