The economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has declined drastically around the 1980s,despite being home to vast potential in natural resources and mineral wealth;their gross domestic product is $69.474 billion as of 2023. During the last five reported years the exports of Democratic Republic of the Congo have changed by $15.2B from $13.3B in 2017 to $28.5B in 2022.
Politics of the Democratic Republic of Congo take place in a framework of a republic in transition from a civil war to a semi-presidential republic.
Iraq is a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic. It is a multi-party system whereby the executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers as the head of government,the President of Iraq as the head of state,and legislative power is vested in the Council of Representatives.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a country in Central Africa. By land area,the DRC is the second-largest country in Africa and the 11th-largest in the world. With a population of around 105 million,the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populous Francophone country in the world,and the fourth-largest in Africa. 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.
Denis Sassou Nguesso is a Congolese politician and former military officer who became president of the Republic of the Congo in 1997. He served a previous term as president from 1979 to 1992. During his first period as president,he headed the Congolese Party of Labour (PCT) for 12 years. He introduced multiparty politics in 1990,but was stripped of executive powers by the 1991 National Conference,remaining in office as a ceremonial head of state. He stood as a candidate in the 1992 presidential election but placed third.
The Second Congo War,also known as Africa's World War or the Great War of Africa or the Great African 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.
Direct elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo occur for the Presidency,National Assembly,and provincial assemblies. The Senate,and provincial governors are elected indirectly by members of the provincial assemblies.
Political corruption in Ghana has been common since independence. Since 2017,Ghana's score on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index has improved slightly from its low point that year,a score of 40 on a scale from 0 to 100. Ghana's score rose to 43 by 2020 and has remained there until the present,2023. When ranked by score among the 180 countries in the 2023 Index,Ghana ranked 70th,where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison with worldwide scores,the best score was 90,the average score was 43,and the worst score was 11. For comparison with regional scores,the average score among sub-Saharan African countries was 33. The highest score in sub-Saharan Africa was 71 and the lowest score was 11.
The mining industry of the Democratic Republic of the Congo produces copper,diamonds,tantalum,tin,gold,and more than 63% of global cobalt production. Minerals and petroleum are central to the DRC's economy,making up more than 95% of the value of its exports. The mining industry in the DRC mainly consists of private,large industrial mines,semi-industrial,and artisanal mines. While private sectors take on large operations,they rely heavily on artisanal mining for extraction of resources. These industries along with non-for-profit organizations are continuously changing their guidelines as the DRC becomes more and more desirable for their valuable minerals. Mining in the DRC took place beginning in the 14th century and is still very present today,with mass scale lootings halting many major projects. The main countries involved in the mining operations in the DRC are Canada and China along with 25 other international mines active in the area. While technological companies strive for sustainable production and consumption of their products using cobalt,this is often achieved by the work of artisanal mining in hazardous and unjust working conditions. The process of mining and extraction in any area has negative impacts on the environment and those living in it,however,the DRC has faced many acts of environmental injustice including child labor under fatal conditions,exploitation of laborers,and displacement.
Corruption in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,which used to be an institutionalized part of the state,has been relatively lowered in recent years. However,it continues to exceed corruption in comparison to most states. The BBC's DRC country profile calls its recent history "one of civil war and corruption." President Joseph Kabila established the Commission of Repression of Economic Crimes upon his ascension to power in 2001.
Mathias Dzon is a Congolese politician who served in the government of the Republic of the Congo as Minister of Finance from 1997 to 2002. Subsequently he was the National Director of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) from 2003 to 2008 and a candidate in the July 2009 presidential election,although he decided to boycott the election shortly before it was held. He is the President of the Patriotic Union for National Renewal (UPRN).
Guy Brice Parfait Kolélas was a Congolese politician. Following the death of his father,Bernard Kolélas,he succeeded him as Interim President of the Congolese Movement for Democracy and Integral Development (MCDDI),one of Congo-Brazzaville's main political parties,in 2010. He served in the government of Congo-Brazzaville as Minister of Marine and Inland Fishing from 2007 to 2009 and as Minister of the Civil Service from 2009 to 2015. After placing a distant second in the 2016 parliamentary election,he founded a new party,the Union of Humanist Democrats-Yuki,in 2017.
Clément Miérassa is a Congolese politician who has been President of the Congolese Social Democratic Party (PSDC) since 1990. He served in the government of Congo-Brazzaville as Minister of Trade from 1991 to 1992 and as Minister of Industrial Development from 1992 to 1993. Miérassa was also a minor candidate in the 1992 presidential election as well as the 2009 presidential election.
Médard Mulangala Lwakabwanga is a politician from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is President of the Union for a Republican Majority and a leader of the Union Sacree pour l’Alternance,an umbrella grouping of opposition parliamentary parties and community groups that forms the third-largest political structure within the opposition and Rapporteur of the National Assembly's Committee on Economics and Finance,making him the opposition's lead spokesman on budgetary,economic and investment policy in the Republic.
Frédéric Kibassa Maliba was a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Kibassa held the positions of Deputy Minister of Mines and then Minister of Mines in the Laurent-DésiréKabila government. He was accused of misappropriating funds in June 2000,while he was Minister of Mines.
General elections were held in the Central African Republic on 30 December 2015 to elect the president and National Assembly. As no presidential candidate received more than 50% of the vote,and following the annulling of the results of the National Assembly elections by the Transitional Constitutional Court,a second round of the presidential elections and a re-run of the parliamentary elections were held on 14 February 2016,with second round run-offs for the parliamentary elections on 31 March.
Samy Badibanga Ntita is a Congolese politician who was Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from November 2016 to May 2017. He was also on the ballot for the 2018 Democratic Republic of the Congo general election as a presidential candidate.
Henri-Thomas Lokondo Yoka was a Congolese politician who served as a deputy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo National Assembly from 2011 until his death in 2021. He previously held office as Deputy Minister of Public Works from 1993 until 1994 and Deputy Minister of Foreign Relations from 1996 until 1997. In the 2000s he formed his own party,the Union Congolaise pour la Liberté.
Ève Bazaiba Masudi is a Congolese lawyer,politician,and human rights activist. As of May 2019,she served as the Secretary General of the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC) political party. She is Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Environment since 2021.
Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo is a Congolese politician who has been the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 24 January 2019. He is the leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS),the DRC's oldest and largest party,succeeding his late father Étienne Tshisekedi in that role,a three-time Prime Minister of Zaire and opposition leader during the reign of Mobutu Sese Seko. Tshisekedi was the UDPS party's candidate for president in the December 2018 general election,which he was awarded,despite accusations of irregularities from several election monitoring organisations and other opposition parties. The Constitutional Court of the DRC upheld his victory after another opposition politician,Martin Fayulu,challenged the result,but Tshisekedi has been accused of making a deal with his predecessor,Joseph Kabila. The election marked the first peaceful transition of power since the state became independent from Belgium in 1960.
