Country Profile:
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Summary
The DRC is emerging from one of the most violent conflicts in the world, the Second Congo War, which has left almost six million dead. Numerous violations of human rights, including torture and rape, have occurred in the DRC during the conflict. Rape continues to occur on a massive scale near Congo’s eastern border, with an intensity and frequency that a UN official called “worse than anywhere else in the world.”
Referring to the DRC as a post-conflict situation can be considered a misnomer as high levels of insecurity remain and political tensions between the government and other power groups are acute. Neither security sector reform (SSR) nor demobilization, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) activities have been a priority for the government, whose authority outside of Kinshasa is heavily contested. An UN peace support mission, the Mission de l’organisation des Nations unies au Congo (MONUC), has been deployed since November 1999.
