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There was a great unrest throughout the Congo along with the rest of the world. They were
tired of being under strong political control from Belgium. King Leopold and his army made
all of the Congolese people go through many struggles. They had strict quotas that they had
to meet and then hand the product over to the Belgium government. They had enough. The
first type of rebellions that King Leopold saw were in the early 1920’s but Leopold was able
to easily stop them. For the next forty years, the Congo continued to be under harsh control.
It wasn’t until the 1950’s that Congo political parties gained power. They were led by the
educated Congolese elites. Those elites represented the rest of the uneducated people and
showed what they wanted the Congo to become. The amplified bureaucratization in the
Belgian government led to decreased control of the Congo. They were constantly muddled
with important paper work and the pressure from the higher ups to cut the amount of
incidents down in the government. After the violent riots in Leopoldville, Congo’s capital,
change began to accelerate. On the day of January 4 th of 1959 the Congo people defied
Belgian colonialism demanding independence. The Congolese people created an uprising
out of frustration against the Belgian colonial control in Leopoldville or present day
Kinshasa, the third largest urban area in the Congo. Started as a peaceful march quickly led
to the murder of 49 Congolese people and this left 101 wounded. This led to greater
discontent through the Congo land. The Congolese all of a sudden felt the power to resist all
orders from the Belgian administrators. This led to a huge psychological shift through the
people of the Congo. They found themselves with newly found courage. The Congo became
an independent republic on June 30, 1960. The first national Congolese political party was
established soon after that. The party was named The Congo National Movement. Beloved
Patrice Lumumba along with the help of other Congolese Leaders launched the movement.
Sadly he was executed just six months after being named the Prime Minister of the Congo.
The Federation of Free States of Africa states that the horrible crime was “a culmination of
two inter-related assassination plots by American and Belgian governments, which used
Congolese accomplices and a Belgian execution squad to carry out the deed” (Epilogue).
This was a pretty hard thing to comprehend for the people of the Congo since Patrice
Lumumba was the best thing that has happened to them for years and years. Patrice
Lumumba is remembered to be an extraordinary person in every aspect of his life. Thus
made him one of the most influential figures to come out of Africa. The way he handled
politics, and the way he motivated the people were seen to be his best traits. He used his
skill in writing and speeches to express his feelings to the public on European Injustice. The
death of Lumumba will go down as one of the worst things in History. His death led to
hardship for the Congo people for years to come. For the next thirty years the Congo was
the victim of a centralized government with the majority of the power concentrated all in
one man. That man was General Mobutu who was a Congolese who collaborated with the
western interests in endorsing the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. The government that
Mobutu enforced was not the free democratic society that Lumumba and the rest of the
Congolese people envisioned. But, it allowed many European countries to complete the
actions that Lumumba strongly opposed. Just like the old king of Belgium, King Leopold,
Mobutu did nothing to improve the quality of life for the citizens. They both exploited the
citizens for their benefit. Even after their so-called independence the Congo was still the
economy colony of Europe that was controlled by Belgium.

The Congo is the home to a huge amount of natural resources and mineral wealth. Some
analysts say that all of the resources there is worth 24 trillion dollars. But sadly, the
economy of the democratic republic of the Congo has declined dramatically since the mid-
1970s. This is unfortunate considering according to the World Bank they state that
Democratic Republic of the Congo has the potential to be one of the richest countries on the
African continent. But they can’t take advantage of these resources because of the turmoil
that they faced in the past. Since 2001, the Congo has been attempting to cover from
conflicts that occurred out in the 1990s. The Lusaka Peace agreement that took place in
1999 meant that a transitional government was in place and peaceful presidential elections
were eventually going to be held. In 2006 the first presidential elections were held. A
parliament, senate, and provincial assemblies were now operational. According to World
Bank “ the second presidential elections held in November 2011 gave rise to concerns about
the credibility and transparency of the electoral process” (Democratic Republic Of the
Congo Overview). Yet the Democratic Republic of the Congo is still in need of huge
reconstructions. The infrastructure of the country already lacked maintenance but the
troubles put on by imperialism just depend the horrible effects. Even with the growth of
political and economic reforms over the past few years, many communities continue to live
in horrible conditions. The people of the Congo have little access to public services or even
buying and selling food. The United Nations estimates that there are 2.3 million displaced
refugees in the country, and 323,000 citizens living in camps outside the country. This just
shows you the bad side of imperialism. If it wasn’t for imperialism none of this would of
happened to the Congolese people. The Democratic Republic of The Congo has so much
potential. But According to The United Nations Development Program the Congo ranks
second to last out of 187 countries in regard to The Human Development Reports.
“GDP is the total value of all goods and services produced domestically by a
nation during a year. It is equivalent to gross national product minus net investment incomes
from foreign nations” (Dictionary). According to the United Nations The Congo places
108 th out of 193, with a GDP of 30.8 billon. This is a minuscule amount compared to The
United States 15.68 trillion. The United States GDP per capita is 49,965 dollars compared to
the Congo having 416 dollars. That’s over 100 times bigger then the Congo. That just shows
you how little power the Congo’s economy has even though they have so much potential. If
the Congo people had a strong government that actually cared about the people’s wellbeing
and didn’t just exploit them for their economic benefit, the Congo People would be much
better off. The Democratic Republic of the Congo have the right resources but they just need
that extra push to become a big time competitors in todays market.

If one would look at the history of The Democratic Republic of the Congo they would
find a history full of corruption and war. Following the Congo’s independence the
country faced many problems. In 1965 Mobutu seized power and renamed the
Democratic republic of the Congo to Zaire. After the Cold War Zaire stopped being an
interest of the United States and then Anti Mobutu leaders quickly captured Kinshasa, the
capital. Following that event they installed Laurent Kabila as president and gave the
country its original name back. But the new President Kabila had continuing problems
with his former allies that were backed by fellow African countries Rwanda and Uganda.
But countries Angola Namibia and Zimbabwe took the Congo’s side. This turned Africa
into a huge battleground. The Congo is known to be the home of the start of Africa’s
alleged “World War”. In an attempt to bring the situation under control, the government
in January 2009 invited in troops from Rwanda to help mount a joint operation against
the Rwandan rebel Hutu militias active in eastern DR Congo. Rwanda arrested the Hutu
militias' main rival, Gen Nkunda, a Congolese Tutsi hitherto seen as its main ally in the
area. In early 2013 the UN secured a regional agreement to end the M23 rebellion in
eastern areas, and the group's alleged founder Bosco Ntaganda surrendered to the
International Criminal Court to face war-crimes charges. Rwanda and Uganda denied UN
accusations that they had supported the M23 group, but the region remains volatile. The
Democratic Republic of the Congo has poor living conditions because of the colonization
of the Country and the war. Out of the 57.5 million people seventy percent live below the
poverty line. More than half have no access to drinking water or to basic healthcare.
Three out of every 10 children are poorly nourished. Up to 20 percent of children wont
live past the age of 5, and nearly half will die before their 40 th birthday. One could never
imagine having to deal with sickness like that. This is all of the cause of greediness of
people because of the vast resources. The Congo is too rich in resources for their own
good