Banyamulenge women at a funeral in South Kivu, eastern DRC on 7 October 2020.
Alexis Huguet/AFP via Getty Images
Rwanda shapes conflict in the region by using the Congolese Tutsi to centre its claims of a continued threat of genocide.
Independence hero Patrice Lumumba’s mausoleum stands at the Limete Tower, built by Mobutu Sese Seko.
Arsene Mpiana/AFP/Getty Images
The nationalist art of Mobutu Sese Seko and the art nouveau style of King Leopold II both live on in Kinshasa in fascinating ways.
Processing facilities in Tenke Fungurume Mine, one of the largest copper and cobalt mines in the world, in south-eastern DRC.
Photo by Emmet Livingstone/AFP via Getty Images
Since the 1990s, transnational corporations have once again become the dominant force as owners and managers of major mining projects.
DRC’s outgoing president Joseph Kabila (left) with his successor Felix Tshisekedi in January 2019.
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Laurent Kabila and his son Joseph were the Democratic Republic of Congo’s third and fourth presidents.
Africa is plagued by paramilitary militias and foreign mercenary groups.
Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
Armed group, mercenaries, mining, power struggles. It’s a familiar story in Africa, sadly.
Men hold up protest signs in front of the coffins of DRC refugees killed in August 2004 in Gatumba, Burundi.
Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images
Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo is used to win a place in government, not to overthrow it. And it keeps working.
DRC President Félix Tshisekedi (left) and Rwanda President Paul Kagame in Kigali in 2021.
Habimana Thierry/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Rwanda believes DRC continues to provide refuge for those behind the 1994 genocide.
A march following the return of Patrice Lumumba’s tooth from Belgium – all that is left of the anti-colonialist icon murdered in 1961.
Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images
All that remains of the political icon is a tooth, but it represents much more than just a human trophy.
A peacekeeper protects civilians who fled violent clashes between the army and the ex-rebels of the “M23” in eastern DRC in January 2022.
Photo by Glody Murhabazi/AFP via GettyImages
Recent clashes put eastern Congo’s M23 into the headlines again, but many other security problems persist in the area as diplomats struggle to tackle the underlying causes.
President Felix Tshisekedi has appointed a Kabila ally to the powerful post of prime minister.
Hugh Kinsella Cunningham/EPA/EFE
Felix Tshisekedi must come out from under former premier Joseph Kabila’s thumb.
Isis claims attacks in Beni province of northern Kivu, eastern Congo, close to the border to Uganda.
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Links between groups within the Kivu province and the Islamic state are not new.
Presidents Paul Kagame (right) and Yoweri Museveni observe a minute of silence during a genocide memorial.
EPA/Ricky Gare
A military confrontation between Uganda and Rwanda remains implausible. But the stand-off between the two countries is reminiscent of the worst days between them.
Lexxus Legal is a hip-hop artist and at the forefront of the activist movement in the DRC.
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The intertwining of the market, state and society has continued to see itself expressed through music in the DRC.
Authenticité survives in the present generation of Congolese musicians like Fally Ipupa (with the red vest).
From YouTube
For many of contemporary Congolese musicians the idea of authenticité was seen as a positive one at a certain level, even though Mobutu abused Congo culture to build his own personality cult.
Congolese children play on a destroyed military tank, abandoned by rebel fighters in 2013.
Kenny Katombe/Reuters
Congolese President Joseph Kabila was due to step down last year after serving two terms. But he failed to organise elections leading to deadly protests. Is Congo’s future now in grave danger?
EPA/Shawn Thew
Ranting narcissists with no patience for detail have terrorised and suppressed their people the world over. Is a new one about to join their ranks?
Ivorians attend a memorial service for the late Congolese singer Papa Wemba in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, 27 April 2016.
EPA/Legnan Koula
Congolese singer Papa Wemba might have been one of Africa’s best loved musicians - but his politics wasn’t popular with all his compatriots.