Modified Research Question*

Why are Zimbabwe, The Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia so poor? What kind of aid do they need?

*We put our research questions on the wall in the Library today!

The Democratic Republic of Congo: Why is it so poor?

The Democratic Republic of Congo became an independent country in 1960. It had formerly been a Belgian colony

In 1965, Joseph Mobutu seized power and renamed the country Zaire.

Mobutu got support from the U.S. by letting our troops gather in Zaire in preparation to invade Angola. Mobutu's government was very corrupt.

After the Cold War the U.S. lot interest in Zaire

Rwanda invaded, and helped Mobutu's enemies overthrow him.

The rebels then helped Laurent Kabila become president. He renamed the country The Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kabila started a massive war when he had a disagreement with the government of Rwanda, his former allies, who had helped him gain power.

This war took place mostly in The Democratic Republic of Congo, and was mainly Rwanda and Uganda against the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.

A peace deal was signed in January 2008, but in August, fighting broke out again, In the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo between Hutu rebels from Rwanda, and Congolese General Nkunda.

Kabila asked the Rwanda government to help stop the fighting

The Rwandans helped to arrest General Nkunda, but there has still been fighting in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Information Links

Lists of poorest countries in the world\Africa:

http://www.aneki.com/poorest_africa.html

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0908763.html

Somalia:

http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar519540&st=somalia

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/so.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1072592.stm

http://blogs.oxfamamerica.org/index.php/2009/04/24/pirates-and-poverty-in-somalia/#more-1512

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/22/world/africa/22iht-somalia.4295219.html

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/somalia/index.html

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/restore_hope.htm

http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/his135/Events/Somalia93/Somalia93.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/world/africa/02somalia.html

Zimbabwe:

http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar616875&st=zimbabwe

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/zi.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1064589.stm

http://blogs.oxfamamerica.org/index.php/2008/11/25/the-collapse-of-a-country/

The Democratic Republic of Congo:

http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar129340&st=the+democratic+republic+of+congo

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cg.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1076399.stm

More Important Developments

Sorry to keep doing this, but I have decided to switch my countries AGAIN

The new (and I hope final) countries I am doing are . . .

1. Somalia

2. The Democratic Republic of the Congo

3. Zimbabwe