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.