Democratic Republic of Congo: Development Policy Issues

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The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) may be one of the richest countries in resources, but the country itself is incredibly poor. On 8 October 2013, the BBC News released an article saying exactly that. Written by Dan Snow, this article accounts for Snow’s experiences on his journey through the DRC while also attempting to provide an analysis that explains how the current situation in Congo is linked to its history. In this article, titled “DR Congo: Cursed by its natural wealth”, Snow claims that the DRC has a long history with colonialism and that poor decolonization is one of the reasons for the current conflict residing in the Congo. Snow claims that the DRC has a long and complicated history with colonialism. The first form of governance in this territory was known as the Kingdom of Kongo (Snow). This kingdom was very well governed and had a mature political infrastructure. The Portuguese began exploring Africa in the 15th century and encountered the Kingdom of Kongo in 1480 (Snow). Snow states that not long after, the Portuguese realized the richness of the land, thus marking the beginning of colonialism in Kongo. But in addition to natural wealth of the territory, the Portuguese used the natives as a form of wealth—slavery. Snow writes, “The Congo was home to a seemingly inexhaustible supply of strong, disease-resistant slaves” (Snow). The article then describes how the Portuguese rule disintegrated in the 1600s and what was left was an anarchic state, which was soon recolonized by the British. According to Snow, the English were interested in embarking natives to the Americas to work on the new lands. The British were succeeded by the Belgians, who then took over the territory. Snow writes ab... ... middle of paper ... ...urse suggests that the solution to the problem in Congo is to remove all foreign influences, thus removing the export demand for natural resources, another possible solution may be to unify the country. A nationalistic sense in the DCR would enable the people to vote for a common leader who can actually represent everyone, and can work to solving the problems of the citizens of the DCR. Works Cited Clarke, Latimer. "Democratic Republic of Congo." Altapedia. N.p., 2011. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. . "Nationalism Studies." Nationalism Studies. N.p., 24 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. . Snow, Dan. "DR Congo: Cursed by Its Natural Wealth." BBC News. BBC, 10 Sept. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. .

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