[Democratic Republic of the Congo] Supporting Post-War National Reconstruction

July 22, 2019

The great country the Democratic Republic of the Congo has a land area six times that of Japan that is the second largest on the African continent, as well as a population of 80 million that is the fourth largest in Africa. It borders nine countries and is in the center of the African continent. It is home to the Congo River, which flows in an arc shape and has the second-largest basin area in the world. Much of the land area is covered in tropical rainforest and it is a reservoir of biodiversity, being inhabited by many endemic species including the bonobo and the okapi.

The country has abundant natural resources, and is known for its best-in-the-world reserves of cobalt, tantalum, copper and diamonds. For that reason, it has been subject to intervention by foreign countries since its independence in 1960, and the first and second Congo Wars broke out there in the 1990s. In those conflicts, neighboring countries struggled for mineral rights in the eastern part of the DRC. More than 5 million people died in these conflicts, and the country fell into a serious humanitarian crisis. A peace agreement was concluded in 2002, ending the violent conflict, but the journey to national reconstruction will be difficult and there are many issues to be resolved to achieve stability and sustainable development.

To advance the reconstruction of the DRC, JICA is carrying out cooperation in five areas: infrastructure development, vocational training, health administration, police reform and forest conservation & climate change countermeasures. They are all priority areas of assistance announced by Japan at TICAD VI in 2016.

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The abundant natural blessings of the Congo River and the Congo Rainforest support the livelihoods of the country's people.