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Belgium Conquers Congo
On May 29th, 1885 King Leopold of Belgium took control of the Democratic Republic of Congo and it became his private property. He heavily exploited the resources for rubber and ivory. -
Day of Independence for Congo
The Democratic Republic of Congo is given its independence from Belgium on June, 30 and 1960. Previously there had been an uprising from the Congolese and Belgium surrendered. -
Mobutu Comes into Power
During a period of vulnerability for the Congolese government after the election in March of 1965, Mobutu Sese Seko came into power after violently overthrowing the same government on November 25, 1965. He ruled as the country's dictatorship for 32 years, and would go on to embezzle billions while the Congolese starved. -
The Rwanda Genocide
On April 7, 1994, the genocide of the Tutsis began in Rwanda. This genocide would claim the lives of an estimated 1 million people, and lasted until July 15, 1994. The perpetrators of this genocide fled to Congo. -
Overthrow of Mobutu
During an order for the Tutsis to leave Congo or face death, a rebellion against Mobutu was starting. Rebels, with help from foreign governments, planned to overthrow Mobutu with the locals. Following this, Mobutu went into exile in May of 1997. -
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The Take Over of the Mines and Violence
After the overthrow of Mobutu and assassination of Laurent Kabila, the rebels and other foreign troops took control over the mines that produced diamonds, gold, tin and tantalum. This was used to fund the violence that resulted the death of millions Congolese civilians. Even with the UN peacekeepers and donations, east Congo still remained a battle zone over minerals. -
Laurent Kabila Becomes President
Following the invasion of Congo by Uganda and rebels and the absence of Mobutu, Laurent Kabila was appointed president. It was said that he was not much different from Mobutu, also being an authoritarian. He would eventually be assassinated on January 16th, 2001. -
President Obama Signs the Dodd-Frank Financial-Reform Bill
On July 21st, 2010 president Obama signed the Dodd-Frank financial-reform bill, which made it necessary for companies to publicly state whether they used conflict minerals that were responsible for violence. Consequently, companies stopped purchasing these minerals, leading to the Congolese government to create non-conflict mines. These non-conflict mines make up 10% of mines in the east of Congo.
