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Democratic Republic of Congo |
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There was a moment in 1960, when, if a white man had stayed his hand and decided not to get involved, the newly independent Congo's history would have taken a very different course. It was the split second when a young CIA station chief who had crossed a tense capital walked around a corner at one of Leopoldville's military camps and surprised a man in civilian clothing taking aim at a figure walking away.
...the target of the botched assassination attempt...was Colonel Joseph Desire Mobutu, who had just taken over running the country.
--from Michela Wrong's In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz |
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Useful Links: |
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News Updates
Geography and Rivers
Poetry
Slide Show
Photoessay on the Inter-Congolese Dialogue in Sun City, Africa |
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Timeline
Fact Sheet
Art
Political History
Economic History
Corruption and the Informal Economy
Human Rights
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AllAfrica News Service |
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Human Rights Watch DRC Page |
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BBC World Service: Africa |
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The United Nations Mission in Congo |
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The DRC's Constitution |
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Human Rights Links |
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WoYaa! Africa's version of Yahoo! |
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The Congo Pages |
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Our Info: |
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Michelle, Marian, Robbie, Paul, Mikael |
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Name: |
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vc_drc@yahoo.com |
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Email: |
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This page was created as part of a project in the class Politics of Culture and Economy in Africa at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. Considering that misperceptions and stereotypes in the U.S. perpetuate negative attitudes towards Africa and its people, this site is intended to provide access to information that allows for realistic insight into the DRC, and thus hopefully to work against this trend. We tried to incorporate a wide variety of information on the page, some of which portrays common Western biases---recognizing this, however, is important for understanding Africa's political history and contemporary situation. |
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Suggested Reading:
Voices of Zaire: Rhetoric or Reality? Edited by Jeffrey M. Elliot and Mervyn M. Dymally
Interviews with Mobutu and other officials.
In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo by Michela Wrong
A description of Mobutu and life in the country under his rule.
King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild
The Belgian Congo under the rule of King Leopold.
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A fictionalized account of the Congo during the 1950's and 1960's. |
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