The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the second-largest country in Africa, has been mired in conflict for decades. A country of paradoxes, it is a land rich in natural resources, but its people are among the poorest in the world.
While the DRC has vast amounts of oil, diamonds, gold, and other natural resources, a majority of the population — about 64% — is considered extremely poor and lives on less than $1.90 a day, according to World Bank estimates.
The country is fraught with political instability, armed clashes, and human rights violations. Conflict erupted in 2016 in the Kasai region, which includes five provinces in the center of the country. It is yet another instance of fighting between the military and splintered ethnic militias. Nationally, 2.1 million people were newly displaced in 2017 and 2018, making the DRC the African country with the highest number of internally displaced people — 4.5 million. About 13 million people lack adequate food, including more than 1.3 million children under 5 affected by severe acute malnutrition.
Ebola alert — July 17, 2019: The World Health Organization has declared an Ebola outbreak in northeast DRC that began in August 2018 to be a public health emergency of international concern. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for countries to commit more resources to fight the disease. His announcement came three days after a case of Ebola was confirmed in Goma, the capital of Northern Kivu province, which is a transportation hub and home to 1 million people.
Ebola briefly broke out in May 2018 in northwestern DRC, then the deadly virus resurfaced in August in the northeast. This is the 10th outbreak of the deadly viral disease in the DRC since it was identified in the 1970s. Earlier outbreaks were quickly contained and didn’t spread beyond isolated rural communities.
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