Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kinshasa is the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is the DRC's largest city and its administrative, economic, and cultural center. Kinshasa is also one of the biggest urban centers on the African continent and, according to international relief organizations, one of the most dysfunctional. Despite the DRC's ownership of mineral resources that could potentially generate great wealth for its citizens, the capital has suffered severe damage to its economy, infrastructure, and political institutions. Civil warfare and corrupt governance led to the 1998 collapse of Kinshasa's economy, a crisis from which the city has yet to fully recover. Facing steep foreign debt and drastically reduced revenues, the national government has lacked the resources to respond to the massive influx of refugees fleeing violence, famine, and epidemics in surrounding areas.

Landscape

Kinshasa is located on the southern bank of the Congo River, about 515 kilometers (320 miles) upstream from where that river empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Kinshasa's main artery, the Boulevard de 30 Juin, which some have described as the Champs-Éysees of Africa, runs the length of the part of Kinshasa commonly referred to as the "Ville." The capital's largest stores and many important administrative offices are located along this boulevard. The Ville also encompasses the Gombe district, an affluent commercial and residential area home to a privileged segment of Kinshasa society as well as most expatriates.

The Ville, however, represents only a small part of Kinshasa; more than 75 percent of the capital's total area consists of what residents refer to as the Cité. The Cité encompasses densely populated residential areas as well as the downtown area known as Matonge. Much of the capital's nightlife is concentrated in the area's inexpensive hotels, restaurants, and bars, which often feature live musical performances.

The majority of the refugees who have caused Kinshasa's population to soar in recent years reside in impoverished neighborhoods on the outskirts of the capital or in the shantytowns to the south and the east of the city. These areas of unplanned and unregulated urban expansion have little to offer in the way of basic services such as sewage disposal, running water, electricity, or trash collection. The squalor and neglect have led some of the capital's residents, in an acid play on the French word for beautiful (belle), to dub their city Kin La Poubelle (Kinshasa the Garbage Pail).

Kinshasa has a warm, tropical climate. Temperatures during the dry season (May to September) range from 18 to 27 degrees Celsius (65 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit). During the rainy season (October to April), which is marked by violent thunderstorms and torrential downpours, temperatures range between 29 to 38 degrees Celsius (85 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit). The DRC is classified as one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change in large part due to the population's reliance on agriculture, which is affected by changes in precipitation. Furthermore, the country's high rate of deforestation has a negative impact on global climate change.

People

According to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), an estimated 16.316 million people lived in Kinshasa as of 2023, making it one of the most densely populated and fastest-growing urban centers in Africa. Much of the city's population explosion has been fueled by a tide of refugees fleeing fighting in other Congolese provinces as well as in neighboring countries such as the Republic of the Congo, Angola, and Rwanda. Most of these refugees inhabit vast shantytowns, where poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding, and lack of any public health infrastructure have created a humanitarian crisis.

Many Kinois, as the capital's residents call themselves, speak French, but the lingua franca, widely used in business transactions and popular music lyrics, is Lingala. Kinshasa Lingala mixes several Bantu and other indigenous languages with borrowings from English, Portuguese, and especially French.

Although Kinshasa is one of Africa's largest urban centers, many of its inhabitants have brought their rural lifestyle to the capital. Hunger resulting from high rates of unemployment and poverty has driven increasing numbers of Kinois to create innumerable farm plots amid Kinshasa's urban sprawl. In the southern and eastern parts of the capital, in particular, agriculture is the main means of support for many families. The raising of livestock, such as chickens, pigs, goats, and rabbits, is also common.

The people of Kinshasa are noted not only for their urbanized adaptation of traditional, rural lifestyles but also for their contributions to modern African popular culture. Dancing is an integral part of Kinois culture, and Kinshasa's musical scene, although disrupted by the political chaos of recent years, was once considered one of Africa's most vibrant. Kinshasa has produced many internationally acclaimed musicians.

Economy

The DCR is a nation endowed with tremendous mineral resources. It owns more than half of all the cobalt and 30 percent of all the diamonds in the world, in addition to enormous gold and copper deposits. However, Kinshasa has not been able to take full advantage of these resources.

After decades of foreign exploitation, inept management, and rampant corruption, Kinshasa's economy is among the poorest of the world's poor. Chronic warfare and political instability have further discouraged foreign lenders and investors who are already frustrated by Kinshasa's lack of infrastructure and basic services.

As the most densely populated city in the DCR, Kinshasa has borne the brunt of the economic impact of the country's political deterioration. More than three decades of dictatorial rule by Mobutu Sese Seko, who spent billions on himself and his associates, left the capital bankrupt. The two civil wars that ensued in the aftermath of Mobutu's fall from power in 1997 created a tide of displaced people, many of whom fled to the already overwhelmed capital.

Prior to the definitive collapse of the Congolese economy in the late 1990s, Kinshasa depended on its food and beverage processing, tanning, construction, and commercial ship repairing industries for revenue. Its manufacturing sector turned out textiles, shoes, tires, metalwork, paper, chemicals, mineral oils, and cement.

Political turmoil, however, resulted in a breakdown of public order and civil institutions that in turn led to a wildly inflated currency and the disappearance of virtually all regular paying jobs. To survive, most residents of Kinshasa make money in the city's black market economy. Many manage to make a living by peddling or bartering various wares—including bananas, drinking water, soccer balls, feather dusters, apples, brooms, sunglasses, popcorn, ice, air fresheners, toothpicks, wristwatches, and motor oil. The informal economy also relies heavily on the resale or trade of stolen or counterfeit merchandise, often in the form of construction materials such tools, bricks, lumber, pipes, used auto parts, and tires.

Beginning in 2001, with a comprehensive overhaul of economic policy, the government has taken steps to rebuild Kinshasa's economy. In 2002, on the heels of the withdrawal of many of the country's foreign occupying forces, the government reestablished relationships with international donor and lending agencies. In 2005, as part of a package of reforms designed to encourage foreign investor confidence, the government became a signatory to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. The initiative supports improved accountability in resource-rich countries, through the verification and full publication of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas, and mining. Renewed mining activities modestly increased Kinshasa's export revenues and economic growth through 2006. Renewed mining activity and export income boosted Kinshasa's fiscal position and gross domestic product (GDP) growth for several years, but fluctuating commodity prices have often slowed growth. In 2012, the DRC marked its tenth consecutive year of positive economic expansion. In 2021, the country had a 6.2 percent real GDP growth rate, according to the CIA.

Despite these improvements, Kinshasa's economy remains on shaky ground, as a result of continuing problems with law and order, corruption, and financial and legal transparency. The city's lack of adequate transportation and telecommunications infrastructure also continues to hamper foreign investment. In 2010, the DRC received $12 billion in debt relief from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but the last of three payments (worth $240 million) was suspended in 2012 due to concerns surrounding a lack of transparency in mining contracts. In 2021 the IMF approved an Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement. In December 2023 the IMF approved disbursement equivalent to US $202.1 million to DRC following satisfactory review of the country's progress.

Landmarks

Kinshasa is the home of two notable museums. The first, located at Kinshasa University, highlights the ethnographic history of the local area. The second, the National Museum of Kinshasa, houses an extensive collection of Congolese art. Kinshasa's Academy of Fine Arts is a teaching institution that also features exhibits in ceramics, sculpture, painting, and metalwork.

Kinshasa's landmark buildings include the chapel of the American Baptist Missionary Society, built in 1891, and the Catholic St. Anne's Cathedral, dating to 1914. Other sites of interest include the Grand Marché, a vast open-air market; the Kinshasa Zoo; the Kinshasa Botanical Garden; and the tomb of former president Laurent Kabila, who was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards in 2001.

The Lola Ya Bonobo sanctuary near Kinshasa is home to the largest group of bonobos in semi-captivity in the world. Dubbed "the gentle ape," bonobos have helped scientists shed light on the process of human evolution, since bonobo and human development are similar in many regards. Dwindling habitat and bushmeat hunting—driven largely by urban demand—in the DRC, the only country where these animals are known to exist, have greatly threatened the bonobo, or pygmy chimpanzee. In 2016, the bonobo was listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

History

Kinshasa was founded as a trading post in 1881 by the Anglo-American explorer Henry Morton Stanley, who named it Léopoldville to honor his Belgian patron, King Leopold II. In 1920, Léopoldville became the new capital of the Belgian Congo, but most of the city's growth did not take place until after World War II. In 1965, following the country's 1960 declaration of independence from Belgium, Colonel Joseph Mobutu seized power following a November military coup and declared himself president of the country, which he renamed Zaïre. He also renamed himself Mobutu Sese Seko and changed the capital's name to Kinshasa, the name of a village that once stood near the site of the capital, as part of his campaign to remove vestiges of the country's colonial history.

Under Mobutu's iron-fisted rule, Kinshasa grew rapidly as people from throughout the Congo relocated to the capital in search of a haven from violent ethnic conflicts. Mobutu was forced into exile in 1997, but Kinshasa is still struggling to overcome the legacy of Mobutu's thirty-two years of tyrannical rule, which left Kinshasa's infrastructure and economy in deep disarray and its citizenry profoundly demoralized.

Efforts by President Laurent Kabila to bring order and prosperity to Kinshasa were hampered by warfare that created a massive influx of refugees to the capital. A 2002 peace accord between warring factions in the DCR and Uganda helped stem this tide. In 2006, Joseph Kabila, who had headed a transitional government following his father's assassination, was elected president. Provincial assemblies were constituted in early 2007, and elected governors and national senators in January 2007. Kabila was reelected president in 2011. Elections were originally scheduled to be held November 27, 2016, but were postponed until 2018. This news, coupled with the end of Kabila's mandate in December 2016, led to protests in the capital and other areas that turned deadly. A controversial election was ultimately held in December 2018, with Félix Tshisekedi being named the winner.

Although this era of increased political stability has raised hopes for the future revitalization of Kinshasa, global travel advisories continue to deter visitors and investors. Despite the large-scale deployment of United Nations peacekeeping forces in Kinshasa, crime resulting from extreme poverty and the heavy presence of Congolese ex-military personnel and paramilitary fighters poses dangers to residents and foreigners alike.

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