Conflict in Congo

Central Africa's vast Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has long suffered, first at the hands of colonial oppressors and then from dictators and ethnic rebels. In the late 19th century, King Leopold II of Belgium plundered Congo's riches and brutalized its people. Now, 50 years after independence, the DRC is one of the world's most unstable, dysfunctional nations, barely held together by a controversial United Nations peacekeeping mission and a tentative peace agreement with neighboring Rwanda. It also has vast natural wealth, with large swaths of hardwood forests and rich deposits of gold, copper, cobalt and several minerals crucial to manufacturing electronic and high-tech products. Warlords, rebels, neighboring governments and private companies are exploiting eastern Congo's minerals — and using much of the money to perpetuate violence in the region, where roving militias and rogue soldiers terrorize villages and use rape as a weapon of war. The U.N. is considering withdrawing its troops, which some fear could trigger further chaos.