The recent history of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has been one of civil war and corruption.

It is rich in natural resources but has suffered from political instability, a lack of infrastructure, centuries of both commercial and colonial exploitation, and little widespread development since independence.

During the two Congo wars, from 1996-2003 the country was at the centre of what some observers call "Africa's world war", with widespread civilian suffering. The war claimed an up to six million lives, either as a direct result of fighting or because of disease and malnutrition.

Since the late-2000s, there has been continuing fighting in the east where a United Nations force is struggling to keep the peace.

President: Félix Tshisekedi

President Félix Tshisekedi won a second term in the December 2023 elections, which we condemned as a "sham" by several opposition candidates.

The president won about 73% of the vote, with his nearest challenger, Moise Katumbi, on 18%, officials said. The election was marred by widespread logistical problems. It had to be extended to a second day in some parts of the country.

About two-thirds of polling stations opened late, while 30% of voting machines did not work on the first day of the vote, according to an observer group.

The opposition said the problems were part of a deliberate plan to allow the results to be rigged in favour of Mr Tshisekedi, 60.

Mr Tshisekedi became president in January 2019 after protracted political wrangling in the wake of a controversial election in December 2018. He succeeded Joseph Kabila, who had become president when his own father Laurent was assassinated in 2001.

President Tshisekedi also comes from a political dynasty, as his father Étienne was opposition leader and later prime minister under the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Congolese media operate against a backdrop of political power struggles and unrest.

Reporters Without Borders says journalists face arrest, threats and violence.

The press carries criticism of the government, and some publications reflect opposition party views.

Radio is the leading medium. Radio Okapi, partly run by the local UN mission, is an influential outlet.

Some key dates in DR Congo's history:

1200s - Rise of Kongo Empire, centred in modern northern Angola and including extreme western Congo and territories round lakes Kisale and Upemba in central Katanga (now Shaba).

16th-17th Centuries - British, Dutch, Portuguese and French merchants engage in slave trade through Kongo intermediaries.

1870s - Belgian King Leopold II sets up a private venture to colonise Kongo.

1884-85 - European powers at the Conference of Berlin recognise Leopold's claim to the Congo basin. Leopold announces the establishment of the Congo Free State, headed by himself.

1908 - Belgian state annexes Congo amid protests over killings and atrocities carried out on a mass scale by Leopold's agents. Millions of Congolese are said to have been killed or worked to death during Leopold's control of the territory.

1959 - Belgium begins to lose control over events in the Congo following serious nationalist riots in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa).

1960 - Congo becomes independent with Patrice Lumumba as prime minister and Joseph Kasavubu as president.

1960 July - Congolese army mutinies; Moise Tshombe declares Katanga independent; Belgian troops sent in ostensibly to protect Belgian citizens and mining interests; UN Security Council votes to send in troops to help establish order, but the troops are not allowed to intervene in internal affairs.

1961 - Patrice Lumumba murdered, reportedly with US and Belgian complicity.

1963 - Moise Tshombe agrees to end Katanga's secession.

1965 - Mobutu Sese Seko seizes power.

1971 - Country is renamed Zaire.

1977 - French and Belgian paratroops, alongside Moroccan forces, help repulse attack on Katanga by Angolan-based rebels.

1996-97 - First Congo War. A civil war and international military conflict, which culminates in a rebel invasion replacing President Mobutu with the rebel leader Laurent Kabila. The country is renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

1998-2003 - Second Congo War. Kabila's unstable government comes into conflict with his allies, setting the stage for a renewed civil war, drawing in several neighbouring countries. Dozens of armed groups fight on in the east, requiring a large United Nations military force to try to maintain order. An estimated 900,000 to 5,400,000 people are killed or die of disease or famine.

2004 - Kivu conflict breaks out in eastern DRC. The series of protracted armed conflicts in the area involves more than 120 different armed groups.

2006 - First free elections in four decades. Joseph Kabila wins the run-off vote.

2012-13 - M23 rebellion. The rebel March 23 Movement is formed. A UN report finds that Rwanda created and commanded the M23 rebel group.

2013 - 3,000-member UN Intervention Brigade deployed to fight and disarm M23 rebels in the east.

2016 - President Kabila remains in power in violation of the constitution.

2017 - M23 rebels resume their insurgency.

2019 - Officials declare opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi the winner of December's presidential election.

2022 - DR Congo, UN, US and others accuse Rwanda of sending its soldiers to fight alongside M23 rebels in eastern DRC, who face accusations of carrying out war crimes against civilians. Rwanda denies this.

2023 - President Tshisekedi wins a second term in a disputed election.