Congo: Where the tail is still wagging the dog

"Joseph Kabila boycotted the election and is preparing an insurrection because he is the AFC," said President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo last October, and lo! It is coming to pass just as he predicted. But you can't tell the players without a programme, so a little bit of explanation first.

- Gwynne Dyer

Well, a lot, really. Please be patient. It's quite a tangled tale.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo or just DRC), so-called to distinguish it from a much smaller country on the other side of the river that also calls itself "Congo", is the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa and the second most populous (115 million people). The eastern part has been at war for the past 30 years, and it's about to get worse.

The fighting has been almost continuous for two reasons. One is that the eastern part of the country is very rich in scarce minerals — gold, copper, cobalt, tin and above all coltan, which is essential for smartphones and other electronic devices. (DR Congo has 60% of the world's coltan). The government is 1,600km away, and most of the mineral wealth is stolen.