FOREIGN
RELATIONS
The D.R.C.'s location in the center of Africa has made the country a key player in the region since even before independence. Because of its size, mineral wealth, and strategic location, Zaire under Mobutu was able to capitalize on Cold War tensions to garner support from the West. In the early 1990s, however, Cold War-era tolerance of human rights abuses faded, and the mounting evidence of such abuses led Western support for the Mobutu regime to wane just as internal pressure for reform increased.
D.R.C.'s relations with neighboring countries have often been driven by security concerns, leading to intricate, interlocking, and shifting alliances. Domestic conflicts in the Central African Republic, Sudan, Uganda, Angola, Rwanda, and Burundi have at various times created bilateral and regional tensions. The current situation in eastern D.R.C. arose from foreign insurgents' use of D.R.C. territory as a base for attacking their home countries as well as the Congolese Government's inability to secure its own borders.
U.S.-CONGOLESE
RELATIONS
In December 2006, the D.R.C. inaugurated its first democratically elected president in over 40 years, the culmination of both the Congolese people's efforts to choose their leaders through a peaceful, democratic process and international support for numerous domestic and international peace agreements. The United States is proud to have played a role in the peace process in the D.R.C., and continues to encourage Congolese peace, prosperity, democracy, and respect for human rights.
The United States remains a partner with the D.R.C. and other central African nations in their quest for stability and growth on the continent. The United States facilitated the signing of a tripartite agreement on regional security in the Great Lakes region among the D.R.C., Rwanda, and Uganda in October 2004. (Burundi formally joined the Tripartite Commission in September 2005, and the Tripartite Commission is now Tripartite Plus.) The United States also strongly supported UN efforts to create a Joint Verification Mechanism to monitor the border between the D.R.C. and Rwanda. The United States has pursued an active diplomatic strategy in support of these objectives. The United States seeks to strengthen the process of internal reconciliation and democratization in D.R.C., as in all the states of the region, so that the D.R.C. and its neighbors can jointly address mutual security interests and develop mutually beneficial economic relations.
The United States appointed its current ambassador to the D.R.C. in November 2007. The D.R.C. appointed its current ambassador to the United States in 2000. The State Department has consistently issued cautionary travel information about Zaire/D.R.C. since 1977.
Principal U.S. Officials
Ambassador--William J. Garvelink
Deputy Chief of Mission--Sam Brock
The U.S. Embassy is located at 310 Avenue des Aviateurs, Kinshasa (tel. 243-81-2255872; fax 243-81-3010561). Mailing address is American Embassy Kinshasa, Box 31550, APO AE 09828.
