The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DROC), formerly the Belgian Congo and then Zaire, is the largest country in the African continent. It is endowed with abundant valuable natural resources, including in addition to diamonds, cobalt, copper and petroleum. The DROC was a colony of Belgium from 1884 until 1960, when it was granted independence. Since that time, the DROC has not known true democracy, as it has been fueled with ethnic and civil strife, leading to political and economic instability. As a result of colonialism, at the time of independence the DROC was in a state of extreme underdevelopment, and aggravated by the continuing armed conflict taking place within and outside of its borders, these conditions exist today.
