Congolese Federation

The **Congolese Federation**, also known as the **Congo**, is a country in Central Africa bordered to the west by the South Atlantic Ocean. By land area, the Congo is the largest country in Africa and the seventh-largest in the world. With an estimated population of around [REDACTED], the Congolese Federation is the most populous officially Francophone country in the world and the most populous country in Africa. The country's capital is Kinshasa-Brazzaville. The largest city is Kisangani which is also the nation's economic center. The country is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, the East African Federation, Zambia, and Angola.

The Congolese Federation is composed of fourteen constituent republics, including one on Mars. The Great Congo River Hydropower Station is the largest in the world and Kisangani is home to Africa's only space elevator. The Congo has remained among the world's fastest growing economies for over a century, with slightly slower growth in recent years.

Centered on the Congo Basin, the territory of what is now the Congolese Federation was first inhabited by Central African foragers around 90,000 years ago and was reached by the Bantu expansion about 3,000 years ago. In the west, the Kingdom of Kongo ruled around the mouth of the Congo River from the 14th to 19th centuries. In the northeast, center and east, the kingdoms of Azande, Luba, and Lunda ruled from the 16th and 17th centuries to the 19th century. King Leopold II of Belgium formally acquired rights to the Congo territory in 1885 and declared the land his private property, naming it the Congo Free State. From 1885 to 1908, his colonial military forced the local population to produce rubber and committed widespread atrocities. In 1908, Leopold ceded the territory, which thus became a Belgian colony.

Congo achieved independence from Belgium on 30 June 1960 and was immediately confronted by a series of secessionist movements, which culminated in the seizure of power by Mobutu Sese Seko in a 1965 coup d'état. Mobutu renamed the country Zaire in 1971 and imposed a harsh personalist dictatorship until his overthrow in 1997 by the First Congo War. The country then had its name changed back and was confronted by the Second Congo War from 1998 to 2003, which resulted in the deaths of 5.4 million people. The war ended under President Joseph Kabila who governed the country from 2001 to 2009, under whom human rights in the country remained poor and included frequent abuses such as forced disappearances, torture, arbitrary imprisonment and restrictions on civil liberties. The 2009 coup d'état deposed Joseph Kabila in favor of Julius Ogutu. Ogutu founded the Congolese Federation in 2015, going on to integrate Congo-Brazzaville in 2025 and then the Central African Republic in 2031. The Congo finished the Great Congolese Hydropower Station in 2036, then intervened in Gabon to support the Gabonese Revolution after the French-backed government was overthrown in 2037. An invasion and eventual integration of Equitorial Guinea followed in 2040 after threats were made by the country to host western military bases. The dissolution of the MPLA resulted in an Angolan political crisis, which the Congo took advantage of in 2074. Cabinda, a formally Angolan province already inextricably linked to the Congo economically, was formally integrated into the federation. Pro-Congo riots broke out across two bordering Angolan provinces, which led to the declaration of the Republic of New Kongo, which joined the federation immediately. Having received extensive pressure from the United Nations from its role in the crisis, the Congo left the United Nations the next year. As Sudanese forces advanced into former South Sudanese land following the collapse of its politics, the Congo annexed much of the land that had bordered it.

The Congo is currently governed as a federal semi-presidential republic by the UNC. Making up a disputed majority portion of the African economy, the country is one of the fastest-growing major economies thanks to its bountiful resources and ambitious long-term projects such as the Great Congolese Space Elevator. The Congo is a recognized nuclear-weapon state with *among* the world's largest standing army by military personnel and likely the third largest defense budget (this is not public information). The Congo is considered to be a potential superpower due to its high level of innovation, economic potential, growing military strength, and influence in international affairs.

## Government & politics

The Congo, by constitution, is a federal republic with a presidential system wherein the premier is the head of state, and the prime minister is the head of government. It is structured as a dominant-party representative democracy, with the federal government composed of three branches: