Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is by the Congo River Basin, which covers an area of almost 1,000,000 square kilometres. The country’s only outlet to the Atlantic Ocean is a narrow strip of land on the north bank of the Congo River.

The vast, low-lying central area is a plateau-shaped basin sloping toward the west, covered by tropical rainforest and crisscrossed by rivers. A large portion of this area has been categorised by the World Wildlife Fund as the Central Congolese lowland forests eco-region. The forest centre is surrounded by mountainous terraces in the west, plateaus merging into savannahs in the south and southwest. Dense grasslands extend beyond the Congo River in the north. High mountains of the Ruwenzori Range (some above 5,000 m) are found on the eastern borders with Rwanda and Uganda.

The Congolese coat arms has changed several times since 1997. The current one was introduced in 2006 and depicts a leopard head, surrounded by an elephant tusk to the left and a spear to the right. Below are the three words which make up the national motto: Justice, Paix, Travail which means “Justice, Peace, Work” in French. The current coat of arms was adopted by President Joseph Kabila on 18 February 2006.