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Article: The other bank of the river.(difference between Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo)
- Article from:
- African Business
- Article date:
- November 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 IC Publications Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Standing in front of a wall map of Africa, Ambassador Serge Mombouli wastes no time pointing out the difference between his country, the Republic of Congo, and the similar-sounding, but much larger, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the east.
"Before 1997, when the DRC was still called Zaire, there was no confusion," he says. "Now there is, but we are here to explain the difference. What people know about the DRC is diamonds and the ongoing war. What they know about us is that we speak French and we're a big oil producer."
So big, in fact, that Congo-Brazzaville, as it's often called, now ranks as sub-Saharan Africa's No 3 oil exporter after Nigeria ...