daniel chigunweJuly 1960: Congolese army mutinies; Moise Tshombe declares Katanga independent; Belgian troops sent in ostensibly to protect Belgian citizens and mining interests; UN Security Council votes to send in troops to help establish order, but the troops are not allowed to intervene in internal affairs.
February 1961: Patrice Lumumba murdered, reportedly with US and Belgian complicity.
1965: Army chief Joseph Mobutu seizes power.
1971: Joseph Mobutu renames the country Zaire and himself Mobutu Sese Seko; Katanga becomes Shaba and the river Congo becomes the river Zaire.
1991: Following riots in Kinshasa by unpaid soldiers, President Mobutu agrees to a coalition government with opposition leaders, but retains control of the security apparatus and important ministries.
1996-97: Tutsi rebels capture much of eastern Zaire while President Mobutu is abroad for medical treatment.
May 1997: Tutsi and other anti-Mobutu rebels, aided principally by Rwanda, capture the capital, Kinshasa; Zaire is renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo; Laurent-Desire Kabila installed as president.
August 1988: Rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda rise up against Mr Kabila and advance on Kinshasa.
January 2001: President Laurent Kabila is shot dead by a bodyguard. Joseph Kabila succeeds his father.
July 2002: Presidents of DR Congo and Rwanda sign a peace deal under which Rwanda will withdraw troops from the east and DR Congo will disarm and arrest Rwandan Hutu gunmen blamed for the killing of the Tutsi minority in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.
June 2003: President Kabila names a transitional government to lead until elections in two years time. Leaders of main former rebel groups are sworn in as vice-presidents in July.
February 2006: New constitution comes into force; new national flag is adopted.
November 2006: Joseph Kabila is declared winner of October’s run-off presidential election. The poll has the general approval of international monitors.
October 2008: Rebel forces capture major army base of Rumangabo; the Congolese government accuses Rwanda of backing Tutsi rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, a claim Rwanda denies.
November 2011: Presidential and parliamentary elections. Mr Kabila gains another term. The vote is criticised abroad and the opposition disputes the result.
November 2016: A political deal signed between President Kabila’s ruling coalition and the opposition to delay the presidential election until 2018 sees Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo and his cabinet resign, paving the way for a new cabinet to include opposition figures.
December 2017: DRC is experiencing a “mega-crisis”, with conflict having forced 1,7 million people to flee their homes during the year, aid agencies say.
March 2018: Main opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress chooses Felix Tshisekedi as its candidate for the December presidential election.
January 2019: Officials declare opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi the winner of December’s presidential election, prompting protests from rival opposition candidate Martin Fayulu of a deal with the government, whose candidate Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary came third. – BBC.com
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