Congo War

Dan Snow travels to Congo - one of the wildest, most colourful and anarchic places on our planet - to reveal how its troubled history of slavery, colonialism, corruption and war have turned one of the world's potentially richest countries into one of its poorest. Dan's journey takes him to some of the most remote and dangerous places on earth, where he discovers how Congo's resources and people helped make Britain rich through the centuries and win two world wars.

In the 1970s, during the ruinous 30-year dictatorship of General Mobutu, periodic rebellions required the hasty insertion once again of Belgian and French paratroops to save European lives. From the mid-1990s the country split again, becoming the battleground for the largest African war in history, as armies and rebel groups from Rwanda, Angola, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Namibia and other countries crossed into the Congo to support one side or the other, or simply to loot the rich resources. Major operations ended – or paused – in 2002, but the old hatreds and constant lure of the Congo's natural resources continue to boil over into periodic outbreaks. Featuring specially commissioned full-colour artwork and rare photographs, this is the harrowing story of the wars that ravaged the Congo for four decades.