Don't call it "Congo," the name of a powerful medieval/early modern kingdom that existed in the area, call it "Zaïre" after a Portuguese mispronunciation of the misunderstood Lingala word for "river."

@cwjones89 @nikicaga The trouble with actual native pre-colonial names is that they might come off as favoring one ethnic group over another. Dahomey was renamed Benin since the Kingdom of Dahomey was a Fon state that only covered part of modern Benin

@zuozheng0 @cwjones89 @nikicaga Imo Congo is a particularly important one considering the fact half the non ethnic Congolese part of the country has wants/wanted to leave at different point, and to a lesser extent some of the Congolese supremacist ideas that popped up during decolonisation

@zuozheng0 @cwjones89 @nikicaga I can't really say that if I was born a minority in southern or eastern Congo, 1500 km from the capital and 1000 from any congalese area, all while living standards outside the capital hardly improve, that I'd feel much affinity with "Congo"

@RahmMiras @zuozheng0 @cwjones89 @nikicaga 3/4 of the heads of state of DRC have come from east & south DRC btw. Lubumbashi (in s. Congo) is more developed than Kinshasa, & before the Rwandan invasion, Goma was THE vacation destination. E. Congolese are even more patriotic than W. Congolese BECAUSE of the gcide by Rwanda.

@EricWilson1976 @zuozheng0 @cwjones89 @nikicaga Hasn't stopped there from being half a dozen seperatist militias in those regions, from way back in the 60s, to today I can't speak to economic values as I can't find them by province, but in terms of hdi Katanga is well below Kinshasa. Tho I am somewhat surprised by kivu

@RahmMiras @zuozheng0 @cwjones89 @nikicaga The separatist militias in DRC are all literally ethnic Rwandan supremacists, being backed by Rwanda. The militias that are NOT ethnic Rwandans are Congolese nationalists and are supported by the government. It’s literally Congo & all of her 200+ ethnic groups vs Rwandans.

@EricWilson1976 @zuozheng0 @cwjones89 @nikicaga Ik you are talking about the M23, but they're not the only anti-government militia, currently, or historically (on the latter, this should've been your clue I wasnt talking abt Rwanda). Tho even M23 recruits among locals asw The Katanga rebels still exist at a low level

@RahmMiras @zuozheng0 @cwjones89 @nikicaga I’m not just talking about M23, they’re not the only militia in the AFC. Literally every anti-govt militia is ethnically Rwandan / Burundian / Ugandan. There is no anti-govt militia that is ethnically Congolese.