Talk:Democratic Republic of the Congo

East Congo

The terms East Congo and West Congo could help alleviate the confusion between the naming of the two Congos. I consistently have to do double-takes when taking about these two countries and since other countries like North Korea and South Korea have cardinal classifications instead of referring to them as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea, wouldn't it make sense to do the same with the Congos? East Congo has a nice ring to it, no? Wkpdsrnm2023 (talk) 01:11, 13 April 2023 (UTC)

You're welcome to launch a campaign--outside of Wikipedia--to get the two Congos commonly referred to by those names. If you succeed, and the uses become widespread, Wikipedia will likely follow suit. But not before. (Anyway, I personally am glad that the Democratic Republic changed its name back to Congo; now that it's no longer called Zaire, I can say I've visited every country in the world that begins with Z.) Uporządnicki (talk) 12:46, 15 May 2023 (UTC)

Congo and West Congo

Perhaps a better solution would be like Sudan: the clearly larger country in Sudan's geographical area is Sudan (officially the Republic of Sudan) and the smaller South Sudan (officially the Republic of South Sudan). Of course, something similar should be agreed between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo, i.e. the DT of the Congo would become Congo (officially the State of Congo, Federal Republic of Congo or Federation of Congo, without "the" and no longer a communist-style "democratic republic") and the Republic of the Congo would become West Congo (officially the Republic of West Congo, without "the").

Finally: the Congo's geographical area also includes the former Portuguese and current Angolan Congo, Cabinda Province.

--2001:999:680:4AD2:7D1B:676F:490E:6C76 (talk) 05:01, 6 November 2024 (UTC)

I live in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Media in this country makes a great effort to always include the full name of the country. The only abbreviation used is DRC (RDC in French). Congo is the short form. Congolese people refer to themselves as Congolese (congolais).

The other (small) Congo may be refered to as Congo-Brazza, or Congo-Brazzaville, but the Democratic Republic of the Congo has a population of over 110 million (compared to the RoC's population of around 6 million).

The BBC uses DR Congo. But everyday use in the DRC is Congo.

As someone has already mentioned: it's not for us to tell people what to call a country, we have to follow what's practiced. Francis Hannaway (talk) 06:48, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

Barcode Prefix 605

Hi Remsense, Thank you for your feedback on my edit. I believe the information about the "605" prefix adoption in the DRC is relevant due to its implications for global trade and counterfeiting prevention, particluarly as it follows the already published text on the DR Congo consistently having the lowest, or nearly the lowest, nominal GDP per capita in the world and being one of the twenty lowest-ranked countries on the Corruption Perceptions. The action in 2022 by the DRC Government is an effort to address these issues, and therefore of relevance to a general audience. I would appreciate your input on how to make the content more appropriate for the article. Ohnonotanotherid (talk) 03:25, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

Hi Remsense, I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to kindly follow up on my earlier query regarding your recent edit on [Democratic Republic of the Congo]. I’m trying to better understand the reasoning behind your revision and how we can ensure the article aligns with Wikipedia’s guidelines and serves a general audience effectively.

Could you please share your thoughts or suggest how the content could be improved? I’m happy to collaborate and make any necessary adjustments to ensure it meets the community’s standards. Looking forward to hearing from you—thank you for your time! Ohnonotanotherid (talk) 00:58, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

It would be helpful if you could provide sources here, and write in your own words. In general, the barcode system a country uses is not really significant enough to make it onto a summary of this level. CMD (talk) 01:10, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice, CMD and Remsense

The article’s already published sections on #Corruption, #Mining, and the section, #Economy detail multiple references to the systemic challenges facing DRC, which “has the lowest, or nearly the lowest, nominal GDP per capita in the world…and is also one of the twenty lowest-ranked countries on the Corruption Perceptions Index.” This despite, among other things, the fact that “DRC is widely considered one of the world's richest countries in natural resources; its untapped deposits of raw minerals are estimated to be worth in excess of US$24 trillion”.

As a proactive step to address some of these identified issues, the sovereign government of DRC resolved to utilize 13-digit EAN numbers, usually expressed in barcode symbology. After taking all reasonable steps to reserve the three digit 605 EAN prefix, the government announced in April 2022 that it would exclusively issue the EAN numbers with the prefix in order to:

1. Digitally identify goods and services produced "made in the DRC"
2. Identify and monitor the journey of Minerals including Strategic Minderals mined in the DRC
3. Trace and certify the origin and volume and quantity of ores ensuring they are properly exported
4. Certify by unique references the valuable documents issued from the DRC
5. Enable certification of official documents
6. allow imported products to be stamped upon entry and protect producers
7. Allow traceability of production and validation,
8. Digitally track trade to reduce tax losses,
9. Hold parties accountable and trace any attempt at embezzlement,
10. Provide a data source to conduct economic studies and statistics on local production.

I propose this is usefully summed up and is of relevant interest for general readership with the following succinct addition to the end of the #Economy section:

In April 2022, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo announced the adoption of the 605 prefix for barcodes to identify and authenticate products originating from the country.

Here are the references I propose:

- [Congo Profond article] (https://congoprofond.net/numerique-605-adopte-prefixe-de-tous-les-produits-made-in-rdc-pour-la-tracabilite-par-la-technologie-code-a-barres1/)

- [Actualite.CD article] (https://actualite.cd/index.php/2022/06/05/rdc-le-ministere-du-numerique-precise-que-lapplication-du-codes-barres-congolais-naura)

- [CIO-mag article] (https://cio-mag.com/rdc-implementation-officielle-du-prefixe-national-605-du-code-barres/)

- [Agence Ecofin article] (https://www.agenceecofin.com/gestion-publique/2204-96931-rdc-le-code-barres-pour-tracer-les-echanges-commerciaux) Ohnonotanotherid (talk) 03:42, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

This isn't important information for the readership of articles about sovereign states, and no quantity of fluff prose you didn't write can really move the needle on that. Apologies. Remsense ‥ 论 02:16, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

Hi @Remsense and @Chipmunkdavis Or would it be better to propose this as a new article? Thanks for your forebearance? Ohnonotanotherid (talk) 00:58, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

I don't see an article here. It's possible the DRC adopted an EAN number. If so, that is probably as much as is needed to say, but I note the DRC is not on the GS1 list. 01:09, 22 January 2025 (UTC) CMD (talk) 01:09, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

Yes, agreed, how to acknowledge a discrepancy?

GS1 seeks to be an authority to assign country codes but cannot impose on the sovereign rights of the DRC. Further, there is nothing that gives ownership of a series of numbers to any entity, including GS1.

On 6 April 2022 the Government of DRC formally notified GS1 Worldwide that DRC would reserve the prefix 605 to itself. On 9 April 2022 GS1 had not assigned the 605 prefix claiming instead to "reserve" it for future operations. .

On or about 9 November 2024 , GS1 sought to assign the prefix number 605 to Uganda, 28 months after the very public announcement by the sovereign government of DRC that DRC intended to reserve the prefix 605 for itself. Ohnonotanotherid (talk) 02:17, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

There is no sovereign right to a GS1 code. That's a matter for discussion between the DRC and GS1, not really something that can be solved here, especially without any secondary sources. The 605 announcement may turn out to be a historical footnote. CMD (talk) 02:44, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

References

"Citizenship of the Democratic Republic of Congo" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect Citizenship of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2025 March 29 § Citizenship of the Democratic Republic of Congo until a consensus is reached. Absolutiva (talk) 00:15, 29 March 2025 (UTC)