Congo, beyond the conflict: Six reasons why it matters

[steve2470]

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/28/opinion/congo-beyond-the-conflict/index.html?hpt=hp_c5

Editor's note: Vava Tampa, a native of Congo, is the founder of Save the Congo, a London-based campaign to tackle "the impunity, insecurity, institutional failure and the international trade of minerals funding the wars in Democratic Republic of the Congo."

(CNN) -- Mention DR Congo, Sub-Saharan Africa's largest country, and what comes to mind? Probably conflict minerals, proxy wars, the rape capital of the world, or the trigger for the 19th century "Scramble for Africa."

But beyond the despair, there is another country; a country not like any other country in the world -- a country with rich ancient traditions, a colorful cultural energy and creativity, amazing potential and much, much more.

Ask historians or archaeologists -- one of the earliest known mathematical objects, the Ishango bone, was not made in Ancient Greece, Mesopotamia or Renaissance Europe but around Congo's Lake Edward around 18,000 BC.