1997 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Decades:	1970s; 1980s; 1990s; 2000s; 2010s;
See also:	Other events of 1997; History of the DRC ; 1997 in Zaire

The following lists events that happened during 1997 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Incumbents

Date	event
16 May	First Congo War concludes when forces under Laurent-Désiré Kabila enter Kinshasa
17 May	Zaire is renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bank of Zaire becomes Central Bank of the Congo
27 May	Decree Law No. 3 defines a structure with a president, government, courts and tribunals.^[1]
29 May	Kabila announces schedule for the transition to democracy. Elections are to be held in May 1999.^[1]
1 July	Ismail Tutu'emoto and Bunia Luminangulu disappear. They had returned from exile to support the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL), but had criticized Kabila, which seems to have led to their arrest.^[1]
28 October	Professor Kalele Ka Bila and Jean-Francois Kabanda are arrested for calling on citizens to overthrow the "Tutsi invaders". Both were supporters of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS).^[1]

v t e Years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Congo Free State	1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908
Belgian Congo	1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960
Republic of Congo	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964
Democratic Republic of the Congo	1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971
Zaire	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
DR Congo	1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

v t e 1997 in Africa
Sovereign states	Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Eswatini Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zaire Zimbabwe
States with limited recognition	Anjouan Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Somaliland
Dependencies, colonies and other territories	Ascension Island Mayotte Réunion Saint Helena Tristan da Cunha Western Sahara