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A timeline of Congo's history reveals a past riddled with conflict and bloodshed. It was once among the main sources of the Atlantic slave trade. In the 19th century it was the site of the Belgian-controlled rubber and ivory trades that claimed the lives of up to 10 million people in the region. And in the 1990s, ethnic warfare in Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi spilled across its porous borders. To what extent has Congo's troubled history led to its current situation? Suliman Baldo, Africa Program Director for International Crisis Group, phones in from Kinshasa. He’s joined by Howard French, former West Africa bureau chief and current Shanghai bureau chief for The New York Times, and author of A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa.

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Music: Pieces of Africa, Kronos Quartet: "White Man Sleeps"