DIAMONDS FROM THE DRC

 This is the 500 franc note from the Democratic Republique of Congo. it was issued in 2013 and has diamond miners  and diamond mining in the Etroite valley. it has the head of an okapi as a watermark.

more notes from the DRC HERE and HERE

NOTES SHOWCASING THE ETHNIC PEOPLES OF THE DRC

here we have 3 notes from the Congo Democratic republic , sometimes referred to as the DRC or  Congo - Kinshasa so as not to be confused with the Congo Republic (Congo - Brazziville) and was formerly called Zaire . All the above notes are from the 1997 issue.

first is the 1 centime note which has a woman harvesting coffee beans on the front and the Nyiragongo volcano erupting on the reverse.

secondly there is the 5 centime note which has a Suku hembe  Mask on the front - (the Suku people are a tribe from the SW of the country)  and a Zande Harp on the reverse ( the Zande people are a tribe from the north of the country)

Finally the 10 centime note has a Pende mask on the front and Pende dancers on the reverse. ( the pende people are from the SW of the country)

all the above have Okapi heads for the watermark

more DRC notes Here

CONGO DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

The Congo Democratic Republic, formerly Zaire was a Belgian colony (the Belgian Congo) until 1960 when it gained independence. 1997 saw a coup which overthrew the Mobutu regime and change the name of the country to its present name. in 2002, the Pretoria Accord ended decades of civil war.  The capital city is Kinshasa.

The monetary system was:

1 Franc = 100 centimes ( up to 1967)
1 Zaire + 100 Makuta  (1967 - 71)
1 Franc = 100 centimes ( 1997 onward )

The note above is the 50 centime note from 1997 with okapi on both sides of the note.