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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for Congo (DRC)  (formerly Zaire)

The list of Congo (DRC) bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2008, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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04 Aug 2007 (IOL) The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo declared three days of national mourning (Saturday to Monday, August 4-6, 2007) for victims of one of the country's worst rail disasters, in which at least 100 people were killed and 120 injured. • 17 Feb 2007 (Le Potentiel) Christian organizations have renewed their calls to add February 16, to the list of official public holidays, in rememberance of February 16, 1992, when President Mobutu's personal guard shot and killed peaceful marchers. This requested new public holiday would be akin, but not the same, as the January 4 public holiday, commemorating the 1959 insurrection. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Congo (DRC) public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Governing Law: Official public holidays in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (aka. Zaïre) are regulated by the Ordonnance no 71-326 du 31 décembre 1971 fixant les jours fériés légaux as published in the Journal officiel, 1972-01-15 which was then followed by the Ordonnance Présidentielle n° 79/154 du 23 juin 1979. • History: Public holidays in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have gone through a series of changes according to the various regimes in power. •1960-1965: after independence, most public holidays were kept, except for July 21 (Belgium's national day) and January 4 and June 30 were added. •1966-1971: The new regime keeps existing public holidays and adds 2 party-related public holidays; November 17 and 24. •1972-1979: The MPR regime having launched an all-out assault on the Catholic Church, the list of public holidays is purged of all religious holidays, dropping from 14 to 9 annual public holidays. •1979-1990: This period sees the return of Chrismas and the replacement of All Saints' Day by the August 1st Parents' Day. President Mobutu's Birthday also becomes a public holidays. •1990-1996: After the dissolution of the MPR, May 20 is dropped from the list of public holidays. •1997-2000: This period sees the dropping of the 2 MPR-related November public holidays and the addition of the birthday of President Lumumba. • Day before Public Holidays: Note that the afternoon before a public holiday is often taken by employees in the D.R.C., particularly in the civil service . • Heroes' Day : This holiday name is used for both days. January 16 is the anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Laurent Kabila and January 17 is the anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Lumumba who was the first legally elected Prime Minister of the DRC. • November 17 and 24: Many online sources still list these 2 dates as public holidays, but they were abrogated in 1997, when Président Laurent-Désiré Kabila and the Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération (AFDL) took power. • Other Sources of Information For information not covered here, see the following specialized websites: Bank of Central African States (Congo (DRC) central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (maps, demographic and economic statistics), Copp Clark (financial markets' trading hours, settlement holidays and currency non-clearing days), and the IFES Election Guide (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and past voter participation).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in Congo (DRC), the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2008 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Congo (DRC), we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of Congo (DRC), before planning any trip to Congo (DRC). For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.