The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was cooperative on counterterrorism issues when resources were provided. The Government of the DRC focused its limited fiscal, military, and diplomatic resources on trying to maintain a hard-fought, tenuous peace. The fragile internal security situation was aggravated by foreign-based armed rebel groups operating with relative impunity in contested areas of the country. The DRC's lack of capacity to secure its borders, monitor large tracts of sparsely populated and remote territory, and unfamiliarity with the issue of global terrorism could make it vulnerable as a staging ground for transnational criminal or terrorist groups; however, such activities would be hindered by the lack of transportation and telecommunications infrastructure, as well as a generally non-violent domestic population. The Congolese national intelligence apparatus similarly lacked an ability to identify and disrupt any potential domestic terrorist threats.

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