Zaire is ethnically diverse, with more than 12 main groups and around 190 smaller ones. The largest group is of Bantu origin, but there are also large Hamitic and Nilotic populations, mainly in the north and northeast. Zaire's original inhabitants, the forest Pygmies, today form a tiny and marginalized group. The population is very unevenly distributed. The Shaba mining area and major urban centers are densely populated, while the rainforests have a density of less than 8 people per sq. mile. Those in remoter areas have always lived on the margins of the cash economy. Since 1990, however, hyperinflation has forced the majority into a subsistence lifestyle.
President Mobutu managed to contain ethnic tensions inherited from the colonial period during most of his rule. Since 1990, however, there have been outbreaks of ethnic violence and "cleansing," notably in Shaba Kivu and Kasai provinces. Over 6,000 people were reported to have been killed in clashes during 1993. Belgium has accused Mobutu of encouraging ethnic strife to delay democratic change.
