The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the second largest country in Africa and the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Though endowed with vast natural resources, the economy continues to perform very poorly. The DRC has experienced instability and conflict dating back to its first coup in 1965. La Reference Plus dates back to the 90s when Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled the country for 32 years, was still the president. It was in the early 90s too that the country experienced great refugee inflow from fighting in Rwanda and Burundi. Both newspapers span the 2000s when there were a series of peace accords, constitutional referendums and elections.

These are two newspapers from a country with a varied history and which are not readily available elsewhere. Worldcat shows only Northwestern owns  La prospérité and its supplement and only two other libraries own La Référence plus.