Tonight, like every night, midnight will strike in Malta at the same time as it does in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The peoples of Malta and Kinshasa will welcome the New Year in at the same time. But most will be unaware, if not indifferent, to what a different future lies in store in the near term for each people.

We are often shocked by vast disparities of wealth and liberty when they occur in the same country.

There is something about sharing the same zone of space that leads us to think it unjust if the quality of life was hugely unequal for its inhabitants.

For some reason, we do not have the same attitude toward huge inequalities between people who share the same zone of time. We have more sympathy for our historical ancestors than for our contemporaries, if they live far away.

It happens to me too. Only it will be a bit more difficult for me this time. A month ago, I was in Kinshasa on European Parliament business, an international parliamentary assembly meeting convened to address the problems of the Sahara-Sahelian region. In my last article I discussed how these problems were European problems as much as African ones. Today I would like to discuss the country that hosted that conference, one of the very poorest in the world.

The basic facts about the Democratic Republic of the Congo are well known. In physical size, it is the third largest country in Africa, the 12th in the world. It is one of the richest countries in terms of minerals, being the world’s largest producer of cobalt and one of the largest of copper and diamonds. Yet it is one of the poorest in terms of income, and is second only to Zimbabwe in terms of nominal GDP per capita.

Worse than that, in recent years it has experienced a war involving seven foreign African armies, a so-called African world war that left almost 5.5 million dead. There is hardly any individual in the country who has not been affected, directly or indirectly, by the war.

So much for the known facts and statistics. Coming up against them in practical situations, as I did, is another matter.

The war is formally over but after-effects of protracted violence can still be felt. Kinshasa is not safe. One of our parliamentary colleagues was attacked 25 metres from the hotel. It cannot have been a rare incident. At times a truck with about 20 armed uniformed men was stationed outside our hotel.

As for the poverty, at the airport soldiers begged me for a dollar. During the drive to Kinshasa the welcoming assistant asked to borrow 20 dollars for petrol (which I simply donated to him).

In Kinshasa, social division is so obvious that it is embarrassing. The elite have everything, there is a middle class, and the rest live as they can.

However, the country is rich in resourceful people, not only mineral resources. I saw small patches on pavements being cultivated. Markets are everywhere, bringing together tradesmen, sellers, buyers and customers. I got the impression that anything can be transacted. For instance, even a utensil to mince meat is in short supply, so there is a man with such a simple instrument and people line up to have their meat minced.

Behind this poverty and instability is a long history. This is of course the country that was known as the Belgian Congo, a victim of one of the most repressive colonial administrations. The bulk of the nation’s current woes can be attributed to the long reign from the 1960s to 1997 of the infamous President Joseph Mobutu, who pillaged its wealth. However, his reign was aided and abetted by the US and its allies, who saw in him a staunch anti-communist.

Western freedom, in other words, was buttressed by its absence in Zaire (as the country was called between 1971-97). When the Cold War ended, US support for Mobutu faded noticeably.

Therefore the destinies of Europe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are not entirely unconnected, even if we do not pay too much notice of each other. My main thought today, however, is not about political solutions to what are difficult, complex and almost intractable problems.

It is rather more simple. It is my memory of the people of Kinshasa, many of whom have striking profiles, slender, well proportioned and often good looking. In the face of great adversity, they maintain an attractive presence. It will not mean anything to them but something to me when, tonight, as I toast the new year in, I also briefly toast them.

Likewise, I wish all the readers and staff of The Times a very happy New Year and all the best for 2011.

Dr Attard Montalto is a Labour member of the European Parliament.