Simple directory > Regional > Congo

Country : Congo Official name: République du Congo (Republic of Congo) Head of State: President Denis Sassou-Nguesso (PCT) (since 1997; elected 10 Mar 2002) Head of government: President Denis Sassou-Nguesso (Isidore Mvouba was named on 7 Jan 2005 to the new post of prime minister, a post which does not exist under the constitution.) Ruling party: Coalition of Parti Congolais du Travail (PCT) (Congolese Workers' Party), Forces Démocratiques Unies (FDU) (United Democratic Forces) and independents Area: 342,000 square km Population: 3.47 million (2004) Capital: Brazzaville (political); Pointe-Noire (economic) Official language: French Currency: CFA franc (CFAf) = 100 centimes (Communauté Financière Africaine (African Financial Community) franc) Exchange rate: CFAf507.21 per US$ (Nov 2004); CFAf655.95 per euro (pegged from Jan 1999) GDP per capita: US$900 (2003) GDP real growth: 1.20% (2003) Inflation: 2.00% (2003) Oil production: 243,000 bpd (2003) Balance of trade: US$1.67 billion (2003) Foreign debt: US$5.00 billion (2003)

Historical profile

From the fifteenth century, the Bakongo, Bateke and Sanga began settling what is now the Republic of Congo.

1482 Portuguese explorer Diogo Cao mapped the coastline.

1880s The colonisation of what is now Congo began in the late nineteenth century after the French explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza signed a treaty with the Chief of the Batekes to establish a French protectorate over the north bank of the Congo river.

1910 Middle Congo, as the country was then known, became a colony of French Equatorial Africa.

1928 Africans revolted over forced labour which was used to build the Congo railway. More than 17,000 Africans died in the revolt.

1946 Congo was granted a territorial assembly by the French and representation in the French parliament.

1960 Congo became independent with a catholic priest, Abbé Fulbert Youlou, as president.

1963 Abbé Fulbert Youlou was succeeded by Alfonse Massamba-Debat. Pascal Lissouba became prime minister. The country became a one-party socialist state.

1968--69 Massamba-Debat was forced from office in a coup by Captain Marien Ngouabi, who became president in 1969. The Parti Congolais du Travail (PCT) (Congolese Workers' Party) became the only legal party and continued the previous government's commitment to socialism.

1970 Ngouabi proclaimed Congo a Marxist state.

1977 Ngouabi was assassinated by forces loyal to Massamba-Debat. Massamba-Debat was executed for treason. Joachim Yhombi-Opango of the Comité Militaire du Parti (CMP) (Party of the Military Committee) became president.

1979--92 After a brief presidency under Yhombi-Opango, Colonel Denis Sassou-Nguesso took over in 1979, and remained in power under one-party PCT rule until 1992.

1992 A referendum approved the new constitution. Multi-party legislative elections were won by the Union Panafricaine pour la Démocratie Sociale (UPADS) (Pan-African Union for Social Development), led by Pascal Lissouba. Lissouba was elected president, defeating Sassou-Nguesso.

1993 Political unrest during 1992--93 forced new elections, which were won by UPADS. Civil war broke out over disputes over the elections.

1994 A peace agreement saw members of the opposition join the government.

1997 After the government attempted to disarm supporters of Sassou-Nguesso, civil war broke out in which thousands were killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes. Elections were postponed. After several months of fighting, Sassou-Nguesso succeeded in overthrowing the government of Pascal Lissouba. Sassou-Nguesso assumed the presidency at the head of a National Transitional Council.

1999 The militiamen of Bernard Kolelas and Lissouba entered into negotiations with the government and signed a peace accord.

2001 A peace conference adopted a new constitution. A treaty establishing the Gulf of Guinea Commisssion was signed by five of the seven member states in July (Gabon, Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe, Nigeria and Angola). The new constitution was endorsed by the transitional government and 15,000 militia were demobilised through financial incentives. In December, Lissouba was convicted in absentia of treason and corruption and sentenced to 30 years' hard labour.

2002 A referendum showed that 80 per cent were in favour of the new constitution, revised by the transitional government to strengthen the power of the president. President Sassou-Nguesso was elected. The legislative elections led to the creation of a pro-Sessou-Nguesso coalition consisting of the PCT, the Forces Démocratiques Unies (FDU) (United Democratic Forces) and a number of independents. Disputes surrounding the elections led to intense fighting between government forces and the Ninjas in the south, which reached Brazzaville. The government and two main rebel groups reached an agreement in principle on power-sharing, but fighting continued in the east.

2003 In April, the government, rebel groups and opposition factions signed a pact aimed at ending the civil war, adopting a new constitution and paving the way for elections.

2004 On 12 July, the Republic of Congo, which has been responsible for large-scale diamond smuggling, was expelled from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.

2005 Isidore Mvouba was named on 7 Jan 2005 to the new post of prime minister, a post which does not exist under the constitution.

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