Congo-Brazzaville

History

French explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza who founded the colony of French Congo

Congo-Brazzaville has a rich and complex history. It has been independent for more than 40 years and has forged a path of progress for former colonial nations.

Upon independence in 1960, the former French region of Middle Congo became the Republic of Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville.

There are four major ethnic groups in Congo: Kongo (48 percent), Sangha (20 percent), Teke (17 percent), and M’Bochi (12 percent). The majority of Congolese are Christian (50 percent) or animist (48 percent); two percent are Muslim. Congo hosts roughly 63,000 refugees who come mainly from the neighboring countries of Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. About 12,000 Pygmies (or Baka people who dwell in African forests in the region occupied by Congo and its neighbors) remain in the country today

Congo is led by President Denis Sassou-Nguesso. After cutting the country’s colonial Marxist ties, President Sassou-Nguesso worked to create a multi-party democracy. When the 1992 Congolese elections handed victory to Pascal Lissouba, Sassou-Nguesso peacefully conceded defeat. Elected as president in 1997, Sassou-Nguesso currently leads this emerging democracy as it strives to be a leader in economic and social modernization.

Detailed History:

De Gaulle in Brazzaville

• Following the inhabitance of Pygmies in Congo it was later settled by Bantu groups that currently occupy parts of Angola, Gabon, and Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), causing ethnic affinities and rivalries among these states. After trade links were built leading into the Congo River basin in the late 15th century, European contacts arrived and commercial relationships were quickly established --trading for slaves captured in the interior. When the commerce ceased to exist so did the Bantu kingdoms.
• In the 1880s a French empire builder, Pierre Savorgnon de Brazza arrived and within the next decade secured treaties with all the main local rulers on the right bank of the river, placing their lands under French protection from the Belgians. In 1908, Brazzaville became the federal capital of the French Equatorial Africa (AEF), comprising its colonies of Middle Congo (modern Congo), Gabon, Chad, and Oubangui-Chari (modern Central African Republic).
• During World War II, Brazzaville became the symbolic capital of Free France after siding with General Charles de Gaulle. The Brazzaville Conference of 1944 ushered in a period of major reform in French colonial policy, including the abolition of forced labor, granting of French citizenship and decentralization of certain powers.
• Ethnic rivalries produced sharp struggles among the emerging Congolese political parties and sparked severe riots in Brazzaville in 1959. After the September 1958 referendum approving the new French Constitution, AEF was dissolved. Its four territories became autonomous members of the French Community, and Middle Congo was renamed the Congo Republic. Formal independence was granted in August 1960.
Republic of Congo Fulbert Youlou (2R) with UN Sec'y. Dag Hammarskjold in 1960
• Congo's first president was Fulbert Youlou, a former Catholic priest from the Pool region in the southeast. He rose to political prominence after 1956, and was narrowly elected president by the National Assembly at independence. Youlou's 3 years in power were marked by ethnic tensions and political rivalry. In August 1963, Youlou was overthrown in a 3-day popular uprising (Les Trois Glorieuses) led by labor elements and joined by rival political parties. The Congolese military took charge of the country briefly and installed a civilian provisional government headed by Alphonse Massamba-Debat. Under the 1963 constitution, Massamba-Debat was elected president. However, President Massamba-Debat's term ended abruptly in August 1968, when Capt. Marien Ngouabi and other army officers toppled the government in a coup. After a period of consolidation under the newly formed National Revolutionary Council, Major Ngouabi assumed the presidency on December 31, 1968.
• On March 18, 1977, President Ngouabi was assassinated. An 11-member Military Committee of the Party (CMP) was named to head an interim government with Colonel (later General) Joachim Yhomby-Opango to serve as president of the Republic. Accused of corruption and deviation from party directives, Yhomby-Opango was removed from office on February 5, 1979, by the Central Committee of the Congolese Party of Labor, which then simultaneously designated Vice President and Defense Minister Col. Denis Sassou-Nguesso as interim president. Sassou-Nguesso was soon popularly elected as President of the Central Committee and President of the Republic.
• After two decades of turbulent politics, and with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Congo completed a transition to multi-party democracy with elections in August 1992. Denis Sassou-Nguesso conceded defeat and Congo's new president, Pascal Lissouba, was inaugurated on August 31, 1992.
• As presidential elections scheduled for July 1997 approached, tensions between the Lissouba and Sassou-Nguesso camps mounted. A brief civil war followed and soon restored President Denis Sassou-Nguesso to power.
• During the years 2000-2001, Sassou-Nguesso's government conducted a national dialogue (Dialogue Sans Exclusif), in which the opposition parties and the government agreed to continue on the path to peace.
• A new constitution was drafted in 2001, approved by the provisional legislature and approved by the people of Congo in a national referendum in January 2002. Presidential elections were held in March 2002, and Sassou-Nguesso was again declared the winner. Legislative elections were held in May and June 2002. In March 2003 the government signed a peace accord with the rebel groups and the country has remained stable and calm since that time.