Congo, Republic of

Country in west-central Africa, bounded north by Cameroon and the Central African Republic, east and south by the Democratic Republic of Congo, west by the Atlantic Ocean, and northwest by Gabon.

Government

The Republic of Congo has a presidential political executive and a multiparty system, but which is dominated by one party. Under its 2002 constitution the president is directly elected for a seven-year term. There is a two-chamber legislature, consisting of a 137-member national assembly and a 66-member senate. National assembly deputies are directly elected in single-member constituencies for a five-year term and senators are elected by regional, district and local councils for a six-year term. The president is both head of state and government, but is supported by a prime minister from the majority party within the assembly. The Congolese Labour Party (PCT) dominates and while opposition parties are permitted they face great obstacles in operating effectively.

History

Occupied from the 15th century by the Bakongo, Bateke, and Sanga, the area was exploited by Portuguese slave traders. From 1889 it came under French administration, becoming part of French Equatorial Africa in 1910.

The Congo became an autonomous republic within the French Community in 1958, and Abbé Fulbert Youlou, a Roman Catholic priest who involved himself in politics and was suspended by the church, became prime minister and then president when full independence was achieved in 1960. Two years later plans were announced for a one-party state, but in 1963, after labour and opposition unrest, Youlou was forced to resign and the military took over.

One-party state

A new constitution was approved in 1963 and the army handed over power to a civilian, and Alphonse Massamba-Débat, a former finance minister. He was elected president for a five-year term. He pursued a policy of ‘scientific socialism’ and his National Revolutionary Movement (MNR) was declared the only political party. But in August 1968 Massamba-Débat was overthrown in a military coup led by Capt Marien Ngouabi. He declared himself president, replaced the national assembly with a National Council of the Revolution and the MNR was renamed the Congolese Labour Party (PCT). Ngouabi proclaimed a Marxist state but kept economic links with France.

In 1970 the nation became the People's Republic of the Congo, with the PCT as the only party, and in 1973 a new constitution provided for an assembly chosen from a single party list. In 1977 Ngouabi was assassinated, and Col Joachim Yhombi-Opango took over. He resigned in 1979 and was succeeded by Denis Sassou-Nguessou, who moved away from Soviet influence and strengthened links with France, the USA, and China.

In 1984 Sassou-Nguessou was elected for another five-year term. He increased his control by combining the posts of head of state, head of government, and president of the central committee of the PCT.

Communism abandoned and multiparty system adopted

Driven by the collapse of communism in its ally, the USSR, in 1990 the PCT announced political reforms, including the abandonment of Marxist-Leninism and a timetable to end the one-party system. The country renamed itself the Republic of Congo in 1991 and a new constitution was approved by referendum in March 1992.

Multiparty elections were held in August 1992 and brought defeat for the PCT and Sassou-Nguessou. A coalition dominated by the Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UPADS) won the most assembly seats, though no overall majority, and Pascal Lissouba became the country's first democratically elected president.

Political instability

In an attempt to secure a stable government, in November 1992 President Lissouba dissolved the national assembly so that fresh elections could be held in May 1993. These elections brought victory for the UPADS-led coalition, winning 69 of the 125 seats, but the opposition contested the results and the elections were eventually declared void.

There followed four years of political instability, which eventually culminated in the outbreak of civil war in 1997. Initially, Lissouba appointed former military leader Jacques-Joachim Yhombi-Opango of the Rally for Democracy and Development as prime minister. But the opposition coalition chose a rival prime minister to head a parallel ‘government of national unity’ and strikes and violence followed.

In February 1994 an international panel examining the disputed elections declared that, although results in nine constituencies were invalid, the UPADS-led coalition retained its absolute assembly majority. In January 1995, in an attempt to create political stability, Yhombi-Opango formed a new government, including members of the opposition. This collapsed in August 1996 and Charles David Ganao became prime minister.

Civil war 1977–99

With presidential elections scheduled for July 1997, tensions between supporters of Lissouba and Sassou-Nguessou mounted. This flared into armed conflict in June 1997 when government forces clashed with Sassou-Nguessou's militia (the ‘Cobras’). Tens of thousands were killed during four months of savage fighting in the capital, Brazzaville.

Initially, France sent tanks to reinforce its 1,250-strong force in Congo, but soon withdrew and helped evacuate more than 5,000 foreign nationals caught up in the violent political conflict. In October 1997, Angolan troops invaded the country on the side of Sassou-Nguessou and Lissouba was ovethrown.

In November 1997 Sassou-Nguesso was sworn in as president. He called for national reconciliation, but fighting continued until December 1999, when rebels signed a peace accord to end their violence. The fighting destroyed much of the capital and left thousands of displaced civilians and victims of violence, including starving children and women routinely raped by soldiers. Oxfam estimated the number of victims to be between 150,000 and half a million, and called on the international community to act to end the state of catastrophe.

New elections

Presidential elections were held in March 2002 and were won by Sassou-Nguesso, with 89% of the vote. But the main opposition leaders, Lissouba and Bernard Kolelas, were prevented from contesting the poll and the remaining significant opposition candidate, ex-president André Milongo, withdrew from the contest in protest at alleged electoral fraud. International observers were critical of the electoral arrangements.

President Sassou-Nguesso's ruling PCT and allied parties won a landslide victory in the June and August 2007 elections to the national assembly, winning two-thirds of the seats. But the opposition claimed the elections had been ‘fraud-ridden’.