Brief History of Republic of the Congo

Republic of the Congo (ROC)

Some Basic Facts and A Brief History

The earliest inhabitants of the ROC area of the Congo were Pygmy peoples who were largely replaced and absorbed into the Bantu tribes. Today they occupy present day Angola, Gabon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a part of todays ethnic affinities and rivalries. The first European contacts were in the late 15^th century, and commerical relationships and exploitation took place along with the trading of Africans as captive slaves . The costal area was a major source for captive Africans for the European slave trade. Brazzaville is the capital of the Republic of the Congo.

There were serveral notable Bantu kingdoms the Kongo, Loango, and the Teke. European contacts came in the late 15th century when relationships were established in the trading of slaves. The coastal area was a major source for the transaltantic slave trade. When commerce ended in the early 19th century so did the power of the Bantu kingdoms.

The Republic of Congo (ROC) a former colony of France was granted independence in 1960. Since independence the ROC has been plauged by civil wars and ethnically-based civil conflicts.

In 1997 the ethnic and political tensions exploded into a full-scale civil war which is said to have been fuelled by the country's offshore oil wealth. Towards the end of 1999 the rebels had lost their key positions within the Government forces which were backed by Angolan troops. A peace accord was signed with southern rebels in 2003 there is said to still be remnants of the civil war militias still active in the southern Pool region.

Captive Africans sent to North and South America and the Caribbean are still dealing with issues of identity and nationalistic attitudes. We seem to still be looking from our captive nation as a source of identity calling ourselves Americans, Caribbeans, etc. As the world becomes more and more globalized we must open our minds and look to where we came from – Africa. We cannot continue to sit ideally while Africa is experienceing another horrorcaust which has been embedded with AIDs while we debate about what we want to call ourselves.

The 1992 elections came after decades of turbulent politics. There were two camps Denis Sassou-Nguesso and Prof. Pascal Lissouba. Sassou-Nguesso conceded defeat and the new president was Prof. Pascal Lissouba who was inaugurated on August 31, 1992.

Although the Congo's democratic progress of an elected president was derailed in 1997 as a result of tensions mounting between the Lissouba and the Sassou camps. As the presidential elections scheduled for July 1997 approached the tensions between the Lissouba and Sassou camps mounted intensely and President Lissouba's government forces surrounded Sassou's compound in Brazzaville and Sassou ordered his militia to resist. This incident resulted in a four-month conflict that damaged much of Brazzaville.

Angola troops invaded the Congo (ROC) on the side of Sassou in October and the Lissouba government fell. Afterwards, Sassou declared himself the President. The civil war contined for another year and a half until a peace deal was made between the various fractions in December of 1999.

The elections of 2002 was won by Sassou with almost 90% of the vote. His two main rivals were Lissouba and Bernard Kolelas but they prevented from competing. The only remailing rival was Andre Milongo who withdrew from the race as an act of boycotting the election.

In January of 2002 a new constitution went into existance that extended the term of the president to seven years. The Congo (ROC) holds a temporary postion in the UN Security Council.

This is a list of cities in the Republic of the Congo.

Congo-Brazzaville is becoming more and more important to world energy markets due to increased offshore oil fields development in West Africa. The Congo is sub-Saharan Africa's fifth largest oil producer after Nigeria, Angola, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea.

Congo-Brazzaville oil is exported through port, Pointe-Noire, which is the major port. Most of the crude oil exports are sent to Western Europe – mostly to France and the United States.

The Republic of the Congo is experiencing relative political stability since 2003. The oil industry is the major share of government revenue and exports since the 1980s. It accounts for two-thirds of Congo’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Despite its oil wealth the Congo (ROC) has experienced budegetary shortfalls, due to shortfalls in world oil prices from (1998 – 1999), public sector expenditures and armed conflicts in (1997, 199-1999 and in 2002). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the Congo (ROC) to enforce transparency and improve public finances.

Overview Important Facts

President: Denis Sassou-Nguesso (since October 25, 1997)

Independence: August 15, 1960 (from France)

Population: 3.0 million

Location: Central West Africa, bordering the Atlantic Ocean and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (to the east and south), Gabon (to the west), Cameroon and the Central African Republic (to the north), and the Angolan (to the south).

Major Cities: Brazzaville (capital), Pointe Noire

Languages: French (official), Kikongo, Lingala and Monokutuba, other African languages

Ethnic Groups: Kongo (48%), Sangha (20%), Batéké (17%), M'Bochi (12%), Others (3%)

Religion: Christian -- predominantly Roman Catholic (50%), Animist (48%), Muslim (2%)