HISTORY
First
inhabited by pygmies, Congo was later settled by Bantu groups
that also occupied parts of present-day Angola, Gabon, and Zaire,
forming the basis for ethnic affinities and rivalries among those
states. Several Bantu kingdoms--notably those of the Kongo, the
Loango, and the Teke--built trade links leading into the Congo
River basin. The first European contacts came in the late 15th
century, and commercial relationships were quickly established
with the kingdoms--trading for slaves captured in the interior.
The coastal area was a major source for the transatlantic slave
trade, and when that commerce ended in the early 19th century,
the power of the Bantu kingdoms eroded.
The area
came under French sovereignty in the 1880s. Pierre Savorgnon de
Brazza, a French empire builder, competed with agents of Belgian
King Leopold's International Congo Association (later Zaire) for
control of the Congo River basin. Between 1882 and 1891, treaties
were secured with all the main local rulers on the river's right
bank, placing their lands under French protection. In 1908, France
organized French Equatorial Africa (AEF), comprising its colonies
of Middle Congo (modern Congo), Gabon, Chad, and Oubangui-Chari
(modern Central African Republic). Brazzaville was selected as
the federal capital.
Economic
development during the first 50 years of colonial rule in Congo
centered on natural resource extraction by private companies.
In 1924-34, the Congo-Ocean Railway (CFCO) was built at a considerable
human and financial cost, opening the way for growth of the ocean
port of Pointe-Noire and towns along its route.
During
World War II, the AEF administration sided with Charles DeGaulle,
and Brazzaville became the symbolic capital of Free France during
1940-43. The Brazzaville Conference of 1944 heralded a period
of major reform in French colonial policy, including the abolition
of forced labor, granting of French citizenship to colonial subjects,
decentralization of certain powers, and election of local advisory
assemblies. Congo benefited from the postwar expansion of colonial
administrative and infrastructure spending as a result of its
central geographic location within AEF and the federal capital
at Brazzaville.
The Loi
Cadre (framework law) of 1956 ended dual voting roles and
provided for partial self-government for the individual overseas
territories. Ethnic rivalries then 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.
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. All
members of the Youlou government were arrested or removed from
office. 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 for a 5-year term and named Pascal Lissouba
to serve as Prime Minister. 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. One year later, President Ngouabi proclaimed Congo to be
Africa's first "people's republic" and announced the decision
of the National Revolutionary Movement to change its name to the
Congolese Labor Party (PCT).
On March
16, 1977, President Ngouabi was assassinated. Although the persons
accused of shooting Ngouabi were tried and some of them executed,
the motivation behind the assassination is still not clear. 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 PCT,
which then simultaneously designated Vice President and Defense
Minister Col. Denis Sassou-Nguesso as interim President. The Central
Committee directed Sassou-Nguesso to take charge of preparations
for the Third Extraordinary Congress of the PCT, which proceeded
to elect him President of the Central Committee and President
of the Republic. Under a congressional resolution, Yhomby-Opango
was stripped of all powers, rank, and possessions and placed under
arrest to await trial for high treason. He was released from house
arrest in late 1984 and ordered back to his native village of
Owando.
After
two decades of turbulent politics bolstered by Marxist-Leninist
rhetoric, and with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Congolese
gradually moderated their economic and political views to the
point that, in 1992, Congo completed a transition to multi-party
democracy. Ending a long history of one-party Marxist rule, a
specific agenda for this transition was laid out during Congo's
national conference of 1991 and culminated in August 1992 with
multi-party presidential elections. Sassou-Nguesso conceded defeat
and Congo's new president, Prof. Pascal Lissouba, was inaugurated
on August 31, 1992.
Congolese
democracy experienced severe trials in 1993 and early 1994. President
Lissouba dissolved the National Assembly in November 1992, calling
for new elections in May 1993. The results of those elections
were disputed, touching off violent civil unrest in June and again
in November. In February 1994, all parties accepted the decisions
of an international board of arbiters, and the risk of largescale
insurrection subsided.
However,
Congo's democratic progress was derailed in 1997. As presidential
elections scheduled for July 1997 approached, tensions between
the Lissouba and Sassou camps mounted. When on June 5, President
Lissouba's government forces surrounded Sassou's compound in Brazzaville
with armored vehicles, Sassou ordered his militia to resist. Thus
began a 4-month conflict that destroyed or damaged much of Brazzaville.
In early October, Angolan troops invaded Congo on the side of
Sassou and, in mid-October, the Lissouba government fell. Soon
thereafter, Sassou declared himself President and named a 33-member
government.
In January 1998, the Sassou-Nguesso regime held a National Forum for Reconciliation to determine the nature and duration of the transition period. The forum, tightly controlled by the government, decided elections should be held in about 3 years, elected a transition advisory legislature, and announced that a constitutional convention would finalize a draft constitution. However, the eruption in late 1998 of fighting between Sassou-Nguesso's government forces and a pro-Lissouba and pro-Kolelas armed opposition disrupted the transition to democracy. This new violence also closed the economically vital Brazzaville-Pointe Noire railroad, caused great destruction and loss of life in southern Brazzaville and in the Pool, Bouenza, and Niari regions, and displaced hundreds of thousands of persons. In November and December 1999, the government signed agreements with representatives of many, though not all, of the rebel groups.
The December accord, mediated by President Omar Bongo of Gabon, called for follow-on, inclusive political negotiations between the government and the opposition. During the years 2000-01, 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. Ex-President Lissouba and ex-Prime Minister Kolelas refused to agree and were exiled. They were tried in absentia and convicted in Brazzaville of charges ranging from treason to misappropriation of government funds. Ex-militiamen were granted amnesty, and many were provided micro-loans to aid their reintegration into civil society. Not all opposition members participated. One group, referred to as "Ninjas," actively opposed the government in a low-level guerrilla war in the Pool region of the country. Other members of opposition parties have returned and have opted to participate to some degree in political life.
A new constitution was drafted in 2001, approved by the provisional legislature (National Transition Council), 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 declared the winner. Legislative elections were held in May and June 2002. In March 2003 the government signed a peace accord with the Ninjas, and the country has remained stable and calm since the signing. Internally displaced persons are returning to the Pool region. President Sassou-Nguesso allowed Kolelas to return to Congo for his wife's funeral in October 2005 and subsequently asked that Parliament grant Kolelas amnesty. Parliament complied with Sassou-Nguesso's request in December 2005.
In 2007, Sassou-Nguesso announced he would allow the return of former president Pascal Lissouba, along with a pardon for the 2001 in absentia conviction for “economic crimes” for which Lissouba had been sentenced to 30 years. By early 2008, however, Lissouba had not returned to the country. Former prime minister Joachim Yhombi-Opango, returned to the country in August 2007 after the Council of Ministers granted him amnesty in May for a 2001 conviction in absentia for allegedly improperly selling the country’s oil while in office. Legislative elections were held in June and August 2007 and were widely viewed as disorganized and marred by irregularities, with low voter turnout. Presidential elections will next be held in 2009.
