Country profile: Republic of Congo
Civil wars and militia conflicts have
plagued the Republic of Congo, which is
sometimes referred to as
Congo Brazzaville.
After three
coup-ridden but relatively peaceful
decades of independence, the former French
colony 
experienced the first of two
destructive bouts of fighting when disputed
parliamentary elections in 1993 led to
bloody, ethnically-based fighting between
pro-government forces and the opposition.
Overview
A ceasefire and the inclusion
of some opposition members in the
government helped to restore peace.
Congo's
capital Brazzaville - a port city on the
Congo river
|
But in 1997 ethnic and
political tensions exploded into a
full-scale civil war, fuelled in part by the prize
of the country's offshore oil wealth, which
motivated many of the warlords.
The army split along ethnic
lines, with most northern officers
joining President Denis Sassou Nguesso's side, and
most southerners backing the rebels. These were
supporters of the former president, Pascal
Lissouba, and his prime minister, Bernard Kolelas,
who had been deposed by President
Sassou Nguesso in 1997.
By the end of 1999 the rebels
had lost all their key positions to the
government forces, who were backed by
Angolan troops. The rebels then agreed to a
ceasefire.
Remnants of the civil war
militias, known as Ninjas, are still
active in the southern Pool region. Most of them
have yet to disarm and many have turned to
banditry.
The Republic of Congo is one of
sub-Saharan Africa's main oil
producers, though 70 percent of the population
lives in poverty. Oil is the mainstay of the
economy and in recent years the country has tried
to increase financial transparency in the sector.
In 2004 the country was
expelled from the Kimberley Process that
is supposed to prevent conflict diamonds from
entering the world supply market. This followed
investigations which found that the Republic of
Congo could not account for the origin of large
quantities of rough diamonds that it was
officially exporting.
IMF debt relief to the country
was delayed in 2006 following
allegations of corruption.
Facts
- Full name: Republic of the Congo
- Population: 3.7 million (UN, 2009)
- Capital: Brazzaville
- Area: 342,000 sq km (132,047 sq miles)
- Major languages: French, indigenous African languages
- Major religions: Christianity, indigenous African beliefs
- Life expectancy: 53 years (men), 55 years (women) (UN)
- Monetary unit: 1 CFA (Communaute Financiere Africaine) franc = 100 centimes
- Main exports: Oil, timber, plywood, sugar, cocoa, coffee, diamonds
- GNI per capita: US $1,970 (World Bank, 2008)
- Internet domain: .cg
- International dialling code: +242
L
eaders
President: Denis Sassou Nguesso
Denis Sassou Nguesso is one of
Africa's longest-serving leaders having
first come to power three decades ago.
Denis Sassou Nguesso
|
He gained his latest seven-year
term after elections in July 2009 which
were boycotted by the opposition, and
from which the main opposition candidate was
excluded.
He was installed as president
by the military in 1979 and lost his
position in the country's first multi-party
elections in 1992.
He returned to power in 1997
after a brief but bloody civil war in
which he was backed by Angolan troops.
A French-trained paratroop
colonel, Mr Sassou Nguesso is seen as a
pragmatist. During his first presidency in 1979-92
he loosened the country's links with the Soviet
bloc and gave French, US and other Western oil
companies roles in oil exploration and
production.
He abandoned the one-party
system in 1992, making the ruling
Congolese Workers Party (PCT) fight for its
political life after more than 20 years as the
sole party.
A French judge announced in May
2009 that he would launch a landmark
investigation into whether Sassou Nguesso,
Omar Bongo, the late president of Gabon, and
Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang
Nguema plundered state coffers to buy luxury homes
and cars in France.
A complaint filed by
Transparency International France accused
the leaders, who deny any wrongdoing, of acquiring
millions of dollars of real estate in Paris and on
the French Riviera and buying luxury cars with
embezzled public money.
Denis Sassou Nguesso was born
in a village in northern Congo in 1943.
In 2006 he became chairman of the 53-nation
African Union.
Media
News broadcasts on state-run
radio and television stations generally
reflect the government line.
Stations from nearby Kinshasa,
in DR Congo, can be received in the
capital and rebroadcasts of the BBC, Radio
France Internationale, and the Voice of America
are available.
A 2001 press law abolished jail
sentences for libel and insult, but
retained the punishment for incitement to violence
and racism.
The newspapers which appear in
Brazzaville are all privately-owned.
Some of them carry criticism of the
government.
The press
- Le Choc - Brazzaville
- L'Observateur - Brazzaville
- L'Humanitaire - Brazzaville
- Le Tam Tam - Brazzaville
- Les Echos du Congo - Brazzaville
- La Semaine Africaine - run by the Catholic church
Television
- TV Congo - operated by
state-run Radiodiffusion Television
Congolaise
Radio
- Radio Congo - operated by
state-run Radiodiffusion Nationale
Congolaise
- Radio Brazzaville - state-run station for capital
- Radio Liberte - private
- Canal FM - Brazzaville community station
News agency
- Agence Congolaise d'Information - state-run
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