Republic of the Congo

Republic of the Congo
*République du Congo* (French)
*Repubilika ya Kongo* (Kituba)
*Republiki ya Kongó* (Lingala)
Republic of the Congo République du Congo (French); Repubilika ya Kongo (Kituba); Republiki ya Kongó (Lingala)
Flag	Coat of arms
	Motto: Unité, Travail, Progrès (French); "Unity, Work, Progress"
	Anthem: La Congolaise;
Capital; (and largest city)	Brazzaville; 4°14′S 15°14′E / 4.233°S 15.233°E
Official languages	French
Recognised regional languages	Kongo/Kituba, Lingala
Demonym	Congolese
Government	Republic
Independence	from France
Area
Population
GDP (PPP)	2007 estimate
GDP (nominal)	2007 estimate
HDI (2007)	▲ 0.619 (medium) (130th)
Currency	Central African CFA franc (XAF)
Time zone	WAT
Drives on the	right
Internet TLD	.cg
Calling code	242

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Not to be confused with the Democratic Republic of the Congo; see also the disambiguation page Congo.

The Republic of the Congo (French: République du Congo; Kongo: Repubilika ya Kongo; Lingala: Republiki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville or the Congo, is a country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.

The republic is a former French colony.^[3] Upon independence in 1960, the former French region of Middle Congo became the Republic of the Congo. Congo became a multi-party democracy in 1992. However, a brief civil war in 1997 ended in the restoration of former President Denis Sassou Nguesso to power.

[edit] History

Main article: History of the Republic of the Congo

The earliest inhabitants of the region were Pygmy people, who later were largely displaced and absorbed by Bantu tribes during the Bantu expansions. The Bakongo are a Bantu ethnicity that also occupied parts of present-day Angola, Gabon, and Democratic Republic of the Congo, forming the basis for ethnic affinities and rivalries among those countries. Several Bantu kingdoms—notably those of the Kongo, the Loango, and the Teke—built trade links leading into the Congo River basin.

The inhabitants of the Congo river delta first came into contact with Europeans in the late 15th century with Portuguese expeditions charting the African coastline. Commercial relationships were quickly established between the inland Bantu kingdoms and European merchants who traded various commodities, manufactured goods, and slaves captured from the hinterlands. For centuries, Congo river delta was a major commercial hub for transatlantic trade. However, when direct European colonization of the African continent began in the late 19th century, the power of the Bantu societies in the region eroded.^[4] Following independence as the Congo Republic on August 15, 1960, Fulbert Youlou ruled as the country's first president until labour elements and rival political parties instigated a three-day uprising that ousted him. The Congolese military took charge of the country briefly and installed a civilian provisional government headed by Alphonse Massamba-Débat.

Under the 1963 constitution, Massamba-Débat was elected President for a five-year term but it was ended abruptly with an August 1968 coup d'état. Capt. Marien Ngouabi, who had participated in the coup, 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 Labour Party (PCT). On March 16, 1977, President Ngouabi was assassinated. An 11-member Military Committee of the Party (CMP) was named to head an interim government with Col. (later Gen.) Joachim Yhombi-Opango to serve as President of the Republic.

After decades of turbulent politics bolstered by Marxist-Leninist rhetoric, 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, Prof. Pascal Lissouba, was inaugurated on August 31, 1992.

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. On June 5, President Lissouba's government forces surrounded Sassou's compound in Brazzaville and Sassou ordered members of his private militia (known as "Cobras") to resist. Thus began a four-month conflict that destroyed or damaged much of Brazzaville and caused tens of thousands of civilian deaths. 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. The Congo Civil War continued for another year and a half until a peace deal was struck between the various factions in December 1999. The National Expansionary Growth Regional Operation was signed with representatives of Democratic and Patriotic Forces to end the conflict and work on rebuilding the heavily damaged infrastructure.

Sham elections in 2002 saw Sassou win with almost 90% of the vote cast. His two main rivals Lissouba and Bernard Kolelas were prevented from competing and the only remaining credible rival, Andre Milongo, advised his supporters to boycott the elections and then withdrew from the race. A new constitution, agreed upon by referendum in January 2002, granted the president new powers and also extended his term to seven years as well as introducing a new bicameral assembly. International observers took issue with the organization of the presidential election as well as the constitutional referendum, both of which were reminiscent in their organization of Congo's era of the single-party state.

[edit] Government and politics

Main article: Politics of the Republic of the Congo

The most important of the many political parties are the Democratic and Patriotic Forces or FDP [Denis Sassou Nguesso, president], an alliance consisting of:

Convention for Alternative Democracy
Congolese Labour Party (PCT)
Liberal Republican Party
National Union for Democracy and Progress
Patriotic Union for the National Reconstruction
National Republic Party of Helasia
Union for the National Renewal

Other significant parties include:

Congolese Movement for Democracy and Integral Development or MCDDI [Michel Mampouya]
Pan-African Union for Social Development or UPADS [Martin Mberi]
Rally for Democracy and Social Progress or RDPS [Jean-Pierre Thystere Tchicaya, president]
Rally for Democracy and the Republic or RDR [Raymond Damasge Ngollo]
Union for Democracy and Republic or UDR leader NA
Union of Democratic Forces or UFD, Sebastian Ebao

[edit] Human rights

[edit] Slavery

Many Pygmies in Congo live as slaves to Bantu masters. The nation is deeply stratified between these two major ethnic groups. The Pygmy slaves belong from birth to their Bantu masters in a relationship that the Bantus call a time-honored tradition.^{[citation needed]} Even though the Pygmies are responsible for much of the hunting, fishing and manual labor in jungle villages, Pygmies and Bantus alike say Pygmies are often paid at the master's whim; in cigarettes, used clothing, or even nothing at all. Now UNICEF and human-rights activists are speaking out. A law that would grant special protections to the Pygmy people is awaiting a vote by the Congo parliament.^[5]

[edit] Regions and districts

Main articles: Regions of the Republic of the Congo and Districts of the Republic of the Congo

Regions of the Republic of the Congo

The Republic of the Congo is divided into 10 régions (regions) and one commune, the capital Brazzaville. These are:

The regions are subdivided into forty-six districts.

[edit] Geography

Map of the Republic of the Congo

View of Livingstone Falls.

Main article: Geography of the Republic of the Congo

Congo is located in the central-western part of sub-Saharan Africa, along the Equator. To the south and east of it is the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is also bounded by Gabon to the west, Cameroon and the Central African Republic to the north, and Cabinda (Angola) to the southwest. It has a short Atlantic coast.

The capital, Brazzaville, is located on the Congo River, in the south of the country, immediately across from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The southwest of the country is a coastal plain for which the primary drainage is the Kouilou-Niari River; the interior of the country consists of a central plateau between two basins to the south and north.

[edit] Economy

Main article: Economy of the Republic of the Congo

Cassava is an important food crop in the Republic of Congo.

The economy is a mixture of village agriculture and handicrafts, an industrial sector based largely on petroleum,^[6] support services, and a government characterized by budget problems and overstaffing. Petroleum extraction has supplanted forestry as the mainstay of the economy, providing a major share of government revenues and exports. In the early 1980s, rapidly rising oil revenues enabled the government to finance large-scale development projects with GDP growth averaging 5% annually, one of the highest rates in Africa. The government has mortgaged a substantial portion of its petroleum earnings, contributing to a shortage of revenues. The January 12, 1994 devaluation of Franc Zone currencies by 50% resulted in inflation of 46% in 1994, but inflation has subsided since.^[7] Economic reform efforts continued with the support of international organizations, notably the World Bank and the IMF. The reform program came to a halt in June 1997 when civil war erupted. When Sassou Nguesso returned to power at the war ended in October 1997, he publicly expressed interest in moving forward on economic reforms and privatization and in renewing cooperation with international financial institutions. However, economic progress was badly hurt by slumping oil prices and the resumption of armed conflict in December 1998, which worsened the republic's budget deficit. The current administration presides over an uneasy internal peace and faces difficult economic problems of stimulating recovery and reducing poverty, despite record-high oil prices since 2003. Natural gas and diamonds are also recent major Congolese exports, although Congo was excluded from the Kimberley Process in 2004 amid allegations that most of its diamond exports were in fact being smuggled out of the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo; it was re-admitted to the group in 2007.^[8]^[9] In 2007, The World Bank decided to grant the Democratic Republic of Congo up to $1.3 billion in assistance funds over the next three years.^[10]

[edit] Demographics

Congolese woman.

Main article: Demographics of the Republic of the Congo

The Republic of the Congo's sparse population is concentrated in the southwestern portion of the country, leaving the vast areas of tropical jungle in the north virtually uninhabited. Thus, Congo is one of the most urbanized countries in Africa, with 85% of its total population living in a few urban areas, namely in Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire, or one of the small cities or villages lining the 332-mile (534 km) railway which connects the two cities. In rural areas, industrial and commercial activity has declined rapidly in recent years, leaving rural economies dependent on the government for support and subsistence. Before the 1997 war, about 9,000 Europeans and other non-Africans lived in Congo, most of whom were French; only a fraction of this number remains.^[11] Around 100 American expatriates reside in the Congo.^[11] Pygmies make up between 5 to 10 percent of Congo's population.^[5]

The people of Republic of the Congo are largely a mix of Christians and Animists, accounting for 50% and 48% of the population, respectively. The majority of Christians in the country are Catholic, amounting to 90%, while the remaining 10% comprises various other Christian denominations. Two percent follow Islam and this is primarily due to an influx of foreign workers into the urban centres.^[12]^[13]

[edit] Weather and climate

Climate diagram for Brazzaville

Since the country is located on the Equator, the climate is consistent year-round, with the average day temperature being a humid 24 °C (75 °F) and nights generally between 16-21 °C (60-70 °F). The average yearly rainfall ranges from 1,100 millimetres (43 in) in south in the Niari valley to over 2,000 millimetres (79 in) in central parts of the county. The dry season is from June to August while in the majority of the country the wet season has two rainfall maxima: one in March–May and another in September–November.^[14]

[edit] Flora and fauna

In 2006-07, researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society studied gorillas in heavily forested regions centered on the Ouesso district of the Sangha Region. They suggest a population on the order of 125,000 Western Lowland Gorillas, whose isolation from humans has been largely preserved by inhospitable swamps.^[15]