The People's Republic of the Congo was a Marxist-Leninist single-party state from 1970 to 1991. Multiparty elections have been held since 1992, although a democratically elected government was ousted in the 1997 Republic of the Congo Civil War.
The earliest inhabitants of the region were Pygmy people, HP Pavilion DV9000T Battery
who later were largely displaced and absorbed by Bantu-speaking peoples who found 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. HP Pavilion DV9000Z Battery
Several Bantu kingdoms—notably those of the Kongo, the Loango, and the Teke—built trade links leading into the Congo River basin.
The mouth of the Congo was reached by the Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão in 1484. HP Pavilion DV9001CA Battery
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, the Congo river delta was a major commercial hub for transatlantic trade. HP Pavilion DV9001EA Battery
However, when direct European colonization of the African continent began in the late 19th century, the power of the Bantu societies in the region was eroded.[6]
The area north of the Congo River came under French sovereignty in 1880 as a result of Pierre de Brazza's treaty with Makoko of the Bateke.[5] HP Pavilion DV9001TX Battery
This Congo Colony became known first as French Congo, then as Middle Congo in 1903. In 1908, France organized French Equatorial Africa (AEF), comprising Middle Congo, Gabon, Chad, andOubangui-Chari (the modern Central African Republic). Brazzaville was selected as the federal capital. HP Pavilion DV9001XX Battery
Economic development during the first 50 years of colonial rule in Congo centered on natural resource extraction. The methods were often brutal: establishment of the Congo–Ocean Railroad following World War I has been estimated to have cost at least 14,000 lives.[5]
During the Nazi occupation of France during World War II, HP Pavilion DV9003CA Battery
Brazzaville functioned as the symbolic capital of Free Francebetween 1940–1943.[7] The Conference of 1944 heralded a period of major reform in French colonial policy. 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.[4] HP Pavilion DV9003EA Battery
It also received a local legislature after the adoption of the 1946 constitution that established the Fourth Republic.
Following the revision of the French constitution that established the Fifth Republic in 1958, the AEF was dissolved and its constituent parts reformed into autonomous colonies within the French Community. HP Pavilion DV9003TX Battery
During these reforms, Middle Congo became known as the Republic of the Congo in 1958[8] and published its first constitution in 1959.[9] Antagonism between the pro-Opangault Mbochis and the pro-Youlou Balalis resulted in a series of riots in Brazzaville in February 1959, which had to be subdued by the French army. HP Pavilion DV9003XX Battery
The Republic of the Congo was granted full independence from France 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 byAlphonse Massamba-Débat. HP Pavilion DV9004TX Battery
Under the 1963 constitution, Massamba-Débat was elected President for a five-year term.[4] The regime adopted "scientific socialism" as the country's constitutional ideology.[10]
In 1965, Congo established relations with the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, North Korea and North Vietnam.[10] HP Pavilion DV9004XX Battery
Massamba-Débat was unable to reconcile various institutional and ideological factions[10] and his regime ended abruptly with an August 1968 coup d'état. Marien Ngouabi, who had participated in the coup, assumed the presidency on December 31, 1968. HP Pavilion DV9005CA Battery
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. HP Pavilion DV9005EA Battery
An 11-member Military Committee of the Party (CMP) was named to head an interim government with Joachim Yhombi-Opango to serve as President of the Republic. Two years later, Yhombi-Opango was forced from power and Denis Sassou Nguesso become the new president.[4] HP Pavilion DV9005TX Battery
Sassou Nguesso aligned the country with the Eastern Bloc and signed a twenty-year friendship pact with the Soviet Union. Over the years, Sassou had to rely more onpolitical repression and less on patronage to maintain his dictatorship.[11] HP Pavilion DV9005US Battery
Pascal Lissouba, who became Congo's first elected president during the period of multi-party democracy, attempted to implement economic reforms with IMF backing to liberalise the economy. In June 1996 the IMF approved a three-year SDR69.5m (US$100m) enhanced structural adjustment facility (ESAF) and was on the verge of announcing a renewed annual agreement when civil war broke out in Congo in mid-1997. HP Pavilion DV9006EA Battery
The Economist Intelligence Unit, Country Report Congo-Brazzaville, 2003. p. 24.</ref> .
Congo's democratic progress was derailed in 1997 when Lissouba and Sassou started to fight over power. As presidential elections scheduled for July 1997 approached, tensions between the Lissouba and Sassou camps mounted. HP Pavilion DV9006TX Battery
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. HP Pavilion DV9007EA Battery
In early October, the Angolan socialist regime began an invasion of Congo to install Sassou to power. In mid-October, the Lissouba government fell. Soon thereafter, Sassou declared himself President.[4]
In the controversial elections in 2002, Sassou won with almost 90% of the vote cast. HP Pavilion DV9007TX Battery
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.[12] A new constitution, agreed upon by referendum in January 2002, HP Pavilion DV9008EA Battery
granted the president new powers, extended his term to seven years, and introduced a new bicameral assembly. International observers took issue with the organization of the presidential election and the constitutional referendum, both of which were reminiscent in their organization of Congo's era of the single-party state.[13]
HP Pavilion DV9008EU Battery
Following the presidential elections, fighting restarted in the Pool region between government forces and rebels led byPastor Ntumi; a peace treaty to end the conflict was signed in April 2003.[14]
The regime held the presidential election in July 2009.[15] HP Pavilion DV9008NR Battery
According to the Congolese Observatory of Human Rights, a non-governmental organization, the election was marked by "very low" turnout and "fraud and irregularities."[16] The regime announced Sassou as the winner.
Government and politics
Congo-Brazzaville has had a multi-party political system since the early 1990s, HP Pavilion DV9008TX Battery
although the system is heavily dominated by President Denis Sassou Nguesso; he has lacked serious competition in the presidential elections held under his rule. Sassou Nguesso is backed by his own Congolese Labour Party (French: Parti Congolais du Travail) as well as a range of smaller parties. HP Pavilion DV9009CL Battery
Internationally, Sassou's regime has been hit by corruption revelations despite attempts to censor them. One French investigation found over 110 bank accounts and dozens of lavish properties in France; Sassou denounced embezzlement investigations as "racist" and "colonial".[17][18][19] HP Pavilion DV9009NR Battery
Human rights
As of 2008, the main media are owned by the government but many more privately-run forms of media are being created. There is one government-owned television station and around 10 small private television channels. HP Pavilion DV9009TX Battery
Many Pygmies in Congo live in precarious conditions, to which UNICEF and human-rights activists have voiced their concerns [20] On 30 December 2010, the Congolese parliament adopted a law for the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples. HP Pavilion DV9009US Battery
This law is the first of its kind in Africa, and its adoption is a historic development for indigenous peoples on the continent.
Geography and climate
Congo is located in the central-western part of sub-Saharan Africa, along the Equator, lying between latitudes 4°N and 5°S, and longitudes 11° and 19°E. HP Pavilion DV9010CA Battery
To the south and east of it is the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is also bounded by Gabon to the west, Cameroon and theCentral African Republic to the north, and Cabinda (Angola) to the southwest. It has a shortAtlantic 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. HP Pavilion DV9010EA Battery
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. Forests are under increasing exploitation pressure.[23]
Since the country is located on the Equator, the climate is consistent year-round, HP Pavilion DV9010TX Battery
with the average day temperature being a humid 24 °C (75 °F) and nights generally between 16 °C(61 °F) and 21 °C (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 country. HP Pavilion DV9010US Battery
The dry season is from June to August while in the majority of the country the wet season has two rainfall maxima: one in Mar-May and another in September–November.[24]
In 2006–07, researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society studied gorillas in heavily forested regions centered on the Ouesso district of the Sangha Region. HP Pavilion DV9011EA Battery
They suggest a population on the order of 125,000 Western Lowland Gorillas, whose isolation from humans has been largely preserved by inhospitable swamps.[25]
Economy
The economy is a mixture of village agriculture and handicrafts, an industrial sector based largely onpetroleum,[26] HP Pavilion DV9011XX Battery
support services, and a government characterized by budget problems and overstaffing. Petroleum extraction has supplanted forestry as the mainstay of the economy. In 2008, oil sector accounted for 65% of the GDP, 85% of government revenue, and 92% of exports.[27] HP Pavilion DV9012EA Battery
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. HP Pavilion DV9012TX Battery
The January 12, 1994, devaluation of Franc Zone currencies by 50% resulted in inflation of 46% in 1994, but inflation has subsided since.
Economic reform efforts continued with the support of international organizations, notably the World Bankand the International Monetary Fund. HP Pavilion DV9013CA Battery
The reform program came to a halt in June 1997 when civil war erupted. When Sassou Nguesso returned to power at the end of the war in October 1997, he publicly expressed interest in moving forward on economic reforms and privatization and in renewing cooperation with international financial institutions. HP Pavilion DV9013CL Battery
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, HP Pavilion DV9014EA Battery
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.
HP Pavilion DV9014TX Battery
The Republic of the Congo also has base metal, gold, iron and phosphate deposits.[31] The country is a member of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA).[32] The Congolese government has signed an agreement to lease 200,000 hectares of land to South African farmers to reduce its dependence on imports. HP Pavilion DV9015EA Battery
Demographics
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, HP Pavilion DV9015TX Battery
with 70% 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 534-kilometre (332 mi) 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.[35] HP Pavilion DV9016EA Battery
Ethnically and linguistically the population of the Republic of the Congo is diverse—Ethnologue recognises 62 spoken languages in the country[36]—but can be grouped into three categories. The Kongo are the largest ethnic group and form roughly half of the population. HP Pavilion DV9016TX Battery
The most significant subgroups of the Kongo are Laari in Brazzaville and Pool regions and Vili around Pointe-Noire and along the Atlantic coast. The second largest group are the Teke who live to the north of Brazzaville with 17% of the population. Boulangui (M’Boshi) live in northwest and in Brazzaville and form 12% of the population.[37][38] HP Pavilion DV9017EA Battery
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.[35] Around 300American expatriates reside in the Congo.[35] Nearly 2,000 white South African farmers have expressed interest in going to Congo.[39] Pygmies make up 2% of Congo's population.[40] HP Pavilion DV9017TX Battery
The people of Republic of the Congo are largely a mix of Catholics and Protestants, who account for 50.5% and 40.2% of the population respectively. The majority of Christians in the country are Catholic, while the remaining comprises various other Christian denominations. Followers of Islam make up 1.3% of the population, and this is primarily due to an influx of foreign workers into the urban centres.[41] HP Pavilion DV9018EA Battery
Health
Public expenditure on health was at 1.2% of the GDP in 2004, whereas private expenditure was at 1.3%.[42] HIV prevalence is at several percent among 15–49 year olds.[42] HP Pavilion DV9018TX Battery
Health expenditure was at US$ 30 per capita in 2004[42] A large proportion of the population is undernourished.[42] There were 20 physicians per 100,000 persons in the early 2000s (decade).
Education
Public expenditure of the GDP was less in 2002–05 than in 1991.[42] HP Pavilion DV9019EA Battery
Public education is theoretically free and compulsory for under-16-year olds,[43] but in practice, expenses exist.[43] Net primary enrollment rate was 44% in 2005, much less than the 79% in 1991.[42] The country has universities. Education between ages six and sixteen is compulsory. HP Pavilion DV9019TX Battery
Students who complete six years of primary school and seven years of secondary school obtain a baccalaureate. At the university, students can obtain a bachelor's degree in three years and a master's after four. Marien Ngouabi University—which offers courses in medicine, law, and several other fields—is the country's only public university. HP Pavilion DV9020TX Battery
Instruction at all levels is in French, and the educational system as a whole models the French system. The educational infrastructure has been seriously degraded as a result of political and economic crises. There are no seats in most classrooms, forcing children to sit on the floor. HP Pavilion DV9020XX Battery
Enterprising individuals have set up private schools, but they often lack the technical knowledge and familiarity with the national curriculum to teach effectively. Families frequently enroll their children in private schools only to find they cannot make the payments. HP Pavilion DV9021TX Battery
The history of the Republic of the Congo has been marked by French colonization, a transition to independence, Marxist-Leninism, and the transition to a market-oriented economy.
Bantus and Pygmies
The earliest inhabitants of the region comprising present-day Congo were the Bambuti people. HP Pavilion DV9021XX Battery
The Bambuti were linked to Pygmy tribes whose Stone Age culture was slowly replaced by Bantu tribes coming from regions north of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo about 2,000 years ago, introducing Iron Age culture to the region. The main Bantu tribe living in the region were the Kongo, HP Pavilion DV9022EA Battery
also known as Bakongo, who established mostly weak and unstable kingdoms along the mouth, north and south of the Congo River. The capital of this Kongolese kingdom, Mbanza Kongo, later baptized as São Salvador by the Portuguese, is a town in northern Angola near the border with the DRC. HP Pavilion DV9022TX Battery
From the capital they ruled over an empire encompassing large parts of present-day Angola, the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ruling over nearby tributary states often by appointing sons of the Kongo kings to head these states. It had six so-called provinces called Mbemba, Soyo, Mbamba, Mbata, Nsundiand Mpangu. HP Pavilion DV9023 Battery
With the Kingdom of Loango in the north and the Kingdom of Mbundu in the south being tributary states. In the East it bordered on the Kwango river, a tributary of the Congo River. In total the kingdom is said to have had 3 to 4 million inhabitants and a surface of about 300,000 km². HP Pavilion DV9023US Battery
According to oral traditions it was established in around 1400 when King Lukena Lua Nimi conquered the kingdom of Kabunga and established Mbanza Kongo as its capital.
Portuguese exploration
This African Iron Age culture came under great pressure with the arrival of the first Europeans, being in this case the Portuguese explorers. HP Pavilion DV9024 Battery
In Portugal, King John II said in order to break Venetian and Ottoman control over trade with the East, they needed to organise a series of expeditions southwards along the African coast with the idea of establishing direct contacts with Asia. In 1482–1483, Captain Diogo Cão, sailing southwards on uncharted Congo River, HP Pavilion DV9024EA Battery
discovered the mouth of the river, and became the first European to encounter the Kingdom of Kongo.[1][2] In the beginning relations were limited and considered beneficial to both sides. With Christianity easily being accepted by the local nobility, leading on 3 May 1491 to the baptizing of king Nzinga a Nkuwu as the first Christian Kongolese king João I.
HP Pavilion DV9030EA Battery
Being replaced after his death in 1506 by his son Nzinga Mbemba who ruled as king Afonso I until 1543. Under his reign Christianity gained a strong foothold in the country with many churches being built in Mbanza of which the Kulumbimbi Cathedral (erected between 1491 and 1534) being the most impressive. HP Pavilion DV9030US Battery
In theory both the kings of Portugal and Kongo were considered equals exchanging letters as such. Kongo at some point even established diplomatic relations with the Vatican, with the Pope appointing a local as bishop for the region.
Slave trade
Relations between both kingdoms deteriorated rapidly after 1510. HP Pavilion DV9033 Battery
The discovery of Brazil in 1500 and the need for labor to work on the Portuguese plantations in Brazil, Cape Verde and São Tomé led Portugal to look for more slaves. As the Portuguese's demand for black slaves grew, the pressure on the Kongo kings increased. HP Pavilion DV9033CL Battery
With the Kongo king Afonso I complaining in 1526 to his Portuguese counterpart, John III, bitterly of the damage done to his kingdom by this trade, which was depopulating whole areas and leading to constant wars with his neighbors. At some point even members of the royal family were taken and deported as slaves to work on these plantations. HP Pavilion DV9035EA Battery
It is estimated that by the end of the 18th century European traders took about 350,000 slaves from the region of the present-day Republic of Congo.
Revolts
The result was a series of revolts against Portuguese rule of which the battle of Mbwila and the revolt led by Kimpa Vita (Tchimpa Vita) were the most important. HP Pavilion DV9035NR Battery
The Battle of Mbwila (or Battle of Ambouilla or Battle of Ulanga) was the result of a conflict between the Portuguese led by governor André Vidal de Negreiros and the Kongolese king António I concerning mining rights. HP Pavilion DV9036 Battery
With the Kongolese refusing to give the Portuguese extra territorial rights and the Portuguese angry because of Kongolese support for previous Dutch invasions of the region. During the battle on 25 October 1665 an estimated 20,000 Kongolese fought against the Portuguese who won the battle thanks to the early death in battle of the Kongolese king António I. HP Pavilion DV9036EA Battery
The revolt of Kimpa Vita was another attempt to regain independence from the Portuguese. Baptised around 1684 as Dona Béatrice, Kimpa Vita was raised Catholic and being very pious she became a nun seeing visions of St. Anthony of Padua ordering her to restore the kingdom of Kongo to its former glory. HP Pavilion DV9037 Battery
Creating the Anthonian prophetic movement she interfered directly in the then civil war between the three members of the local nobility claiming the Kongolese throne, João II, Pedro IV and Pedro Kibenga. In it she took sides against Pedro IV, considered the favorite of the Portuguese. Her revolt, during which she captured the capital Mbanza Kongo, was short lived. HP Pavilion DV9037EA Battery
She was captured by the forces of Pedro IV and under orders of Portuguese Capuchin Friars condemned for being a witch and a heretic and consequently burned to death. For many African Niger nationalists she is the African version of Joan of Arc and an early symbol of African resistance against colonialism. HP Pavilion DV9038 Battery
Kongo's disintegration
As a result of all these wars the kingdom of the Loango in the north gained independence from Kongo. Also new kingdoms came to existence of which the Téké was the most important, ruling over a large area encompassing present-day Brazzaville and Kinshasa. HP Pavilion DV9038EA Battery
Portugal's position in Europe suffered a major change in 1580 when the Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal were united by a personal union under King Philip, creating the Iberian Union which lasted until 1640. This resulted in a diminished role for Portugal in African affairs, including the area around the mouth of the Congo River. HP Pavilion DV9039 Battery
The Kingdom of Kongo was reduced to a small enclave in the north of Angola with King Pedro V in 1888 finally accepting to become a vassal of the Portuguese. The Portuguese abolished the kingdom after the revolt of the Kongolese in 1914. HP Pavilion DV9039EA Battery
Scramble for raw materials
The period leading up to the Berlin Conference on Africa saw a rush by the major European powers to increase their control of the African continent. The rise in Western Europe of capitalism and the consequent industrialization led to a fast growing demand for African raw materials like rubber, palm oil and cotton. HP Pavilion DV9040EA Battery
Those who had these raw materials could have their economy grow strong. Others would lose out. This resulted in a new and more intensified scramble for Africa.
The Congo River hereby was a prime target for this new conquest by the European nations. HP Pavilion DV9040EU Battery
Here the French, the BelgianKing Leopold II and the Portuguese, in close cooperation with the British, fought for control of this area. Resulting in the division of the mouth of the Congo River between Portugal, who obtained Cabinda, an enclave north of the Congo River situated on the Atlantic Coast, HP Pavilion DV9040TX Battery
the French who seized the large area north of the River, and king Leopold II gaining only a small foothold at the mouth of the Congo River but obtaining the huge hinterland, the present-day Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). Hereby Leopold II obtained control via his International African Society and later the International Congolese Society, HP Pavilion DV9040US Battery
so-called philanthropic organizations who hired the British explorer Henry Morton Stanley to establish its authority. This resulted in the creation of the Congo Free State, the private empire of Leopold II. On November 15, 1908 the Belgian parliament annexed the colony, the reign of Leopold II over Congo being discredited. HP Pavilion DV9041 Battery
Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza
On the north bank of the river arrived the French explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, born in the Italian city of Rome in 1852. As a French naval officer he refused to work for the International African Society and instead helped the French in their conquest of the area north of the Congo River. HP Pavilion DV9041EA Battery
Traveling from the Atlantic Ocean coast in present-day Gabon via the rivers Ogooué and Lefini he arrived in 1880 in the kingdom of the Téké where on 10 September 1880 he signed the treaty with kingMakoko establishing French control over the region and making his capital soon afterwards at the small village named Mfoa later to be called Brazzaville. HP Pavilion DV9042 Battery
Establishing control
Establishing French control was difficult. Belgian King Leopold II also tried to gain a foothold on the northern bank of the Congo River and send Stanley to the area around Brazzaville. HP Pavilion DV9042EA Battery
Following this was a series of revolts against the French of which the Bahangala Revolt led by Mabiala Ma Nganga was the first important one. It started in 1892 with the murder of the French administrator Laval and ended with the killing by the French of its leader in 1896. HP Pavilion DV9043 Battery
Many of the revolts were the result of French policy of maltreating the local population as with the introduction of forced labor. In fact the locals lost their entire rights through the Code de l'indigénat Act. A law, which introduced forced labor, made it illegal for the local population to publicly air its grievances and excluded them from all the important jobs. HP Pavilion DV9043EA Battery
Because the French government did not want to spend too much money on its colony it allowed for the establishment of the so-called Concessionary Companies, monopolies given a free hand to exploit the colony's resources except at a few strategic places, mainly around the Congo River. Most of these companies failed because of a shortage of funds. HP Pavilion DV9044 Battery
In 1911 parts of the colony (the so called New Cameroon territories) were ceded to the German Empire in exchange for German recognition of France's rights to Morocco. The German rule lasted only five years. New Cameroon returned to France in 1916, after the fall of German forces in Africa. French rule was brutal and led to many thousands of deaths. HP Pavilion DV9044EA Battery
The construction between 1921 and 1934 of the 511 km long railway, the Chemin de Fer Congo-Océan between Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire is for example said to have cost the lives of around 23,000 locals and a few hundred Europeans. Any resistance against French colonial rule, however small, was brutally repressed. HP Pavilion DV9045 Battery
French administration
The first name given officially on 1 August 1886 for the new colony was Colony of Gabon and Congo. On 30 April 1891 this was renamed Colony of French Congo, consisting of Gabon and Middle Congo, the name the French gave to Congo-Brazzaville at that time. HP Pavilion DV9045EA Battery
On 15 January 1910 the colony again was renamed to French Equatorial Africa (Afrique Equatoriale Française or AEF), this time it also included Chad and Oubangui-Chari, nowadays the Central African Republic. Congo-Brazzaville gained autonomy on the November 28, 1958 and independence from France on the August 15, 1960. HP Pavilion DV9046 Battery
The French government ruled it through a Governor-General until the elections of 1957 when a High Commissioner of the République took over. Ruling as Colonial Heads of French Equatorial Africa Total population in 1950 for the whole AEF was 4,143,922, except for around 15,000 al of them indigenous people. HP Pavilion DV9046EA Battery
The capital of the AEF was Brazzaville, for Middle Congo the capital was Pointe Noire.
World War II
As with the arrival of the Portuguese events in Europe again had a deep impact on the affairs of Congo-Brazzaville, and Africa in general. Marshal Philippe Pétain surrendered to Germany on 22 June 1940, and this gave birth to the so-called Vichy France republic. HP Pavilion DV9047 Battery
Pétain had earlier refused to continue the war against Germany from African territory alongside Great Britain. With the help of a handful of local French administrators and officers, the British, and the Belgian government in exile Charles de Gaulle's Free French won over large parts of the French Empire. HP Pavilion DV9047EA Battery
Politicians such as René Pleven, who later became Prime Minister, and officers as General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, Lieutenant René Amiot, Captain Raymond Delange, Colonel Edgar De Larminat and Adolphe Sicé helped him to gain control of the AEF territory. HP Pavilion DV9048 Battery
In three days troops loyal to De Gaulle took control of Chad (26 August 1940), Cameroon (27 August) and of Middle Congo (the 28th of August). Brazzaville hereby became the capital of the so-called Free French in Africa, ruled in theory by a Conseil de défense de l'Empire set up by De Gaulle on 27 October 1940. HP Pavilion DV9048EA Battery
Felix Eboué
In this revolt the then-governor of Chad Félix Eboué played a key role. Because of this and his earlier support for De Gaulle he became Governor General of the Afrique Equatoriale Française (AEF) in 1940, the first not white to achieve this position in French colonial history. HP Pavilion DV9049 Battery
Born in 1884 in French Guiana this descendant of African slaves was a key figure together with René Pleven in the organization by the De Gaulle government of the Brazzaville Conference of 1944, which took place between the January 30 and February 8, 1944 and which did set out the new direction of French colonial policies after World War II. HP Pavilion DV9049EA Battery
Policies already put forward by Eboué in his 1941 book entitled "La nouvelle politique coloniale de l'A.E.F." This conference led to the abolition of forced labor and the code de l'indigénat, which made the political and social activities of the indigenous people illegal. HP Pavilion DV9050 Battery
This in turn led to the new French constitution of the Fourth Republic approved on 27 October 1946 and the election of the first African members of Parliament in Paris. For Eboué and the new French government the people in the colonies were officially part of the French empire and had a new series of rights. HP Pavilion DV9050EA Battery
A severely weakened France, under pressure from the US, had hardly any option but to change its colonial policies.
Rise of nationalism
Governor General Felix Eboué had a carrot and stick approach to local Congolese grievances. HP Pavilion DV9051 Battery
While allowing certain freedoms he brutally repressed any activities deemed dangerous to French colonial control. The case of the Congolese trade unionist André Matsoua (Matswa) shows his tough approach to political dissent.
André Matsoua can be seen as the father of modern Congolese nationalism.
HP Pavilion DV9051EA Battery
His rise shows how, in spite of the Code de l'Indigénat and the brutal repression, Africans in French colonies were able to set up resistance movements to colonial rule. Local schools run by French missionaries, as elsewhere in Africa formed the basis of this rise of African nationalism. HP Pavilion DV9052 Battery
André Matsoua got his education and contacts with European thinking through the church. Born in 1899 in Mandzakala he joined the French customs administration in Brazzaville in 1919 and soon after left for France where he joined the French army to fight in Morocco during the rebellion of . HP Pavilion DV9052EA Battery
He returned home as a non-commissioned officer. In 1926 he in Paris formed the Association des Originaires de l'A.E.F. with the purpose of helping people from his region living in France. For this he got support from some sections of French society as the French Communist Party and elements within the Free Masonry movement. HP Pavilion DV9053 Battery
When in 1929 his group also became active in Congo itself and demanded an end to the Code de l'Indigénat, things changed. In 1929 the French dissolved Matsoua's association and he together with some of his friends were jailed and sent in exile to Chad, leading to riots and a campaign of disobedience against the French administration lasting many years. HP Pavilion DV9053EA Battery
He however escaped to France in 1935 where under a new identity he continued his political work. Showing his loyalty to France, in spite of the harsh repression, he joined the French army to fighting the German invasion in 1940. HP Pavilion DV9054 Battery
Wounded, he was rearrested, and sent back to Brazzaville where on 8 February 1941 he was sentenced under Felix Eboué to work in labor camps for the rest of his life. He died under unclear circumstances in prison on 13 January 1942. His supporters maintain that he was murdered, HP Pavilion DV9054EA Battery
and began the Matsouanist movement, active chiefly among the Lari, even after independence.
Road to independence
The most prominent Congolese politician until 1956 was Jean-Félix Tchicaya, born in Libreville on 9 November 1903 and a member of the royal family of the Kingdom of Loango. HP Pavilion DV9055 Battery
Together with Ivory Coast leader Félix Houphouët-Boigny and others, he formed the Rassemblement Démocratique Africain (RDA) in 1946 and, in 1947, the Parti Progressiste Africain. On 21 November 1945, Tchicaya became one of the first African leaders elected to the French parliament, giving him great prestige in his native country. HP Pavilion DV9055EA Battery
Although Tchicaya was on the left of the French political spectrum, he never strongly questioned French colonial rule. This resulted in a loss of influence as the Congo prepared for independence, influenced by nationalist anti-colonial leaders as Kwame Nkrumah from Ghana and Egyptian President Gamel Abdel Nasser. HP Pavilion DV9056 Battery
Only by aligning himself with his erstwhile enemy, the more radical Jacques Opangault in the parliamentary elections of March 31, 1957 could he continue to play a leading role in Congolese political life.
Prior to independence, the French establishment and Catholic Church feared Opangault's radicalism and favored the rise of Fulbert Youlou, a former priest. HP Pavilion DV9056EA Battery
The defection of Georges Yambot from the African Socialist Movement (MSA) to Youlou's Union Démocratique pour la Défense d'Intérêts Africains (UDDIA) helped Youlou become Prime Minister in 1958. This led to the establishment of the Republic of Congo on 28 November 1958 (with Brazzaville replacing Point Noire as the country's capital). HP Pavilion DV9057 Battery
On 16 February 1959, a revolt organized by Opangault and his MSA erupted in clashes along tribal lines between Southerners, supporting Youlou, and people from the North, loyal to the MSA. The riots were suppressed by French army and Opangault was arrested. In total about 200 people died. HP Pavilion DV9057EA Battery
Prime Minister Youlou then held the elections for which Opangault had previously asked in vain. After the May 9 arrest of several politicians, including veteran politician Simon Kikhounga Ngot, because of an alleged communist plot, parliamentary elections were convincingly won by Youlou. HP Pavilion DV9058 Battery
On 12 July 1960 France agreed to Congo becoming fully independent [3]. On 15 August 1960, the Republic of Congo became an independent country and Fulbert Youlou became its first President.
In November that year, Youlou released Opangault, Ngot and other adversaries, as part of an amnesty. HP Pavilion DV9058EA Battery
In return both politicians, as well as Germain Bicoumat, joined Youlou's government and received ministerial posts, effectively destroying any organized political opposition.
Oil
Shortly before gaining independence an event occurred that in the years to come would have deep influence on the country and its relations with the outside world, mainly France. HP Pavilion DV9059 Battery
In 1957 near Pointe Indienne the French Societé des Pétroles de l'Afrique Equatoriale Françaises (SPAEF) found oil and gas reserves offshore in sufficient exploitable quantities. Although French geologists already in 1926 established for certain the presence of oil and gas in the country only then France started exploiting these reserves. HP Pavilion DV9059EA Battery
The reason was that in Algeria a war of independence was fought the French were losing. And Algeria until then was the main source of oil and gas destined for the French market. To remain independent of the American and British oil majors France had to look elsewhere for its supply. For some the discovery of oil of the Congolese coast was a blessing. HP Pavilion DV9060EA Battery
For the majority of the local population it rather proved to be a curse as the International Monetary Fund in its yearly reports on the country a few years ago sadly observed.
Les Trois Glorieuses and the 1968 Coup d'état
As Brazzaville had been the capital of the large federation of French Equatorial Africa, it had an important workforce and lots of trade unions. HP Pavilion DV9060US Battery
Further radicalization elsewhere in Africa as a result of the decolonization led to revolt against the dictatorial rule of Youlou. Following Youlou's 6 August 1960 announcement of the formation of a one-party state with only one legal trade union, trade unions started their revolt on the 13th of August. HP Pavilion DV9061 Battery
Youlou's palace was besieged on the 15th by angry workers and the French refused to intervene militarily, and he was forced to resign. This uprising is known as Les Trois Glorieuses(the Three Glorious Days), named after the French July Revolution against King Charles X in 1830. HP Pavilion DV9061EA Battery
Fulbert Youlou and his main supporters were arrested by the military and ceased to play any further role in Congolese political life.
The Congolese military took charge of the country briefly and installed a civilian provisional government headed by Alphonse Massamba-Débat. HP Pavilion DV9062 Battery
Under the 1963constitution, Massamba-Débat was elected President for a 5-year term and named Pascal Lissouba to serve as Prime Minister.
President Massamba-Débat's term ended in August 1968 when Captain Marien Ngouabi and other army officers toppled the government in a coup. HP Pavilion DV9062EA Battery
After a period of consolidation under the newly formed National Revolutionary Council, Ngouabi assumed the presidency on December 31, 1968. One year later, President Ngouabi proclaimed the People's Republic of the Congo, Africa's first People's Republic and announced the decision of the National Revolutionary Movement to change its name to the Congolese Party of Labour (PCT). HP Pavilion DV9064 Battery
Assassination of Ngouabi and election of Sassou-Nguesso
On March 18, 1977 President Ngouabi was assassinated. A number of people were accused of shooting Ngouabi tried and some of them executed, including former PresidentAlphonse Massemba-Débat, but there was little evidence to prove their involvement, and the motive behind the assassination remains unclear. HP Pavilion DV9064EA Battery
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 two years in power, Yhombi-Opango was accused of corruption and deviation from party directives, HP Pavilion DV9065 Battery
and 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, HP Pavilion DV9065EA Battery
which proceeded to elect him President of the Central Committee and President of the Republic. Under a congressional resolution, Yhombi-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. HP Pavilion DV9066 Battery
Democracy and civil war
After 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. HP Pavilion DV9066EA Battery
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 parliamentary andpresidential elections. Sassou Nguesso conceded defeat and Congo's new president, Professor Pascal Lissouba, was inaugurated on August 31, 1992. HP Pavilion DV9067 Battery
Congolese democracy experienced severe trials in 1993 and early 1994. The President 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. HP Pavilion DV9067EA Battery
In February 1994 the decisions of an international board of arbiters were accepted by all parties, and the risk of large-scale insurrection subsided.
Mr. Lissouba lost favour with the French government early in his presidency by asking the American-owned Occidental Petroleum company to provide financial support for his Government in exchange for promises of future oil production. HP Pavilion DV9068 Battery
As the French company Elf Aquitaine (which reaped much of its profits from the Republic of the Congo) had only just recently opened a large deep-water oil platform off the coast of Pointe-Noire. Mr. Lissouba was pressured by the French into canceling all contracts with Occidental Petroleum, but suspicions of Lissouba remained.[4] HP Pavilion DV9068EA Battery
However, Congo's democratic progress derailed in 1997. As presidential elections scheduled for July 1997 approached, tensions between the Lissouba and Sassou Nguesso camps mounted. In May, a visit by Sassou Nguesso to Owando, Joachim Yhombi-Opango's political stronghold, led to the outbreak of violence between their supporters.[5] HP Pavilion DV9069 Battery
On June 5, 1997, government forces surrounded Sassou Nguesso's home in the Mpila section of Brazzaville, attempting to arrest two men, Pierre Aboya and Engobo Bonaventure, who had been implicated in the earlier violence. Fighting broke out between the government forces and Sassou Nguesso's fighters, HP Pavilion DV9069EA Battery
called Cobras, igniting a 4-month conflict that destroyed or damaged much of Brazzaville.[4][5]
Lissouba traveled throughout southern and central Africa in September, asking the governments of Rwanda, Uganda, and Namibia for assistance. Laurent Kabila, the new-President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, HP Pavilion DV9071 Battery
sent hundreds of troops into Brazzaville to fight on Lissouba's behalf. Angola supported Sassou Nguesso with about 1,000 Angolan tanks, troops. Support by the sympathetic French government further bolstered Sassou Nguesso's rebels.[4]
Together these forces took Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire in the morning of October 16. HP Pavilion DV9071EA Battery
Lissouba fled the capital while his soldiers surrendered and citizens began looting. Yhombi-Opango supported Lissouba during the war,[6] serving as leader of the Presidential Majority,[7] and after Sassou Nguesso's victory he fled into exile[6] in Côte d'Ivoire and France. HP Pavilion DV9072 Battery
Soon thereafter, Sassou Nguesso 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. HP Pavilion DV9072EA Battery
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 will finalize a draft constitution. However, the eruption in late 1998 of fighting between Sassou Nguesso's government forces and an armed opposition disrupted the transitional return to democracy. HP Pavilion DV9073 Battery
This new violence also closed the economically vital Congo-Ocean Railway, 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. HP Pavilion DV9073EA Battery
The December accord, mediated by President Omar Bongo of Gabon, called for follow-on, inclusive political negotiations between the government and the opposition.
2000s
Sassou won elections in 2002 with an implausible 90% or so of the votes. HP Pavilion DV9074CL Battery
His two main rivals, Lissouba and Bernard Kolelas, were prevented from competing and the only remaining credible rival, André Milongo, boycotted the elections and withdrew from the race due to, among other reasons, perceived voter fraud on the part of Sassou. A new constitution was agreed upon in January 2002, HP Pavilion DV9074EA Battery
granting the president new powers and extending his term to seven years as well as introducing a new bicameral assembly.
On December 30, twenty opposition political parties issued a statement through spokesman Chistope Ngokaka, HP Pavilion DV9075EA Battery
saying Sassou's government had purchased "weapons and military craft... under contracts signed between the officials in Brazzaville and the government in Beijing."[8]
Congo's next presidential election is set for July 2009. Five candidates have formally announced their intention to run in the election and President Sassou is expected to run for another term. HP Pavilion DV9075EU Battery
The economy of the Republic of the Congo is a mixture of village agriculture and handicrafts, an industrial sector based largely on petroleum extraction, support services, and a government characterized by budget problems and overstaffing. The Congo's growing petroleum sector is by far the country's major revenue earner. HP Pavilion DV9075LA Battery
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. However, the government has mortgaged a substantial portion of its oil earnings, contributing to the government's shortage of revenues. HP Pavilion DV9075XX Battery
The Congolese oil sector is dominated by the French parastatal oil company Elf Aquitaine, which accounts for 70% of the country's annual oil production. In second position is the Italian oil firm Agip. Chevron, independent CMS Nomeco, and Exxon Mobilare among the American companies active in petroleum exploration or production. HP Pavilion DV9076 Battery
Following recent discoveries and oil fields currently under development, Congo's oil production is expected to continue to rise significantly in the next few years.
The country's abundant rain forests are the source of timber. Forestrywhich led Congolese exports before the discovery of oil, continues to generate 10% of export earnings, HP Pavilion DV9076EA Battery
although high transportation costs, high wages, and low productivity have hurt the forestry industry in recent years.
Earlier in the decade, Congo's major employer was the state bureaucracy, which had a payroll of 80,000, which is enormous for a country of Congo's size. HP Pavilion DV9077 Battery
The World Bank and other international financial institutions pressured Congo to institute sweeping civil service reforms in order to reduce the size of the state bureaucracy and pare back a civil service payroll that amounted to more than 20% of GDP in 1993. HP Pavilion DV9077EA Battery
The effort to cut back began in 1994 with a 50% devaluation that cut the payroll in half in dollar terms and by a mid-year reduction of nearly 8,000 in civil service employment and resulted in inflation of 61%. Inflation has since subsided.
Between 1994-96, the Congolese economy underwent a difficult transition.
HP Pavilion DV9078 Battery
The prospects for building the foundation of a healthy economy, however, were better than at any time in the previous 15 years. Congo took a number of measures to liberalize its economy, including reforming the tax, investment, labor, and hydrocarbon codes. Planned privatizations of key parastatals, HP Pavilion DV9078EA Battery
primarily telecommunications and transportation monopolies, were launched to help improve a dilapidated and unreliable infrastructure. To build on the momentum achieved during the two-year period, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a three-year ESAF economic program in June 1996. HP Pavilion DV9079 Battery
By the end of 1996, Congo had made substantial progress in various areas targeted for reform. It made significant strides toward macroeconomic stabilization through improving public finances and restructuring external debt. This change was accompanied by improvements in the structure of expenditures, with a reduction in personnel expenditures. HP Pavilion DV9079EA Battery
Further, Congo benefited from debt restructuring from a Paris Club agreement in July 1996.
This reform program came to a halt, however, in early June 1997 when war broke out. Denis Sassou-Nguesso, who returned to power when the war ended in October 1997, publicly expressed interest in moving forward on economic reforms and privatization and in renewing cooperation with international financial institutions. HP Pavilion DV9080 Battery
However, economic progress was badly hurt by slumping oil prices in 1998, which worsened the Republic of the Congo's budget deficit. A second blow was the resumption of armed conflict in December 1998.
Congo's economic prospects remain largely dependent on the country's ability to establish political stability and democratic rule. HP Pavilion DV9080EA Battery
The World Bank is considering Congo for post-conflict assistance. Priorities will be in reconstruction, basic services, infrastructure, and utilities. President Sassou has publicly expressed interest in moving forward on economic reforms and privatization, as well as in renewing cooperation with international financial institutions. HP Pavilion DV9081 Battery
However, the return of armed conflict in 1998 hindered economic reform and recovery.
Congo and the United States ratified a bilateral investment treaty designed to facilitate and protect foreign investment. The country also adopted a new investment code intended to attract foreign capital. HP Pavilion DV9081EA Battery
Despite this, Congo's investment climate is not considered favorable, offering few meaningful incentives. High costs for labor, energy, raw materials, and transportation; a restrictive labor code; low productivity and high production costs; militant labor unions; and an inadequate transportation infrastructure are among the factors discouraging investment. HP Pavilion DV9082 Battery
The recent political instability, war damage, and looting also will undermined investor confidence. As a result, Congo has little American investment outside of the oil sector.
The French Congo (French: La colonie du Congo or Congo français) was a French colony which at one time comprised the present-day area of the Republic of the Congo, HP Pavilion DV9082EA Battery
Gabon, and the Central African Republic. It began at Brazzaville on 10 September 1880 as a protectorate over the Bateke people along the north bank of the Congo River,[1] was formally established as the French Congo on 30 November 1882,[1] and was confirmed at the Congress of Berlin. Its borders withCabinda, HP Pavilion DV9083 Battery
Cameroons, and the Congo Free State were established by treaties over the next decade. The plan to develop the colony was to grant massive concessions to some thirty French companies. These were granted huge swaths of land on the promise they would be developed. HP Pavilion DV9083EA Battery
This development was limited and amounted mostly to the extraction of ivory, rubber, andtimber. These operations often involved great brutality and the near enslavement of the locals.
Even with these measures most of the companies lost money. HP Pavilion DV9084 Battery
Only about ten earned profits. Many of the companies' vast holdings existed only on paper with virtually no presence on the ground in Africa.
The French Congo was sometimes known as Gabon-Congo.[2] It formally added Gabon on 30 April 1901,[1] HP Pavilion DV9084EA Battery
was officially renamed Middle Congo (French: Moyen-Congo) in 1903, was temporarily divorced from Gabon in 1906, and was then reunited as French Equatorial Africa in 1910 in an attempt to emulate the relative success of French West Africa.
Many Pygmies in Congo live as slaves to Bantu masters.[1] HP Pavilion DV9085 Battery
The nation is deeply stratified between these two major ethnic groups.[1] The Pygmy slaves belong from birth to their Bantu masters in a relationship that the Bantus call a time-honored tradition.[1] Even though the Pygmies are responsible for much of the hunting, fishing and manual labor in jungle villages, HP Pavilion DV9085EA Battery
Pygmies and Bantus alike say Pygmies are often paid at the master's whim; in cigarettes, used clothing, or even nothing at all.[1] Now UNICEF and human-rights activists are speaking out.[1] On the 30 December 2010, the Congo parliament adopted a law for the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples. HP Pavilion DV9086 Battery
This law is the first of its kind in Africa, and its adoption is a historic development for indigenous peoples on the continent.[2]
As of 2008, main media is owned by the government. There is one government-owned television station, three government-owned radio stations, and three private pro-government radio stations, and a government-owned newspaper. HP Pavilion DV9086EA Battery
Politics of the Republic of the Congo takes place in a framework of a presidential republic, whereby the President is bothhead of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system.
HP Pavilion DV9087 Battery
Executive power is exercised by the government.Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the parliament. Before the 1997 civil war, the Republic of the Congo's system of government was similar to that of the French. However, after taking power, Denis Sassou-Nguesso suspended the constitution approved in 2000. HP Pavilion DV9087EA Battery
The new constitution (adopted by referendum in 2002), returns to the earlier model with a seven-year presidential term and a bicameral national parliament.
For the two decades preceding the Republic of the Congo's 1991 National Conference, the country was firmly in the socialist camp, HP Pavilion DV9088 Battery
allied principally with the Soviet Union and other Eastern bloc nations. Educational, economic, and foreign aid links between Congo and its Eastern bloc allies were extensive, with the Congolese military and security forces receiving significant Soviet, East German, and Cuban assistance. HP Pavilion DV9088EA Battery
After the worldwide dissolution of the Soviet Union and Congo's adoption of multi-party democracy in 1991, Congo's bilateral relations with its former socialist allies have become relatively less important. France is now by far Congo's principal external partner, contributing significant amounts of economic assistance, while playing a highly influential role. HP Pavilion DV9089 Battery
Congo-Brazzaville is also a member of the International Criminal Court with a Bilateral Immunity Agreement of protection for theUS-military (as covered under Article 98).
Membership in international organizations includes the United Nations, HP Pavilion DV9089EA Battery
Organization of African Unity, African Development Bank,General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), Economic Commission for Central African States, Central African Customs and Economic Union, International Coffee Organization, Union of Central African States, HP Pavilion DV9090 Battery
INTELSAT, International Criminal Police Organization - Interpol, Non-Aligned Movement, and Group of 77.
Disputes - international: most of the Congo river boundary with the Democratic Republic of the Congo is indefinite HP Pavilion DV9090EA Battery
(no agreement has been reached on the division of the river or its islands, except in the Pool Malebo (Stanley Pool) area).
France
France, the former colonial power, maintained a continuing but somewhat subdued relationship with Congo, offering a variety of cultural, educational, and economic assistance. HP Pavilion DV9091 Battery
The principal element in the French-Congolese relationship was the highly successful oil sector investment of the French petroleum parastatal Elf Aquitaine, which entered the Congo in 1968 and has continued to grow since then.
Russia
The Republic of the Congo has an embassy in Moscow. Russia has an embassy in Brazzaville. HP Pavilion DV9091EA Battery
United States
Diplomatic relations between the United States and Congo were broken during the most radical Congolese-Marxist period, 1965-77. The U.S. Embassy reopened in 1977 with the restoration of relations, which remained distant until the end of the socialist era. HP Pavilion DV9092 Battery
The late 1980s were marked by a progressive warming of Congolese relations with Western countries, including the United States. Congolese President Denis Sassou-Nguesso made a state visit to Washington in 1990, where he was received by President George H. W. Bush. HP Pavilion DV9092EA Battery
The Armed Forces of the Republic of the Congo include an Army, the Congolese Air Force, and a Navy (est. 800). Paramilitary organisations include 2,000 Gendarmerie in 20 companies, and a Presidential Guard, possibly organised into a battalion. (IISS 2007, p.269) HP Pavilion DV9095EU Battery
On 5 February 2012, there were munitions explosions at a tank regiment (seemingly 'Regiment Blinde') barracks located in Brazzaville's fifth arrondissement, Ouenze. Some 206 people were initially reported killed. There are five military barracks in the city, and after the explosion officials said the government had promised to move all munitions out of the capital. HP Pavilion DV9095TX Battery
Livingstone Falls (French, Chutes Livingstone) — named for the explorer David Livingstone — are a succession of enormous rapids on the lower course of the Congo River in west equatorial Africa, downstream from Malebo Pool in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. HP Pavilion DV9095XX Battery
Description
Livingstone Falls consist of a series of rapids dropping 900 feet in 220 miles (270 metres in 350 km). They end in Matadi inBas-Congo. The Congo River has the second largest flow rate in the world after the Amazon, which has no falls or rapids (except near its sources). HP Pavilion DV9096EA Battery
The lowest rapids of Livingstone Falls, therefore, are the world's largest waterfall in terms of flow rate — provided one accepts these rapids as being a waterfall. An interesting aspect of the 220-mile (350 km) long Livingstone Falls is the width of the channel. The channel is very narrow: HP Pavilion DV9096XX Battery
in several stretches the channel width is less than 300 metres and for the majority of the length the channel is less than 800 metres wide. This is an extraordinarily narrow channel since the river flow rate typically exceeds 42,000 cubic metres per second (1,500,000 cu ft/s).
Although he explored the upper Congo, Livingstone never travelled to this part of the river and the Falls were named in his honour by Henry Morton Stanley. HP Pavilion DV9097EA Battery
Since the falls, which start with the Yellala Falls just above Matadi, are a barrier to navigation on the lower part of the river, the Matadi-Kinshasa Railway was constructed to by-pass them.
On an expedition known as 'Africa-Raft', Philippe de Dieuleveult and six members of his party disappeared during a descent of these rapids around Inga on August 6, 1985. HP Pavilion DV9097XX Battery
"Grand Inga" proposed hydroelectric project
Inga Falls is a group of rapids (or cataracts) in the latter portion of the Livingstone Falls. The Congo falls ~96 metres within this set of cataracts. The mean annual flow rate of the Congo River at Inga Falls is ~42,000 cubic metres per second. HP Pavilion DV9098 Battery
Given this flow rate and the 96 metre fall it is easy to calculate that the Inga Falls alone has a potential to generate ~39.6 GW of mechanical energy and nearly as much electrical energy.
Inga "Falls" is currently the site of two large hydro power plants and is being considered for a much larger hydro power generating station known as Grand Inga. HP Pavilion DV9098XX Battery
The Grand Inga project, if completed, would be the largest hydro-electric power generating facility on Earth. The current project scope calls for the use of a flow rate ~26,400 cubic metres per second at a net head of ~150 metres; this is equivalent to a generating capacity of ~38.9 GW. HP Pavilion DV9099EA Battery
This hydro-electric generator would be more than double the current world record holder, which is the Three Gorges facility on the Yangtze River in China.
Grand Inga is slated as a quasi “Run of the River” hydro project in which a “small” reservoir will be created backing the river so that the net head for the hydro turbines will approach 150 metres. HP Pavilion DV9099XX Battery
The design could be made more environmentally friendly by more aggressively using the "run of the river" concept. A possible approach might be to use is a larger flow volume with lower head so that the reservoir size could be minimized and yet the available energy would be nearly as large. HP Pavilion DV9100 Battery
At 100 metres of head and a flow usage of 40,000 cubic metres per second, for example, the available energy is ~39 GW. t 102 metres of head is available over a straight line distance of ~15km from just upstream of the Inga Falls, at Sikila Island, to just below the Inga Falls where the river turns hard to the South. HP Pavilion DV9105EU Battery
As the debate over the Grand Inga project heats up such an approach may become more palatable. HP Pavilion DV9200 Battery,HP Pavilion DV9200CTO Battery,HP Pavilion DV9200XX Battery
No comments:
Post a Comment