Republic of Congo

The Republic of the Congo (French: République du Congo; Lingala: Repubilika ya Kongó; Kituba: Repubilika ya Kongo), also known as Congo-Brazzaville or simply Congo, is a country in Central Africa.

It is bordered to the north by Cameroon and the Central African Republic, to the south and east by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the west by Gabon, and to the southwest by the Atlantic Ocean and an Angolan enclave (Cabinda).

The population does not exceed six million inhabitants, resulting in a low population density. The official language is French; with Lingala and Munukutuba (or Kituba) as national languages: Christianity has a significant presence although tribal religions have the most adherents. The economy of the Republic of the Congo continues to be based on agriculture and extraction of oil.

The current Congolese territory was inhabited by Bantu tribes until the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century. It became a colony of France, under the name of "French Congo". After gaining its independence in the mid-20th century, the country went through various political regimes until reaching the multi-party democracy that governs the country in the XXI century.

History

First colonized by the Bolo, the Congo was later colonized by Bantu groups who also occupied parts of present-day Angola, Gabon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, forming the basis of ethnic affinities and rivalries between those states. Various Bantu kingdoms—particularly the Kongo, Loango, and Teke con Liki—joined trade ties that led to the Congo River Basin.

The first contacts with Europeans came in the 15th century, and trade relations were quickly established with the kingdoms, trading captured slaves in the interior. The coastal area was a primary source for the transatlantic slave trade, and when that trade ended in the early 19th century, the Bantu kingdoms rose to power.

It was proclaimed a French colony in 1891, but the French had been present in the country as early as 1880. While it was a colony of France, it was part of French Equatorial Africa under the name French Congo (to differentiate it from Belgian Congo, present Democratic Republic of the Congo). It has been independent since August 15, 1960, its first president being Fulbert Youlou, who was forced to leave the Government in 1963, when Alphonse Massamba-Débat took office, who in 1964 founded a Marxist party, adopting a planned economy, socialist based. He then initiated a "Five Year Plan", which led to the expansion of agriculture and industry.

Tensions between the government and the military increased, and in 1968, the army staged a coup led by Marien Ngouabi, who assumed power. In December 1969, the president announced the new People's Republic, during the solemnity of the "Congolese Labor Party", whose president was Ngouabi and had a central committee made up of 30 members. In January 1970, the country was renamed the People's Republic of the Congo, adopting as national symbols a red flag, a hammer and sickle, emblematic of socialist countries. The Congo consolidated its Marxist regime, remaining the first African communist country. In the same year, the army stopped a coup attempt against the president, led by former lieutenant Pierre Xitonga, they executed all the conspirators, except the former defense minister., Augustin Poignet, who managed to flee. Taking advantage of this situation, they began a general purge of all those suspected of being anti-government.

After decades of turbulent politics and Marxist-Leninist rhetoric, and following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Congo completed a transition to a multiparty democracy with elections in August 1992. However, a civil war that occurred between June 1997 and December 1999 was fought between the forces of the two presidential candidates, Denis Sassou-Nguesso and Pascal Lissouba. The war ended with the invasion of troops from neighboring countries and the installation of Sassou-Nguesso in power, which continues in office to this day.

Politics

Map of the Republic of the Congo.

The Republic of the Congo has a presidential regime. In 2009, Denis Sassou-Nguesso was reelected as president, who has held the position without interruption since 1997. The post of prime minister was canceled in September 2009, after the presidential elections. The last to hold that position was Isidore Mvouba. He was again restored in 2016, occupied since May 2021 by Anatole Collinet Makosso.

Since the early 1990s, the Republic of the Congo had a multi-party political system, although this system is now dominated by President Sassou-Nguesso; since there is no real competition in the presidential elections, he has maintained his mandate. The Congolese Labor Party (French: Parti Congolais du Travail) along with other smaller parties support Sassou-Nguesso.

Internationally, the Sassou-Nguesso regime has been plagued by allegations of corruption despite its attempts to censor them. A French investigation found more than 110 bank accounts and dozens of luxury properties in France in his name. Sassou-Nguesso denounced the investigations as partisan, calling them "racist" and "colonial".

Human Rights

In terms of human rights, regarding membership of the seven bodies of the International Bill of Human Rights, which include the Human Rights Committee (HRC), the Republic of the Congo has signed or ratified:

Status of major international human rights instruments

Republic of the Congo	International treaties
	CESCR		CCPR			CERD	CED	CEDAW		CAT		CRC			MWC	CRPD
	CESCR	CESCR-OP	CCPR	CCPR-OP1	CCPR-OP2-DP			CEDAW	CEDAW-OP	CAT	CAT-OP	CRC	CRC-OP-AC	CRC-OP-SC		CRPD	CRPD-OP
Pertenence
Signed and ratified, signed, but not ratified, neither signed nor ratified, without information, it has agreed to sign and ratify the body concerned, but also recognizes the competence to receive and process individual communications from the competent bodies.

Territorial organization

Regions of the Republic of the Congo.

The republic is successively subdivided into 10 Departments, 86 Districts and 6 Communes. The Brazzaville district does not belong to any region, and since 2004 the city of Pointe-Noire is an independent district. The regions are:

• Bouenza: capital Madingou.
• Cuvette: capital Owando.
• Cuvette-Oeste: Ewo capital.
• Kouilou: capital Hinda.
• Lékoumou: Sibiti capital.
• Likouala: capital Impfondo.
• Niari: Loubomo capital.
• Plateaux: capital Djambala.
• Pool: capital Kinkala.
• Sangha: Ouésso capital

These regions are subdivided into 46 districts.

Geography

The Republic of the Congo is located on the Atlantic coast of central Africa.

Livingstone Falls, on the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

It borders the Central African Republic and Cameroon to the north, Gabon to the west, Angola to the south (through the Cabinda enclave), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south and east.

The country has a relatively sparse coastline, home to the country's second largest city, Pointe-Noire. On the other hand, the territories to the north of Brazzaville, the capital, are dominated by vast expanses of jungle. In this sense, it is worth highlighting the state of Impfondo, the only one completely dominated by the jungle. Brazzaville is located on the western banks of the Congo River, while Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is located on the eastern banks of the river.

The country's most important jungle city is Ouesso.

Climate

Satellite map of the Republic of the Congo.

Because the country is located on the equator, the climate is consistent throughout the year, with an average temperature of 24 °C during the day, and between 16 °C and 19 °C at night.

The average rainfall is 1,100 millimeters during the year, while in the south of the Kouilou-Niari River valley, in the center of the country, it exceeds 2,000 millimeters per year. The dry season is from June to August, and there are two wet periods, between March and May, and between September and November.

Ecology

Southern Landscape of the Republic of the Congo.

The north of the country is covered by shady forest, from which WWF distinguishes two ecoregions:

• The Lower Land Jungle of the Northwest Congo
• The swamp forest of the western Congo to the northeast.

For its part, to the south is:

• The jungle mosaic and savannah of the western Congo interrupted the aforementioned ecoregion of the jungle of the lower lands of the north-west Congo.
• The Atlantic equatorial coastal jungle located near the coast.

Economy

The Republic of the Congo is a developing country. The Congolese economy is based mainly on subsistence agriculture and handicrafts, as well as an industry heavily dependent on hydrocarbons. Most of the population lives from agriculture. However, the country's economy also depends on the export of oil, timber, potash, zinc, uranium, copper, phosphate, natural gas. The currency is the Central African CFA Franc (FCFA).

The two pillars of exports are wood and oil. Wood represents an important part of Congo's exports: mahogany, okoumé, limba, etc. Industrial activity is the production of consumer goods such as tobacco, cement, textiles, soap, liquor, shoes, etc. The Congolese government has signed an agreement to lease 200,000 hectares of land to South African farmers to reduce their dependence on imports.

Oil

Congo's oil resources are managed by the Congo National Oil Company, run since 2008 by Denis Gokana. Since 1976, oil refining has been carried out in Point-Noire, the economic capital of the Congo, where 90% of the state's revenue and the same value of exports are provided. This oil activity makes its port one of the most important in all of Africa.

Demographics

Congolese woman.

According to 2014 estimates, the population of the Republic of the Congo amounted to 4,662,446 inhabitants. With this, the country is characterized by a low population density, which is also concentrated in 85% of the urban areas of the southwest (only half of the country's population lives between the two large cities, Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, which causes the percentage of urban population residing in the country to be high), leaving the rest of the territory practically uninhabited and occupied by the equatorial jungle. Demographic growth is 2.6% per year and ethnically it is characterized by the predominance of the Kongo ethnic group, which represents 50% of the population, followed by the Sangha ethnic group with 20%, Mbochi 12%, Bateke 17%, Europeans and others. 3%. In 2012, life expectancy at birth was 52 years. In the same year, of the largest cities, only five exceeded 50,000 inhabitants: Brazzaville (1,557,533), Pointe-Noire (822,850), Dolisie (86,433), Nkayi (76,491) and Kindamba (61,304).

50% of Congolese draw on traditional beliefs or ethnic groups, there are 15 main Bantu groups and more than 70 subgroups. The other 27% is made up of 56% Catholic Christians, 15% other Protestants and only 2% Muslims.

Languages

The official language of the Congo is French and the national languages are Lingala and Kituba (a creole of the Kikongo language), in addition to more than 60 other dialects and languages, with Yombe standing out with 347,723 speakers and the Portuguese with just 600.

The use of French, despite its official recognition, is in the minority and is mainly limited to urban areas, especially the two largest cities in the country, Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire.

Culture

The culture of the Republic of the Congo has its roots in the contributions of the Loango, Bakongo and Teke peoples who inhabited the area now occupied by the Republic. After the arrival of the Portuguese in the 15th century, the coastal kingdoms benefited more from the slave trade than the inland towns, for whom trade generated great agitation. When the area later came under French rule during the 19th century, companies organized coercive labor systems abusive enough to shock the public. French public and therefore the explorer Savorgnan de Brazza was sent to investigate.

Parties

Education

Public education is free and compulsory exclusively for those under 16 years of age, but in practice it is very different. The primary enrollment rate was 44% in 2005, much lower than the 79% in 1991, mainly due to GDP invested in education. Students who complete six years of primary school and seven years of secondary school earn a diploma.

Marien Ngouabi University is the only public one in the country, offering courses in medicine, law and other subjects. At the university, students obtain a diploma after three years of the course and a master's degree after four.

The education infrastructure has been seriously degraded due to the economic and political crisis that the country suffered, most of the schools do not have chairs for their students, having to sit on the floor.

Media

In 2012, in the world statistics on press freedom established each year by Reporters Without Borders, it placed the Republic of the Congo in 90th place out of a total of 179 countries, qualifying it as a country where journalism is experiencing a "situation delicate".

Sports

The country's best-known athlete is basketball player Serge Ibaka, who currently plays for the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks.

The Congo National Soccer Team is controlled by the Congolese Soccer Federation and attached to CAF and FIFA. It has never qualified for a Soccer World Cup, but its greatest achievement in its history was winning the 1972 African Cup of Nations. Within the country, there is the Congolese First Division, which was founded in 1961 and is the most winning team. is the Étoile du Congo with 11 titles.