Timeline Congo-Brazzaville
Republic of Congo
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The Republic of Congo, (aka French Congo or Middle Congo) next
to the former Zaire (Congo). An independent member of the French
Community.
(WSJ, 6/6/97, p.A11)(WUD, 1994, p.309)
1889-1910 The Congo (called the
French Congo and later the Middle Congo) was administered primarily
by French companies that held concessions to exploit the area's
rubber and ivory resources.
(http://tinyurl.com/dk45a)
1905 Sep 14, Pierre de Brazza
(b.1852), Franco-Italian explorer, died and was buried in Algeria.
He was born in Italy and later naturalized French. Brazza
single-handedly opened up for France entry along the right bank of
the Congo that eventually led to French colonies in West Africa. In
2006 his remains were exhumed and moved to a mausoleum in
Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo.
(Econ, 10/7/06,
p.6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Savorgnan_de_Brazza)
1905-1906 Scandals broke out over the
decimation of the African population (Middle Congo) through forced
labor and porterage.
(http://tinyurl.com/dk45a)
1907 France restricted the role
of the concessionaires.
(http://tinyurl.com/dk45a)
1910 The Congo became a colony
in French Equatorial Africa.
(http://tinyurl.com/dk45a)
1928 Renewed forced labor (in
Middle Congo) and other abuses sparked an African revolt.
(http://tinyurl.com/dk45a)
1940-1945 The Free French forces made the Congo a
bastion of their struggle against the Germans and the Vichy regime
during World War II.
(http://tinyurl.com/dk45a)
1946 The Middle Congo region
was granted a territorial assembly and representation in the French
parliament .
(http://tinyurl.com/dk45a)
1958 Nov 28, Chad, Gabon and
Middle Congo, became autonomous republics within the French
community. The Middle Congo province of French Equatorial Africa
voted to proclaim itself independent as the Congo Republic
(Brazzaville).
(AP, 11/28/97)
1960 Jul 12, Pres. de Gaulle
granted independence to all French colonies in Africa.
(SFC,10/17/97, p.D8)(WSJ, 8/8/95, p. A1)(WSJ,
1/24/97, p.A14)(MC, 7/12/02)
1960 Aug 15, Congo (formerly
Congo/Brazzaville) declared Independence from France.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1963-1966 Pascal Lissouba served as Prime Minister
(1963-66) under President Alphonse Massamba-Débat.
(www.answers.com/topic/pascal-lissouba)
1968 Sep 4, In the Republic of
Congo, Brazzaville, an army coup deposed Pres. Masemba-Debat.
(WUD, 1994, p.1687)
1976 The Development Bank
of Central African States (BDEAC) was established and included six
members of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa:
Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial
Guinea and Gabon.
(AP, 9/23/09)
1977 Mar 18, Marien Ngouabi,
the military president of the Republic of the Congo
(Congo-Brazzaville), was assassinated.
(AP, 3/18/07)
1979 Feb 8, In the Republic of
the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso (b.1943), a member of the Mbochi
minority, began 13 years of rule as a Marxist dictator.
(WSJ, 12/31/98,
p.A10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Sassou-Nguesso)
1981 Republic of Congo Pres.
Denis Sassou Nguesso signed a friendship treaty with the USSR, while
maintaining the Congo’s strong economic ties with France.
(www.bartleby.com/65/sa/SassouNg.html)
1990 By this year the Republic
of Congo was totally bankrupt. The French oil company Elf Aquitaine
dominated oil production. The country was Africa’s 4th largest
producer of crude oil.
(SFC,10/17/97, p.D8)
1991 Republic of Congo’s reform
minded citizens convened a national conference and Denis Sassou
Nguesso was stripped of most of his power and national elections
were organized.
(SFC,10/17/97, p.D8)
1992 Aug 31, Pascal Lissouba
(b.1931) became president of the Republic of Congo.
(www.answers.com/topic/pascal-lissouba)
1992 Republic of Congo’s
Sassou-Nguesso relinquished power after an election’s loss to Pascal
Lissouba. He maintained a private militia known as the Cobras in his
northern domain.
(SFC, 6/10/97, p.A12)
1993 Rory Nugent wrote “Drums
Along the Congo: On the Trail of Mokele-Mbembe, the Last Living
Dinosaur.” It was an account of his trip to the Republic of Congo.
(WSJ, 6/23/97, p.A12)
1993 Republic of Congo’s Pres.
Lissouba signed a $150 million oil agreement with Occidental
Petroleum. He was convicted in 2001 in absentia for selling oil at
low prices and in part for personal gain.
(SFC, 12/29/01, p.A6)
1997 Jun 5, Republic of Congo
government troops began an attack on the residence of Denis
Sassou-Nguesso. He was able to flee and rally his forces for a
counterattack.
(SFC, 6/10/97, p.A12)
1997 Jun 8, In the Republic of
Congo a private militia of 5,000 loyal to former leader Denis
Sassou-Nguesso fought to gain control of Brazzaville. Soldiers loyal
to Pres. Pascal Lissouba were arming the citizens and looting homes.
(SFC, 6/9/97, p.A10)
1997 Jun 11, The leaders of the
militias ravaging Brazzaville, Congo, called for a cease-fire, but
fighting continued unabated.
(AP, 6/11/03)
1997 Jun 23, The travel
adventure book “No Mercy: A Journey to the Heart of the Congo” by
Redmond O’Hanlon was about his journey to the Republic of the Congo.
It was compared to the 1993 adventure book by Rory Nugent.
(SFEC, 5/11/97, BR p.5)(WSJ, 6/23/97, p.A12)
1997 Jun 25, In the Republic of
Congo a truce ended in a ferocious battle for the Brazzaville
airport. Former president Nguesso appeared to have begun an assault
on the airport.
(SFC, 6/26/97, p.A10)
1997 Sep 24, In the Republic of
Congo it was reported that the Cobras, the private militia of former
military dictator Gen’l. Denis Sassou-Nguesso, had taken control of
more than three-quarters of the country.
(SFC, 9/24/97, p.A10)
1997 Oct 1, Congo’s Pres.
Kabila ordered troops into the Congo Republic after 2 days of cross
border shelling that killed as many as 31 in Kinshasa.
(WSJ, 10/2/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct 9, The UN reported
that both sides in the Republic of Congo have signed a cease-fire
pact. Gen’l. Sassou Nguesse signed the document that his opponents,
Pres. Pascal Lissouba and prime minister Bernard Kolelas, agreed to
sign last month.
(SFC, 10/10/97, p.D5)
1997 Oct 12, In the Republic of
Congo Angolan troops backed the rebels in an offensive around
southern cities. Rebels surrounded Brazzaville and Gen’l. Jean-Marie
Tiaffou urged government troops to surrender. There were reports
that Angola’s UNITA rebels were backing Pres. Lissouba.
(SFC, 10/13/97, p.A12)
1997 Oct 14, In the Republic of
Congo Pres. Lissouba fled the presidential palace in Brazzaville.
Premier Bernard Kolelas fled the Republic of Congo when militia
fighters loyal to Sassou-Nguesso toppled President Pascal Lissouba.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A13)(AP, 10/14/05)
1997 Oct 15, In the Republic of
Congo rebel forces loyal to the former Marxist dictator Denis
Sassou-Nguesso, backed by as many as 1000 troops from Angola, gained
full control of Brazzaville, the capital and Pointe Noire, the 2nd
largest city.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A13)(SFC,12/12/97, p.B4)
1997 Oct 25, In the Republic of
Congo Gen. Dennis Sassou-Nguesso was sworn in as president.
(SFEC,10/26/97, p.A22)
1997-2007 In the Republic of Congo some 12,000
people were killed during this period mostly from 4 major conflicts.
Some 860,000 people were displaced and 27,000 women raped.
(Econ, 8/11/07, p.38)
1998 Oct 16, In the Republic of
Congo a court indicted 100 members of the recently ousted government
on charges of assassination, torture, rape, fraud and theft.
(SFC, 10/17/98, p.A14)
1998 Dec 27, In the Congo
Republic troops from Angola, allied to Pres. Sassou-Nguesso, killed
dozens of people in a weekend attack on Nkayi. Government troops
were called "Cobras," while the rebels were called "Ninjas."
The rebels were aligned with former Prime Minister Bernard Kolelas,
a member of the ethnic majority.
(WSJ, 12/30/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/31/98, p.A10)
1998 Alain Mabanckou authored
his first novel “Bleu, Blanc Rouge.” Mabanckou left
Congo-Brazzaville in 1989 to study law in France, but within a
decade quit as a corporate lawyer.
(Econ, 7/9/11, p.81)
1999 Jun 21, Fighting broke out
in the Republic of Congo near the main port of Pointe-Noire. 140
people were reported killed by the end of the week.
(SFC, 6/25/99, p.D2)
2000 In the Republic of Congo a
Brazzaville court sentenced former premier Bernard Kolelas to death
for crimes ranging from torture to the rape of prisoners during a
5-month-long civil war in 1997.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2001 Jan 10, In the Republic of
Congo 2 freight trains collided near Nvoungouti station and at least
30 people were killed.
(SFC, 1/12/01, p.A18)
2001 Dec 2, An outbreak of
Ebola virus hit Gabon with the 1st death in Ekata, about 5 miles
from the Congo border. Within weeks at least 15 people died. The
virus spread to Congo and movement in the area was restricted.
(SFC, 12/21/01, p.A5)
2001 Dec 6, An int’l. team of
doctors flew to Congo to investigate the deaths of 17 people with
Ebola-like symptoms in Dekese. Ebola was confirmed in Gabon on Dec
9.
(WSJ, 12/7/01, p.A1)(SFC, 12/10/01, p.A3)
2001 Dec 28, In the Republic of
Congo a court convicted former Pres. Lissouba on treason and
corruption charges.
(www.answers.com/topic/pascal-lissouba)
2002 Feb 6, In the Republic of
Congo a new death from Ebola raised fears that it had spread from
Gabon.
(WSJ, 2/7/02, p.A1)
2002 Mar 10, In the Republic of
Congo Pres. Dennis Sassou-Nguesso won elections with 89% of the
vote. Turnout was nearly 75%.
(SFC, 3/14/02, p.A8)
2002 Mar 29, In the Republic of
Congo rebels launched a new wave of attacks.
(SFC, 6/18/02, p.A8)
2002 Jun 14, In the Republic of
Congo rebels launched their first attack on Brazzaville since
restarting this West African nation's civil war in late March.
Government troops hunted down rebels who staged a surprise attack on
the city. More than 100 rebels and 17 government soldiers were
killed. The rebels called themselves Ninjas and were led by renegade
pastor Frederic Bitsangou (Frederic Ntoumi).
(AP, 6/14/02)(SFC, 6/15/02, p.A8)(SFC, 6/18/02,
p.A8)
2002 Jun 15, In the Republic of
Congo it was reported that 5 people had died from an outbreak of
ebola, the 2nd outbreak in the region this year.
(SFC, 6/15/02, p.C10)
2002 Jun 28, In the Rep. of
Congo officials reported that supporters of President Denis
Sassou-Nguesso won a majority in the nation's new parliament after a
runoff vote held last week.
(AP, 6/28/02)
2002 Aug 14, Republic of Congo
President Denis Sassou-Nguesso promised to fight corruption as he
was sworn after winning this central African nation's first
elections since back-to-back civil wars.
(AP, 8/14/02)
2002 French president Jacques
Chirac received three million euros ($4 million) from Ivory Coast's
Laurent Gbagbo to finance his electoral campaign. This was made
public in 2011 by Robert Bourgi, a lawyer with a network of African
contacts who advised Chirac before changing camps in 2005 to aid
French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Bourgi also named Senegal's
Abdoulaye Wade, Burkina Faso's Blaise Compaore, and
Congo-Brazzaville's Denis Sassou Nguesso and Gabon's Omar Bongo as
contributors. Bourgi later said he was mistaken concerning
(Senegal's president) Abdoulaye Wade and his son" Karim Wade.
(AFP, 9/12/11)(AP, 9/26/11)
2003 Feb 12, The Republic of
Congo reported that an Ebola outbreak was suspected in the recent
deaths of 48 people.
(SFC, 2/13/03, p.A7)
2003 Feb 6, Medical experts
headed to northern Republic of Congo to investigate a feared
outbreak of Ebola after 16 suspicious deaths.
(AP, 2/6/03)
2003 Mar 12, It was reported
that the Ebola outbreak in the Republic of Congo was decimating the
gorilla population with up to 800 lost at the Lossi sanctuary.
(WSJ, 3/12/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 6, In the Congo
Republic 9 people have died in a suspected outbreak of the deadly
Ebola virus in a remote forest region where 120 were killed by the
disease earlier this year.
(Reuters, 11/7/03)
2003 Dec 17, The fifth outbreak
in two years of the deadly Ebola virus in a the Republic of Congo
has so far killed 29 people.
(AP, 12/17/03)
2003 In Congo-Brazzaville
Frederic Ntoumi, head of an estimated 5,000 Ninja fighters agreed to
make peace with the government. Plans to disarm his men were
repeatedly delayed.
(Econ, 5/7/05, p.42)
2004 Mar 21, In the Republic of
Congo a train derailed 90 miles south of Brazzaville, killing 31
people and injuring scores of others.
(AP, 3/23/04)
2004 Jul 9, A UN-backed body
barred the Republic of Congo from the legitimate world diamond
trade, accusing it of blatantly sending millions of dollars in
smuggled gems onto the global market.
(AP, 7/10/04)
2005 Feb 5, In the Republic of
Congo leaders of seven Central African countries signed a landmark
treaty to work together to help save the world's second-largest rain
forest.
(AP, 2/6/05)
2005 May 18, Authorities in the
Republic of Congo quarantined two districts hit by the deadly Ebola
virus to ensure the highly contagious disease does not spread.
(AP, 5/21/05)
2005 Aug 17, Top Republic of
Congo officials were acquitted of genocide and war crimes charges
stemming from the disappearance of 350 refugees who had returned
home during a cease-fire in the country's civil war.
(AP, 8/17/05)
2005 Sep 10, In the Republic of
Congo a plane crashed north of Brazzaville, killing 13 people.
(AP, 9/10/05)
2006 Jan 24, A government
spokesman said Sudan has withdrawn from the competition to lead the
African Union amid criticism of its human rights record. Diplomats
said the presidency would go to the Republic of Congo.
(AP, 1/24/06)
2006 Jan 29, Republic of Congo
President Denis Sassou-Nguesso launched his role as a top African
peace mediator, meeting with the prime minister of civil war-divided
Ivory Coast days after taking over as African Union head.
(AP, 1/29/06)
2006 Jun 10, In Brazzaville,
the Congo Republic, ministers from across Africa approved a draft
democracy charter, laying down guidelines on elections and good
governance in the world's poorest continent.
(Reuters, 6/10/06)
2007 Jun 24, Congo held a first
round of elections. The Congolese Labor Party won 22 of the 44 seats
up for grabs. President Denis Sassou Nguesso's party won the first
phase of the two-round legislative elections held amid chaos and
charges of widespread fraud.
(AFP, 6/30/07)
2007 Aug 10, Congo's ruling
coalition in Brazzaville was declared the winner of legislative
elections, despite opposition charges of electoral fraud.
(AFP, 8/10/07)
2007 Sep 10, Congolese
authorities blocked Frederic Bintsamou, an ex-rebel chief, from
entering Brazzaville to take up duties as a deputy minister under a
peace deal, but promised they were still adhering to the "principle"
of his inclusion in the government.
(AFP, 9/10/07)
2007 Sep 12, The Republic of
Congo, the smaller, oil-rich western neighbor of the Democratic
Republic of Congo, numbered about 3.7 million inhabitants.
(AFP, 9/12/07)
2007 Oct 15, Brazil’s President
Luiz Ignacio Lula Da Silva arrived in the Congolese capital
Brazzaville for a one-day visit, the first by a Brazilian leader to
the African country.
(AFP, 10/16/07)
2007 Nov 15, Congo and the
London Club of private creditors reached a deal to cancel 80% of the
central African country's estimated 2.5-billion-dollar debt.
(AFP, 11/15/07)
2007 The population of
Congo-Brazzaville stood at about 4 million.
(Econ, 8/11/07, p.38)
2008 Mar 10, Leaders of the
Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) converged on
Kinshasa for a summit focusing on the situation in Chad in the wake
of a failed rebel assault.
(AFP, 3/10/08)
2008 Nov 17, The Kenya Wildlife
Service (KWS) said a ton of ivory items and 57 suspects were netted
in a four-month operation billed Africa's largest-ever crackdown on
wildlife crime. Operation Baba also seized cheetah, leopard, serval
cat and python skins as well as hippo teeth at several markets,
airports and border crossings in Congo Brazzaville, Ghana, Kenya,
Uganda and Zambia.
(AFP, 11/17/08)
2009 Jan 30, In Libreville,
Gabon, leaders of the six Central African states (Cameroon, Chad,
Gabon, CAR, Congo, Equatorial Guinea), began meeting to discuss
closer economic ties, including the creation of a new regional
airline. The Economic and Monetary Union of Central Africa, known as
CEMAC, planned discussions on such issues as monetary reform and the
free movement of citizens.
(AFP, 1/30/09)
2009 Mar 26, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy visited Brazzaville and Kinshasa. During the
Kinshasa trip, given over in large part to regional political
issues, Areva signed an agreement with the government allowing the
company to prospect for and mine uranium.
(AP, 3/27/09)
2009 Apr 29, A Boeing 737 on a
test flight from Brazzaville crashed southeast of Kinshasa, killing
7 people.
(AP, 4/30/09)
2009 May 5, A French judge
decided to investigate three African heads of state for money
laundering and other alleged crimes linked to their wealth in
France. The probe follows a complaint by Transparency International
France, an association that tracks corruption, against Gabon's Omar
Bongo, Republic of Congo's Denis Sassou-Nguesso and Teodoro Obiang
of Equatorial Guinea.
(AP, 5/6/09)
2009 Jul 12, The Republic of
Congo held elections. Pres. Denis Sassou-Nguesso was re-elected with
78.6% of the vote.
(SFC, 7/16/09, p.A2)
2009 Jul 17, The Republic of
Congo's top opposition politician, Mathias Dzon, filed for an
annulment of the incumbent president's re-election and claimed there
had been vote-rigging and intimidation.
(AP, 7/17/09)
2009 Aug 26, In the Republic of
Congo 7 people, including five Russian crew members, were killed
when a cargo plane crashed on the outskirts of Brazzaville.
(AFP, 8/26/09)
2009 Sep 18, Paul Gilles Nanda
(52), a Cameroonian employee of the Development Bank of Central
African States (BDEAC), was jailed in the Republic Congo. He had
compiled a document to disclose bad management at the bank with
evidence to back it up. The Austrian daily Oberosterreichische
Nachrichten revealed at the end of August that the BDEAC had lost 11
billion CFA francs during an affair in which international financier
Bernard Madoff stole billions of dollars from thousands of
investors.
(AFP, 9/22/09)
2009 Nov 28, South Africa
seized a shipment of spare parts for North Korean tanks destined for
the Republic of Congo. South Africa’s government confirmed the
seizure on Feb 26, 2010.
(AP, 2/26/10)
2010 Jun 19, A plane carrying a
group of Australian mining executives disappeared en route from
Cameroon to Congo-Brazzaville. All 11 on board were killed wiping
out the entire board of the Sundance Resources company including
mining tycoon Ken Talbot. The wreckage was found June 21 in the
Congo jungle.
(AFP, 6/20/10)(AFP, 6/22/10)
2010 Jun 21, In the Congo
Republic at least 76 people were killed and 745 injured after a
train accident in the southern part of the country.
(Reuters, 6/23/10)
2010 Nov 9, The WHO said a
polio outbreak in the Congo Republic affected 201 people and caused
104 deaths in the last two weeks. The government in Brazzaville has
declared an emergency and announced plans to vaccinate the entire
population.
(SFC, 11/10/10, p.A2)
2010 Nov 9, France's highest
court authorized a probe into the assets of three African heads of
state, after two rights groups' alleged that the leaders laundered
money through French villas, cars and bank accounts. The probe will
target Gabon's late leader Omar Bongo, the Republic of Congo's
President Denis Sassou-Nguesso and President Teodoro Obiang of
Equatorial Guinea.
(AP, 11/9/10)
2010 Nov 19, In the Republic of
Congo 8 countries signed a convention to limit the spread of weapons
in central Africa, but three countries opted out. Angola, Cameroon,
the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Gabon, The Republic of Congo, Sao Tome and Principe all
signed. Burundi, Equatorial Guinea and Rwanda did not sign.
(AFP, 11/20/10)
2011 Mar 21, In the Republic of
Congo at least 16 people were killed when an Antanov 32 cargo plane
crashed in the Mvoumvou area of Pointe-Noire.
(SFC, 3/22/11, p.A2)
2011 Jun 29, The leaders of
Congo and Guinea agreed to boost the current "low level" of
bilateral exchange, in a statement marking a visit by President
Alpha Conde to Brazzaville. The leaders agreed to hold a second
session in 2012 of a joint commission that last met in 1978, in a
bid to "revive" ties.
(AFP, 6/30/11)
2011 Jul 10, In the Republic of
Congo 7 people died as security forces failed to control a stampede
outside the Felix Eboue stadium in Brazzaville, the venue for the
8th Pan-African Music Festival (Fespam).
(AFP, 7/11/11)
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