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The Republic of Congo is also known as Congo-Brazzaville and many confuse it with its much larger neighbour to the west of the Congo River.
(Incidentally the capital cities of the
Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo ~ Brazzaville and
Kinshasa respectively ~ are the two closest capital cities in the world by
proximity, being separated by the area of the Congo River known as Pool Malebo.) However the two 'Congos' are very
different in size and population with the Democratic Republic of Congo having a
population of 89.56 million (2020) whilst the smaller Republic of Congo has a population of 5,74 million (2022), the majority of whom are located in Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire
and the surrounding areas. On independence from France in
1960, the land known as Middle Congo, became the People's Republic of Congo. As
with many of the other newly emerging African nations, politics were fraught
with internal conflict and instability. Following coups and
assassinations, Denis Sassou Nguesso become president of the country in 1979 and
aligned the Republic of Congo firmly with the then USSR, the People's Republic
of China and other communist states.
The Republic of Congo was then
ruled as a Marxist state. However as the economy crumbled and became increasing
infected by corruption, unrest swelled. In 1991 Sassou was stripped of his
executive powers by the National Conference and allowed to remain as ceremonial
head of state until elections could be called. Marxism was similarly abandoned. In 1992 elections were duely held and won by Pascal Lissouba
with Sassou coming third. Lissouba was the first democratically elected
president of the Republic of Congo with Sassou remaining as main opposition leader. Within a year Lissouba was accused of rigging the presidential election and
conflict had broken out, however was largely quashed with the intervention of
Gabon and the Organisation of African Unity. As the 1997 election approached
with both Sassou and Lissouba both standing, tensions erupted into civil war
with Angola invading the country in support of Sassou.
On 14th October Lissouba
fled the country and Sassou was restored to power and remains there to date having secured 88.57% of the votes in the 2021 election with his nearest challenger, Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas, finishing second with 7.84%. The situation in the Republic of
Congo is considered relatively stable today although there are continued reports of sporadic rebel group activity in the country together with large numbers of displaced people. Congo Brazzaville is in 149th place out of 189 countries and territories in 2019 when ranked in terms of life expectancy, literacy, access to knowledge and the living standards with a life expectancy of 64.57 years (2019) and a poverty rate in 2020 of 52.5%, mainly in rural areas. Find out more about the Republic of Congo in our Congo Brazzaville profile pages below.
Congo Profile: Volunteer in Congo Brazzaville
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Congo Profile: Congo History
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Congo Profile: Life in Congo Brazzaville
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Congo Profile: Congo Brazzaville Children
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Congo Profile: Street Children
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Congo Profile: Pygmy People
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Congo Profile: Republic of Congo Education
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Congo Profile: Republic of Congo Images
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Congo Profile: Brazzaville Profile
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Congo Profile: Congo Ferry
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Congo Profile: Child Sponsor Congo Brazzaville
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Congo Profile: Congo Brazzaville Map
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Congo Profile: Republic of Congo News
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