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Foreign Intervention in the Civil War of the Congo Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

John F. Clark
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Extract

To the many tragedies in Africa since the end of the Cold War one may now add the civil war that devastated the Congo Republic from June to October 1997. This war not only ended Congo’s fragile experiment with democracy but also left some 10,000 Congolese citizens dead and countless more homeless, bereaved, or embittered. Artillery bombardment followed by looting destroyed much of Brazzaville’s inner city. Since seizing power in mid-October 1997, former (and again) president Dennis Sassou-Nguesso has only slowly restored public order. As of March 1998, only a few parts of town had partial phone service, water, and electricity. Congo’s long-delayed development is once again on hold as the new government grapples to restore basic services.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Issues , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , 1998 , pp. 31 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1998 

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References

Notes

1. Congo-Brazzaville has come to be called Congo Republic since May 1997. This shorthand distinguishes it from Congo-Kinshasa, whose formal name is République Démocratique du Congo, or in English, the DRC.

2. Clark, John F., “Socio-Political Change in the Republic of Congo: Political Dilemmas of Economic Reform,” Journal of Third World Studies 10, no. 1 (1993): 52-77Google Scholar.

3. This point is made particularly well by Frank, Philippe, “Ethnies et parties: le cas du Congo,” Afrique Contemporaine, no. 182 (2nd trimestre 1997): 3-15Google Scholar.

4. The low-grade fighting during 1993-94 was not generally referred to as civil war in Western press reports, but this was the expression used by most Congolese who described the fighting to me.

5. Kajsa Ekholm Friedman and Anne Sundberg, “Ethnic War and Ethnic Cleansing in Brazzaville,” unpublished manuscript, n.d. Ganga, Rémy Bazenguissa-, “Ninja, Cobra et la milice d’Aubeville: sociologies des pratiques de la violence urbaine à Brazzaville,” in Urban Management and Urban Violence in Africa, ed. Albert, Isaac O. et al. (Ibadan: IFRA, 1994), 115–122 Google Scholar.

6. The information in this paragraph is drawn from I. William Zartman and Katharina R. Vogeli, “Preventing Coup and Collapse: Delivering Competition Out of Monopoly in Congo,” Forthcoming.

7. Quantin, Patrick, “Congo: Transition démocratique et conjoncture critique,” in Transitions démocratiques africaines: Dynamiques et contraintes (1990-1994), ed. Daloz, Jean-Pascal and Quantin, Patrick (Paris: Karthala, 1997), 139–191 Google Scholar.

8. See Clark, John F., “Petro-Politics in Congo,” Journal of Democracy 8, no. 3 (1997): 62-76CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Smith, Stephen and Glaser, Antoine, Ces Messieurs Afrique 2: Des réseaux aux lobbies (Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1997), 95-132Google Scholar.

9. Menga, Guy, La Transition Escamotée (Paris: L’Harmattan, 1993), 133 Google Scholar.

10. Baniafouna, Calixte, Congo Démocratie: Les Déboires de l’Apprentissage, vol. 1 (Paris: L’Harmattan, 1995), 74 Google Scholar (my translation).

11. Ibid., 73. Also see Menga, op. cit., p. 59-60, and Gaspard Nsafou, Congo: De la Démocratie à la Démocra-ture (Paris: L’Harmattan, 1996), 213.

12. Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Country Report: Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde [CR: Congo] No. 4, 1992, p. 13.

13. EIU, CR: Congo, No. 1, 1994, p.18.

14. “La guerre du pétrole,” Jeune Afrique, no. 1690, May 27-June 2, 1993, p. 14; and “La guerre du pétrole: est-elle finie?” Jeune Afrique, no. 1705, September 9-15, 1993, p. 54.

15. Massou, Assou, “Rente: la nouvelle donnée,” Jeune Afrique, no. 1803, July 27-August 2, 1995, pp. 38-39Google Scholar.

16. Baniafouna, op. cit., p. 214.

17. EIU, CR: Congo, No. 1, 1994, p.20; and No. 3, 1994, pp. 11 and 14.

18. For a brief comparison of these two cases see Schraeder, Peter J., “France and the Great Game in Africa,” Current History 96, no. 610 (1997): 208–209 Google Scholar.

19. Smith, Stephen, “French Troops Persona Non Grata in the Central Africa Republic,” Libération, October 8, 1997, p. 12 Google Scholar (translated by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service-Africa (FBIS-AFR) and posted on October 9, 1997).

20. Glaser, Antoine, Smith, Stephen, and Malagardis, Maria, “Un rôle intermédiaire dans le conflit congolais,” Libération, February 4, 1998 Google Scholar.

21. Soudan, François, “Congo-Brazza: Les Vraies Questions,” Jeune Afrique, no. 1915, September 17-23, 1997, pp. 13-14Google Scholar.

22. See, inter alia, Smith, Stephen, “Afrique noire: le duel Washington-Paris,” Politique Internationale 61 (spring 1994): 355–567 Google Scholar.

23. See Le Monde, August 13, 1997.

24. “Les Atermoiements de Bongo,” Jeune Afrique, no. 1921, October 29-November 4, 1997, pp. 64-65.

25. See “Congo-Brazzaville: Regionalisation du Conflit,” La Lettre du Continent, no. 289, September 18, 1997.

26. Agence France Presse news dispatch, October 1, 1997, Paris, 16h57.

27. Agence France Presse news dispatch, October 3, 1997.

28. For instance, “Armed Blitz in Republic of Congo,” Newsday, October 13, 1997, A16.

29. On Lissouba’s last days in power, and his flight into exile, see Soudan, François, “Echec et Mat,” Jeune Afrique, no. 1921, October 29-November 4, 1997, pp. 60-65Google Scholar.