CONGO       Institutional Situation

  This section has been updated by Mr Boubacar Issa Abdourhamane,
a doctorate student at the CEAN, IEP – Montesquieu University of Bordeaux

Democratic Process

Like many other African countries, the Congo experienced a wave of demands for democracy from 1990 onwards. In the People’s Republic with its Marxist-Leninist ideology, the upheavals on the international scene and a difficult domestic economic context, led to a series of strikes and student movements as well as the emergence of an opposition demanding the holding of a National Conference and the departure of President Denis Sassou Nguesso.
The Central Committee of the Congolese Workers’ Party (Parti congolais du travail – PCT) came out in favour of a multiparty system ay the beginning of the month of July, but the revision of the Constitution to make the change official came only in December. The PCT gave up its Marxist-Leninist ideology and its role in leading the State. Several political formations were recognised. President Denis Sassou Nguesso finally announced the holding of a National Conference in his New Year’s message to the nation.
On 25 February 1991, the National Congolese Conference opened in Brazzaville. It was to last 3 months, until 10 June 1991. It was presided over by Ernest Kombo, Bishop of Owando. It was entrusted with “the essential mission of redefining the fundamental values of the nation and creating the conditions for a national consensus with a view to establishing a legitimate State”. This institution brought together the members of the declared political parties, independent associations and non-governmental and confessional organisations, making a total of about 1,200 delegates. The Conference proclaimed its sovereignty and adopted a Fundamental Act suspending the 1979 Constitution, as well as a Charter of Rights and Liberties.
The Conference set up three bodies: the Presidency of the Republic, a post kept by Denis Sassou Nguesso but with a certain number of his powers withdrawn, the transition government led by André Milongo, a former director of the World Bank and the High Council of the Republic (Conseil supérieur de la république – CSR), presided over by Bishop Kombo and composed of 153 members representing the different groups present at the National Conference. The role of this council was to ensure that the decisions taken during the Conference were applied, to make up for the absence of a parliament and to vote on laws.
The transition process in Congo was marked by many hiccups from its very beginning, such as the clash, in September 1991, between the government and the Congolese Trades Union Confederation which was opposed to the plan to restructure companies and the civil service. Attempted coups d’état against André Milongo, while he was in the United States in December 1991, and Denis Sassou Nguesso in January 1992, are also worthy of note. The month of January 1992 was also marked by a ministerial reshuffle caused by a political-military crisis. Finally, it was against a backdrop of ethnic and regional problems and of relations of conflict between the transition government and the Elf and Agip petroleum companies that the transition took place.
On 15 March 1992, a referendum was held leading to the adoption of the Constitution of the Fourth Republic with 96.3% of the votes. The months of April and May were marked by many strikes and a conflict between the government and the CSR. In May, the Municipal Elections confirmed the collapse of the PCT in the face of new parties, particularly the Congolese Movement for Democracy and Integral development (Mouvement congolais pour la démocractie et le développement integral – MCDDI) of Bernard Kolélas and the Pan-African Union for Social democracy (Union panafricaine pour la démocratie sociale – UPADS) of Pascal Lissouba. The first round of the general elections confirmed these trends with increasing protests against the former single party. On 19 July 1992 the second round of the general elections was held; it was crowned by the success of UPADS with 39 seats out of 125, compared to 29 for the MCDDI and 18 for the PCT, the other seats being shared between a large number of other parties. The same trend was confirmed in the senatorial elections of 26 July.
In the elections of 2 and 16 August 1992, Pascal Lissouba was elected President of the Republic with 61.3% of the votes. But although it was taken through to the end, the transition to democracy in Congo turned out to be very eventful, as was the new term of office of Lissouba, marked by a series of crises. At the end of October, the Bongo-Nouarra government was overthrown, followed by the dissolution of the National Assembly on 17 November – a dissolution that was declared illegal by the opposition. In June 1993, the opposition boycotted the second round of the general elections on the grounds that it refused to recognise the results of the first round of 2 May. This was followed by riots and the cancellation of that round of the elections. In July, a state of emergency was declared after clashes between militia groups, marking the beginning of a cycle of civil war.
The mediation of the President of Gabon, Omar Bongo, enabled the organisation of the second round of the elections, again highly contested and this time leading to the resumption of armed conflict. The end of 1993 and beginning of 1994 were marked by the war, despite the arbitration of an international college of legal experts in the elections. 1995 saw widespread dissension within the movement of the President and the opposition seemed to be reinvigorated. The government was opened up to some opposition figures and, in December, the two parties signed a peace pact involving the disarmament of the militia forces. Stability, however, was not to be and there were mutinies in the army at the beginning of 1996.
With the return of Denis Sassou Nguesso to Brazzaville in January 1997 in preparation for the presidential elections of July, there were increasingly frequent clashes between the militia groups – the “Cobras”, the “Ninjas” of Bernard Kolélas, mayor of Brazzaville, and President Lissouba’s “Zulus”. Civil war spread throughout the country as of June 1997 and the residence of Sassou Nguesso was attacked. After four and a half months of civil war, the forces loyal to Sasou Nguesso took Brazzaville in October with the help of Angolan troops. The Presidential election scheduled for July and August could not be held and General Sassou Nguesso was invested in the role of President. A forum held in January 1998 set a transition period of three years at the end of which general elections were to be held.
The military victory of Sassou Nguesso did not, however, bring about a return to stability. The opposition expressed its opinions from abroad, through former President Lissouba in exile in Great Britain and Bernard Kolélas in the United States, among others. The militia loyal to the latter carried on ethnic-regional guerrilla warfare in the Pool, the region in which the capital is located. In December 1998, they attempted to overthrow Sassou Nguesso while he was out of the country. This action triggered a counter-offensive with heavy weapons in the southern quarters of Brazzaville, causing great loss of life as well as the exacerbation of ethnic tension. The Congo has been left in a state of devastation in which the process of reconciliation is turning out be a difficult one, as was shown by attacks by Bernard Kolélas’ Ninjas and the counter-attack of the army in May 1999. The mediation of President Omar Bongo of Gabon has led to a respite and to closer relations between some factions of the armed and civilian opposition and the government of Sassou Nguesso. The democratisation of the Congolese political institutions will require, before all else, the return of peace after several years of fratricidal warfare. A draft Constitution is currently being prepared and will be submitted for a referendum with a view to holding the future presidential and general elections.

Political Institutions

Pending the creation of a new institutional framework, Congo is governed by a de facto regime sanctioned by the forum held in January 1998, with 850 delegates from political parties and civil society. The forum accepted the principle of a transition of three years before a return to Constitutional and democratic order. After the victory of his troops, General Sassou Nguesso issued an order, the Fundamental Act of 24 October 1997, to organise the regime. It made the General himself the chief of State and of the government. A government was appointed with loyal followers as well as a few small parties. A National Transition Council (Conseil national de transition) was also set up – a 75-member body in the place of the parliament.
The Constitution of Congo adopted on 15 March 1992 was suspended. It should be noted, for information, that the constitution in question has created a semi-Presidential regime with the Chief of State, the President of the Republic, elected by direct universal suffrage for a term of office of five years that could be renewed once. He appointed a Prime Minister from the parliamentary majority to lead the government.
Legislative power was exercised by a two-chamber parliament: the Senate and the National Assembly. The Assembly had 125 members elected by direct universal suffrage and the Senate, installed in 1992, 60 members elected indirectly.
In Constitutional matters, it is the Constitutional Council, composed of 9 members, which is competent. It deals with all electoral disputes, including those in local elections and referendums, and it checks that laws are constitutional. Its decisions are not subject to appeal. It was set up shortly before the end of the term of office of President Lissouba.
The project for a new Constitution will be submitted to the National Transition Council in its first session in March 2001. Once adopted, the government will draw up the calendar for transition in collaboration with the parliament and will set the dates for the presidential, general and local elections.

Judicial System

The Congolese judicial system has not been spared by the civil war that has devastated the country. Under the terms of the Constitution adopted on 15 March 1992, judiciary power is exercised by the Supreme Court and the other national jurisdictions. The Supreme Court, composed of magistrates elected by parliament and in place until retirement, constitutes the highest legal authority in the country. There is a High Judicial Council presided over by the President of the Republic to guarantee the independence of judges.

Decentralisation and Devolution

The desire for decentralisation is not recent in Congo. On 24 June 1973, a new Constitution was adopted under Marien Ngouabi. It sought to decentralise the decision-making bodies and public finances. A few years later, in July 1979, a new Constitution was adopted which, in line with the preoccupations of the government of President Sassou, pursued decentralisation in favour of the regions and communes.
Local elections were held on 3 May 1992 during the transition period. They were won by the UPADS of Pascal Lissouba and the NCDDI of Bernard Kolélas against a backdrop of regional preferences and contestation of the PCT loyal to General Sassou Nguesso. The term of office of those elected on the local level could not be renewed for reasons of civil war. The decentralisation process has now been suspended, as has the whole of the democratic process.

Political Parties

Before the dissolution of the institutions following the coup d’état, there were sixteen parties of varying sizes sitting in the National Assembly. The most important were the Pan-African Union for Social democracy (UPADS) of Pascal Lissouba, the Congolese Labour Party (Parti congolais du travail – PCT) of Denis Sassou Nguesso, Bernard Kolélas’ Congolese Movement for Democracy and Integral Development (Mouvement congolais pour la démocratie et le développement integral (MCDDI), the Rally for Democracy and Development (Rassemblement pour la démocratie et le développement – RDD) of Jacques Yhombi Opango, the Democratic Union for Renewal (Union démocratique du renouveau – UDR) of André Milongo, and Jean-Pierre Thystère-Tchicaya’s Rally for Democracy and Social progress (Rassembelment pour la démocratie et le progress social).
There were also the National Alliance for Democracy (Alliance nationale pour la démocratie – AND) a coalition of around forty parties, the Congolese Social-Democratic Party (Parti social démocrate congolais – PSDC), the Union of Democratic Forces (Union des forces démocratiques – UFD), the National Union for Democracy and Progress (Union nationale pour la démocratie et le progrès – UNDP) and the Republican Union for Progress (Union républicaine pour le progrès –URP).
The main parties of the former Presidential movement (UPADS, MCDDI) have been de-structured in the wake of their defeat and the departure of their leaders into exile.
Small parties took part in the forum of January 1998 and support the new regime.

Trades Unions

There is the CSC (Congolese Union Confederation) and also autonomous sector-based unions. The war has not spared the unions, who have at times been engaged on opposing sides in the conflict. The unions are yet to be reconstructed in the Congo.

Human Rights

The Constitution of 15 March 1992 stipulated that Congo adhere to the principles proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, the African Charter of the Human and peoples’ Rights of 1981, the Charter of National Unity and the Charter of Rights and Liberties adopted at the national conference. The death tolls of the two civil wars of 1993-94 and 1997 are estimated to have been around 2,000 and 10,000 to 15,000 respectively, not taking into account the thousands of wounded and the hundreds of thousands of refugees. This warfare has led and continues to lead to all sorts of acts of violence and revenge against a backdrop of ethnic-regional conflict. Each year, Amnesty International denounces countless violations of human rights in Congo. Since December 1998, the resumption of the activities of rebel militia groups and the offensives launched by troops loyal to President Sassou Nguesso have led to many summary executions on both sides and to the exodus of civilian populations fleeing the combats and violence. In September 1998, as a sign of respecting human rights, the authorities announced their intention to create military tribunals in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire to judge members of the government military forces accused of serious violations of human rights and of other crimes.

Media

The Congolese press has seen a boom in the number of publications since 1990. Before the war, the following were worthy of note, among others: La Semaine Africaine, Mweti, Etumba, Tam-Tam, Révélation, Le Soleil, Le rayon, Aujourd’hui, L’Ub’s and La Ruche. Most of these publications had links with the political formations. With the military victory of Sassou Nguesso the press has been taken in hand by censorship and intimidation, leading journalists to censor themselves. Human rights groups report cases of arrest and intimidation of journalists in the exercise of their profession.