The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998/Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso/C/Congo/INFOTEXT

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1. People's Republic of the (Republique
Populaire du Congo) area 342,000 sq
km/132,012 sq mi capital Brazzaville towns
chief port Pointe Noire physical Zaire
(Congo) river on the border; half the country
is rainforest head of state and government
Denis Sassau-Nguesso from 1979 political
system one-party socialist republic political
parties Congolese Labour Party (PCT),
Marxist-Leninist exports timber, potash,
petroleum currency CFA franc (485.00 = 1 Feb
1990) population (1987) 2,270,000 (chiefly
Bantu); annual growth rate 2.6% life
expectancy men 45, women 48 language French
(official) religion animist 50%, Christian
48% literacy 79% male/55% female (1985 est)
GDP $2.1 bn (1983); $500 per head of
population chronology 1960 Achieved full
independence from France, with Abbe Youlou as
the first president. 1963 Youlou forced to
resign. New constitution approved, with
Alphonse Massamba-Debat as president. 1964
The Congo became a one-party state. 1968
Military coup, led by Capt Marien Ngouabi,
ousted Massamba-Debat. 1970 A Marxist state,
the People's Republic of the Congo, was
announced, with the PCT as the only legal
party. 1977 Ngouabi assassinated. Col
Yhombi-Opango became president. 1979
Yhombi-Opango handed over the presidency to
PCT, who chose Col Denis Sassou-Ngessou as
his successor. 1984 Sassou-Ngessou elected
for another five-year term.

2. Country in W central Africa, bounded to
the north by Cameroon and the Central African
Republic, to the east and south by Zaire, to
the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the
northwest by Gabon. government The Congo is a
one-party state based on the Marxist-Leninist
Congolese Labour Party (PTC). The president
of the central committee of PTC is
automatically elected state president for a
five-year term and chairs the council of
ministers. The single-chamber legislature is
the 153-member people's national assembly,
elected by universal suffrage from a list
prepared by PTC. history Occupied from the
15th century by the Bakongo, Bateke, and
Sanga, the area was exploited by Portuguese
slave traders. From 1889 it came under French
administration, becoming part of French
Equatorial Africa in 1910. The Congo became
an autonomous republic within the French
Community in 1958 and Abbe Fulbert Youlou, a
Roman Catholic priest who involved himself in
politics and was suspended by the Church,
became prime minister and then president when
full independence was achieved in 1960. Two
years later plans were announced for a
one-party state but in 1963, after industrial
unrest, Youlou was forced to resign. A new
constitution was approved and Alphonse
Massamba-Debat, a former finance minister,
became president, adopting a policy of
`scientific socialism'. The National
Revolutionary Movement (MNR) was declared the
only political party. In 1968 Captain Marien
Ngouabi overthrew Massamba-Debat in a
military coup and the national assembly was
replaced by a national council of the
revolution. Ngouabi proclaimed a Marxist
state but kept economic links with France. In
1970 the nation became the People's Republic
of the Congo, with the PTC as the only party,
and in 1973 a new constitution provided for
an assembly chosen from a single party list.
In 1977 Ngouabi was assassinated and Colonel
Joachim Yhombi-Opango took over. He resigned
in 1979, after discovering a plot to
overthrow him, and was succeeded by Denis
Sassou-Nguessou, who has moved away from
Soviet influence, strengthening links with
France, the USA, and China. In 1982 President
Mitterrand of France paid an official visit
to the Congo. In 1984 Sassou-Nguessou was
elected for another five-year term. He
increased his control by combining the posts
of head of state, head of government and
president of the central committee of PTC.

3. Congo, former name 1960-71 of Zaire.