The World Bank official who steered the transition
Two days before the 2002 election he withdrew his candidacy, saying 'the conditions for a transparent vote were not guaranteed.'
A finance technocrat who served as the Congo's first treasurer-general after independence and later as a World Bank executive director. When the one-party system collapsed, the 1991 sovereign national conference elected him transitional prime minister on a fourth ballot, giving him executive power to steer the country toward multiparty elections. After the transition he founded the Union for Democracy and the Republic (UDR-Mwinda) and remained a leading opposition figure against Denis Sassou Nguesso.
Also known as: André Ntsatouabantou Milongo
Activities and affiliations
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1991–1992
Republic of the Congo state institutionsPrime Minister of the TransitionMain
Government and administration
Career Timeline
- 1964First treasurer-general (Trésorier Payeur Général)
- 1969–1973Director General of Investments, Ministry of Planning
- 1975–1976Economic and financial adviser to the Prime Minister
- 1976–1983Executive director, African Development Bank
- 1986–1990Executive director, World Bank
- 1991Founded the Union for Democracy and the Republic (UDR-Mwinda)
- 1991–1992Prime minister of the transition
- 1993–1997President of the National Assembly
Related historical events
Election as transitional prime minister, 1991
Meeting in Brazzaville from 25 February to 10 June 1991, the Sovereign National Conference abrogated the 1979 constitution and adopted a Fundamental Act to govern the transition. Of its 1,202 delegates, 67 parties and 134 associations sent representatives. The conference declared itself sovereign, suspended President Sassou Nguesso's powers, replaced the Popular National Assembly with a Higher Council of the Republic, and created a transitional premiership able to appoint and dismiss ministers. The election for that office began on 8 June 1991: a secret ballot with a public, immediate count, broadcast live on television. Lissouba led the first round with 285 votes to Milongo's 197 and Bokilo's 110; in the third round Milongo, backed by Babakas, reached 419 to Lissouba's 387, and he won the final round with 454 votes to 419. He was carried by the coalition opposed to Lissouba, who was seen as backed by figures of the old regime, and the government formed a week later gave the Congolese Labour Party no portfolios at all. Taking office in June 1991, he held executive power together with defense and mines and energy and led the constitutional work toward the 1992 multiparty elections.