Republic of the Congo Civil War (1997–1999)
콩고 공화국 내전 (1997–1999)
The second civil war in the Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), fought from 5 June 1997 to 29 December 1999 by the militias of President Pascal Lissouba, former president Denis Sassou Nguesso and Bernard Kolelas. Angolan intervention returned Sassou Nguesso to power in October 1997; the rebel resistance in the south ended with a peace agreement at the end of 1999.
In depth
After the move to a multiparty system in 1990, Lissouba won the 1992 presidential election, with Kolelas second and Sassou Nguesso third. Each of the three led a militia — Kolelas the Ninja, Lissouba the Cocoye, Sassou Nguesso the Cobra — recruited from their leaders’ ethnic and political bases among the Lari, the Nibolek and the Mbochi. After the first civil war of 1993–1994 the militias kept their weapons.
On 5 June 1997 Lissouba ordered Sassou Nguesso detained and the Cobra disarmed, and fighting broke out across Brazzaville. Both sides shelled densely populated districts and singled out civilians for extortion and harassment by ethnicity. In September Lissouba made Kolelas prime minister, bringing the Ninja in on the government side. Because Lissouba’s government had backed the Angolan rebel movement UNITA, Angola entered the war on Sassou Nguesso’s side, and France armed the Cobra to secure its oil interests. In October, with Angolan air strikes and troops, the Cobra took the capital and Sassou Nguesso declared himself president.
Driven out of Brazzaville, the Cocoye and Ninja fought on in the south. Fighting in Brazzaville’s Bacongo and Makelekele districts in December 1998 displaced 200,000 people and, with looting and summary executions by government forces, left at least 1,000 dead. On 29 December 1999 some 2,000 Ninja and Cocoye rebels signed a peace agreement and surrendered, officially ending the war. It showed that the end of one-party rule had not settled the conflict between armed party factions over the resources of the state.