Republic of the Congo

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Not to be confused with the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo; for
similarly named entities, see Republic of the Congo (disambiguation).
"RotC" redirects here. For other uses, see ROTC (disambiguation).
Coordinates:  1.44°S 15.556°E

Republic of the Congo

République du Congo  (French)
Repubilika ya Kôngo  (Kituba)
Republíki ya Kongó  (Lingala)

Flag

Coat of arms

Motto: "Unité, Travail, Progrès" (French)

(English: "Unity, Work, Progress")

Anthem: La Congolaise  (French)
Besi Kôngo  (Kongo)
(English: "The Congolese")

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Capital Brazzaville
and largest city 4°16′S 15°17′E

Official languages French
Recognised Kituba
national languages Lingala
[1]

Ethnic groups 40.5% Kongo
16.9% Teke
13.1% Mbochi
5.6% Sangha
23.9% Other African/Europeans

Religion  88.5% Christianity
(2015) [2]
—52.9% Roman Catholic
—27.3% Protestant
—8.3% Other Christian
4.7% Traditional faiths
3.0% No religion
2.3% Others
1.5% Undeclared

Demonym(s) Congolese

Government Unitary dominant-party semi-
presidential republic

• President Denis Sassou Nguesso

• Prime Minister Anatole Collinet Makosso

Legislature Parliament
 • Upper house Senate
• Lower house National Assembly

Independence
• Republic established 28 November 1958
• from France 15 August 1960

Area
• Total 342,000 km2 (132,000 sq mi) (64th)
• Water (%) 3.3

Population
• 2021 estimate 5,657,000 (114th)
• Density 17/km2 (44.0/sq mi) (204th)

GDP (PPP) 2019 estimate
• Total $32.516 billion
• Per capita $7,119[3]

GDP (nominal) 2019 estimate
• Total $11.162 billion
• Per capita $2,444[3]

Gini (2011) 40.2[4]
medium

HDI (2019)  0.574[5]
medium · 149th

Currency Central African CFA franc (XAF)

Time zone UTC+1 (WAT)

Driving side right

Calling code +242

ISO 3166 code CG

Internet TLD .cg

The Republic of the Congo ( pronunciation (help·info) French: République du

Congo, Kituba: Repubilika ya Kôngo), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo
Republic[6][7] or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western
coast of Central Africa. The country is bordered to the west by Gabon, to its northwest
by Cameroon and its northeast by the Central African Republic, to the southeast by
the DR Congo, to its south by the Angolan exclave of Cabinda and to its southwest by
the Atlantic Ocean. French is the official language of the Republic of the Congo.
The region was dominated by Bantu-speaking tribes at least 3,000 years ago, who built
trade links leading into the Congo River basin. Congo was formerly part of the French
colony of Equatorial Africa.[8] The Republic of the Congo was established on 28
November 1958 and gained independence from France in 1960. It was a Marxist–
Leninist state from 1969 to 1992, under the name People's Republic of the Congo.
The sovereign state has had multi-party elections since 1992, although a democratically
elected government was ousted in the 1997 Republic of the Congo Civil War, and
President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who first came to power in 1979, has now ruled for
over 4 decades.
The Republic of the Congo is a member of the African Union, the United Nations, La
Francophonie, the Economic Community of Central African States, and the Non-Aligned
Movement. It has become the fourth-largest oil producer in the Gulf of Guinea, providing
the country with a degree of prosperity despite political and economic instability in some
areas and unequal distribution of oil revenue nationwide. Congo's economy is heavily
dependent on the oil sector,[9] and economic growth has slowed considerably since the
post-2015 drop in oil prices. With a population of 5.2 million, 88.5% of the country
practices Christianity.

Contents

 1Etymology
 2History
o 2.1Pre-colonial
o 2.2French colonial era
o 2.3Post-independence era
 3Government
o 3.1Administrative divisions
o 3.2Military
o 3.3Human rights
o 3.4Media
 4Geography
 5Economy
 6Transportation
 7Demographics
o 7.1Health
 8Culture
o 8.1Arts
 9Education
 10Literature
 11See also
 12References
 13Further reading
 14External links
Etymology[edit]
Further information: Congo River and Kongo people
The Republic of the Congo is named after the Congo River, whose name is derived
from Kongo, a Bantu kingdom which occupied its mouth around the time of its discovery
by the Portuguese in 1483[10] or 1484.[11] The kingdom's name derived from its people,
the Bakongo, an endonym said to mean "hunters" (Kongo: mukongo, nkongo).[12]
During the period when it was colonized by France, it was known as the French
Congo or Middle Congo. To distinguish it from the neighboring Democratic Republic of
the Congo, it is sometimes referred to as Congo (Brazzaville) or Congo-
Brazzaville. Brazzaville derives from the colony's founder, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazzà,
an Italian nobleman whose title referred to the town of Brazzacco, in
the comune of Moruzzo, whose name derived from the Latin Brattius or Braccius, both
meaning "arm".[13]

History[edit]
Main article: History of the Republic of the Congo
See also: Loango slavery harbour
Pre-colonial[edit]
Bantu-speaking peoples who founded tribes during the Bantu expansions largely
displaced and absorbed the earliest inhabitants of the region, the Pygmy people, about
1500 BC. The Bakongo, a Bantu ethnic group that also occupied parts of present-day
Angola, Gabon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formed the basis for ethnic
affinities and rivalries among those countries. Several Bantu kingdoms—notably those
of the Kongo, the Loango, and the Teke—built trade links leading into the Congo River
basin.[14]
The Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão reached the mouth of the Congo in 1484.
[15]
 Commercial relationships quickly grew between the inland Bantu kingdoms and
European merchants who traded in various commodities, manufactured goods, and also
people captured and enslaved in the hinterlands. After centuries as a central hub for
transatlantic trade, direct European colonization of the Congo river delta began in the
late 19th century, subsequently eroding the power of the Bantu societies in the region. [16]
French colonial era[edit]
Main articles: French Congo and French Equatorial Africa
The court of N'Gangue M'voumbe Niambi, from the book Description of Africa (1668)

The area north of the Congo River came under French sovereignty in 1880 as a result
of Pierre de Brazza's treaty with King Makoko[17] of the Bateke.[15] After the death of
Makoko, his widow Queen Ngalifourou upheld the terms of the treaty and became an
important ally to the colonizers.[18] This Congo Colony became known first as French
Congo, then as Middle Congo in 1903.
In 1908, France organized French Equatorial Africa (AEF), comprising the Middle
Congo, Gabon, Chad, and Oubangui-Chari (the modern Central African Republic). The
French designated Brazzaville as the federal capital. Economic development during the
first 50 years of colonial rule in Congo centered on natural-resource extraction. The
methods were often brutal: construction of the Congo-Ocean Railway following World
War I has been estimated to have cost at least 14,000 lives. [15]
During the Nazi occupation of France during World War II, Brazzaville functioned as the
symbolic capital of Free France between 1940 and 1943.[19] The Brazzaville Conference
of 1944 heralded a period of major reform in French colonial policy. Congo benefited
from the postwar expansion of colonial administrative and infrastructure spending as a
result of its central geographic location within AEF and the federal capital at Brazzaville.
[14]
 It also had a local legislature after the adoption of the 1946 constitution that
established the Fourth Republic.
Following the revision of the French constitution that established the Fifth Republic in
1958, the AEF dissolved into its constituent parts, each of which became an
autonomous colony within the French Community. During these reforms, Middle Congo
became known as the Republic of the Congo in 1958 [20] and published its first
constitution in 1959.[21] Antagonism between the Mbochis (who favored Jacques
Opangault) and the Laris and Kongos (who favored Fulbert Youlou, the first black mayor
elected in French Equatorial Africa) resulted in a series of riots in Brazzaville in
February 1959, which the French Army subdued.[22]
New elections took place in April 1959. By the time the Congo became independent in
August 1960, Opangault, the former opponent of Youlou, agreed to serve under him.
Youlou became the first President of the Republic of the Congo. [23] Since the political
tension was so high in Pointe-Noire, Youlou moved the capital to Brazzaville.
Post-independence era[edit]
Alphonse Massamba-Débat's one-party rule (1963–1968) attempted to implement a political economic strategy
of "scientific socialism".

The Republic of the Congo became fully independent from France on 15 August 1960.
Youlou ruled as the country's first president until labor elements and rival political
parties instigated a three-day uprising that ousted him.[24] The Congolese military briefly
took over the country and installed a civilian provisional government headed
by Alphonse Massamba-Débat.
Under the 1963 constitution, Massamba-Débat was elected president for a five-year
term.[14] During Massamba-Débat's term in office, the regime adopted "scientific
socialism" as the country's constitutional ideology.[25] In 1965, Congo established
relations with the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, North Korea, and North
Vietnam.[25] On the night of February 14 to 15, 1965, three prominent public officials of
the Republic of the Congo were kidnapped: Lazare Matsocota [fr] (prosecutor of the
Republic), Joseph Pouabou [fr] (President of the Supreme Court), and Anselme
Massouémé [fr] (director of the Congolese Information Agency). The bodies of two of
these men were later found, mutilated, by the Congo River.[26][27] Massamba-Débat's
regime also invited several hundred Cuban army troops into the country to train his
party's militia units. These troops helped his government survive a coup d'état in
1966 led by paratroopers loyal to future President Marien Ngouabi. Nevertheless,
Massamba-Débat was unable to reconcile various institutional, tribal, and ideological
factions within the country,[25] and his regime ended abruptly with a bloodless coup in
September 1968.
Marien Ngouabi changed the country's name to the People's Republic of the Congo, declaring it Africa's first
Marxist–Leninist state. He was assassinated in 1977.

Marien Ngouabi, who had participated in the coup, assumed the presidency on 31
December 1968. One year later, Ngouabi proclaimed the Congo Africa's first "people's
republic", the People's Republic of the Congo, and announced the decision of the
National Revolutionary Movement to change its name to the Congolese Labour
Party (PCT). He survived an attempted coup in 1972 but was assassinated on 16
March 1977. An 11-member Military Committee of the Party (CMP) was then named to
head an interim government, with Joachim Yhombi-Opango serving as president. Two
years later, Yhombi-Opango was forced from power, and Denis Sassou
Nguesso becomes the new president.[14]
Sassou Nguesso aligned the country with the Eastern Bloc and signed a twenty-year
friendship pact with the Soviet Union. Over the years, Sassou had to rely more
on political repression and less on patronage to maintain his dictatorship.[28] The collapse
of the Soviet Union in 1991 resulted in the ending of Soviet aid to prop up the regime,
and it abdicated power.
Pascal Lissouba, who became Congo's first elected president (1992–1997) during the
period of multi-party democracy, attempted to implement economic reforms with IMF
backing to liberalize the economy. In June 1996, the IMF approved a three-
year SDR69.5m (US$100m) enhanced structural adjustment facility (ESAF) and was on
the verge of announcing a renewed annual agreement when civil war broke out in
Congo in mid-1997.[29]
Congo's democratic progress was derailed in 1997 when Lissouba and Sassou started
to fight for power in the civil war. As presidential elections scheduled for July 1997
approached, tensions between the Lissouba and Sassou camps mounted. On 5 June,
President Lissouba's government forces surrounded Sassou's compound in Brazzaville,
and Sassou ordered members of his private militia (known as "Cobras") to resist. Thus
began a four-month conflict that destroyed or damaged much of Brazzaville and caused
tens of thousands of civilian deaths. In early October, the Angolan government began
an invasion of Congo to install Sassou in power. In mid-October, the Lissouba
government fell. Soon after that, Sassou declared himself president. [14]
A pro-constitutional reform rally in Brazzaville during October 2015. The constitution's controversial reforms
were subsequently approved in a disputed election which saw demonstrations and violence.

In the controversial elections in 2002, Sassou won with almost 90% of the vote cast. His
two main rivals, Lissouba and Bernard Kolelas, were prevented from competing. The
only remaining credible rival, André Milongo advised his supporters to boycott the
elections and then withdrew from the race.[30] A new constitution, agreed upon
by referendum in January 2002, granted the president new powers, extended his term
to seven years, and introduced a new bicameral assembly. International observers took
issue with the organization of the presidential election and the constitutional
referendum, both of which were reminiscent in their organization of Congo's era of the
one-party state.[31] Following the presidential elections, fighting restarted in the Pool
region between government forces and rebels led by Pastor Ntumi; a peace treaty to
end the conflict was signed in April 2003.[32]
Sassou also won the following presidential election in July 2009.[33] According to the
Congolese Observatory of Human Rights, a non-governmental organization, the
election was marked by "very low" turnout and "fraud and irregularities". [34] In March
2015, Sassou announced that he wanted to run for yet another term in office and
a constitutional referendum in October resulted in a changed constitution that allowed
him to run during the 2016 presidential election. He won the election believed by many
to be fraudulent. After violent protests in the capital, Sassou attacked the Pool region,
where the Ninja rebels of the civil war used to be based, in what was believed to be a
distraction. This led to a revival of the Ninja rebels who launched attacks against the
army in April 2016, leading 80,000 people to flee their homes. A ceasefire deal was
signed in December 2017.[35]

Government[edit]
Denis Sassou Nguesso served as president from 1979 to 1992 and has remained in power ever since his rebel
forces ousted President Pascal Lissouba during the 1997 Civil War.

Main article: Politics of the Republic of the Congo

See also: Constitution of the Republic of the Congo, Foreign relations of the Republic
of the Congo, and Biens mal acquis
The government of the Republic is a semi-presidential system with an elected president
who appoints the Council of Ministers, or Cabinet. The council, including the Prime
Minister, is selected from the elected representatives in Parliament. The country has
had a multi-party political system since the early 1990s; although the system is heavily
dominated by President Denis Sassou Nguesso, he has lacked serious competition in
the presidential elections held under his rule. Sassou Nguesso is backed by his
own Congolese Labour Party (French: Parti Congolais du Travail) as well as a range of
smaller parties.
Sassou's regime has seen many corruption revelations despite attempts to censor
them. One French investigation found over 110 bank accounts and dozens of lavish
properties in France.[36] Sassou denounced embezzlement investigations as "racist" and
"colonial".[37][38][39] Denis Christel Sassou-Nguesso, son of Denis Sassou Nguesso, has
been named in association with the Panama Papers.[40]
On 27 March 2015, Sassou Nguesso announced that his government would hold a
referendum on changing the country's 2002 constitution to allow him to run for a third
consecutive term in office.[41] On 25 October, the government held a referendum on
allowing Sassou Nguesso to run in the next election. The government claimed that the
proposal was approved by 92% of voters, with 72% of eligible voters participating. The
opposition, who boycotted the referendum, said that the government's statistics were
false and the vote was a fake one.[42]
The election raised questions and was accompanied by civil unrest and police shootings
of protesters;[43] at least 18 people were killed by security forces during opposition rallies
leading up to the referendum held in October.
Administrative divisions[edit]
Map of the Republic of the Congo exhibiting its twelve departments

Main articles: Departments of the Republic of the Congo, Communes of the Republic of

the Congo, and Districts of the Republic of the Congo
The Republic of the Congo is divided into 12 départements (departments). Departments
are divided into communes and districts. [44] These are:

 Bouenza
 Brazzaville
 Cuvette
 Cuvette-Ouest
 Kouilou
 Lékoumou
 Likouala
 Niari
 Plateaux
 Pointe-Noire
 Pool
 Sangha
Military[edit]
Main article: Armed Forces of the Republic of the Congo
The Armed Forces of the Republic of the Congo (French: Forces armées de la
République du Congo), also less formally denoted as the Forces armées congolaises or
its acronym FAC, are the military forces of the Republic of the Congo. They consist of
the Congolese Army, the Congolese Air Force, the Congolese Marine (Navy), and the
Congolese National Gendarmerie.
Human rights[edit]
Main article: Human rights in the Republic of the Congo
Many Pygmies belong from birth to Bantus in a relationship many refer to as slavery.[45]
[46]
 The Congolese Human Rights Observatory says that the Pygmies are treated as
property in the same way as pets.[45] On 30 December 2010, the Congolese
parliament adopted a law to promote and protect the rights of indigenous peoples. [clarification
needed]
 This law is the first of its kind in Africa, and its adoption is a historic development for
indigenous peoples on the continent.[47][needs update]
Media[edit]
Main article: Media of the Republic of the Congo
In 2008, the primary media were owned by the government, but privately run forms of
media were being created. There are one government-owned television station and
around 10 small private television channels.

Geography[edit]
Main article: Geography of the Republic of the Congo
The Republic of the Congo has a wide variety of natural landscapes, ranging from
the savanna plains in the North Niari flooded forests, to the vast Congo River, to the
rugged mountains and forests of Mayombe, and 170 km of beaches along the Atlantic
coast.[48]

Climate diagram for Brazzaville

Congo is located in the central-western part of sub-Saharan Africa, along the Equator,

lying between latitudes 4°N and 5°S, and longitudes 11° and 19°E. To the south and
east of it is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is also bounded by Gabon to the
west, Cameroon and the Central African Republic to the north, and Cabinda (Angola) to
the southwest. It has a short coast on the Atlantic Ocean.
The capital, Brazzaville, is located on the Congo River, in the south of the country,
immediately across from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The southwest of the country is a coastal plain for which the primary drainage is
the Kouilou-Niari River; the interior of the country consists of a central plateau between
two basins to the south and north. Forests are under increasing exploitation pressure.
  Congo had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 8.89/10, ranking it
[49]

12th globally out of 172 countries.[50]

Congo lies within four terrestrial ecoregions: Atlantic Equatorial coastal
forests, Northwestern Congolian lowland forests, Western Congolian swamp forests,
and Western Congolian forest–savanna mosaic.[51] Since the country is located on the
Equator, the climate is consistent year-round, with the average day temperature a
humid 24 °C (75 °F) and nights generally between 16 °C (61 °F) and 21 °C (70 °F). The
average yearly rainfall ranges from 1,100 millimetres (43 in) in the Niari Valley in the
south to over 2,000 millimetres (79 in) in central parts of the country. The dry season is
from June to August, while in the majority of the country, the wet season has two rainfall
maxima: one in March–May and another in September–November. [52]
In 2006–07, researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society studied gorillas in
heavily forested regions centered on the Ouesso District of the Sangha Region. They
suggest a population on the order of 125,000 western lowland gorillas, whose isolation
from humans has been largely preserved by inhospitable swamps. [53]

Economy[edit]
Main article: Economy of the Republic of the Congo
See also: Hydrocarbon exploration and List of companies of the Republic of the Congo

A proportional representation of Republic of the Congo exports, 2019

Cassava is an important food crop in the Republic of the Congo.

The economy is a mixture of village agriculture and handicrafts, an industrial sector

based mainly on petroleum,[54][9] support services, and a government characterized by
budget problems and overstaffing. Petroleum extraction has supplanted forestry as the
mainstay of the economy. In 2008, the oil sector accounted for 65% of the GDP, 85% of
government revenue, and 92% of exports.[55] The country also has large
untapped mineral wealth.[9]
In the early 1980s, rapidly rising oil revenues enabled the government to finance large-
scale development projects. GDP grew an average of 5% annually, one of the highest
rates in Africa. The government has mortgaged a substantial portion of its petroleum
earnings, contributing to a shortage of revenues. On 12 January 1994, the devaluation
of Franc Zone currencies by 50% resulted in an inflation of 46% in 1994, but inflation
has subsided since.[56]

Young women learning to sew, Brazzaville

Economic reform efforts continued with the support of international organizations,

notably the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The reform program came
to a halt in June 1997 when civil war erupted. When Sassou Nguesso returned to power
at the end of the war in October 1997, he publicly expressed interest in moving forward
on economic reforms and privatization and in renewing cooperation with international
financial institutions. However, economic progress was badly hurt by slumping oil prices
and the resumption of armed conflict in December 1998, which worsened the republic's
budget deficit.
The current administration presides over an uneasy internal peace and faces difficult
economic problems of stimulating recovery and reducing poverty, despite record-high oil
prices since 2003. Natural gas and diamonds are also recent major Congolese exports,
although Congo was excluded from the Kimberley Process in 2004 amid allegations that
most of its diamond exports were, in fact, being smuggled out of the
neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo; it was re-admitted to the group in 2007.
[57][58]

The Republic of the Congo also has large untapped base metal, gold, iron, and
phosphate deposits.[59] The country is a member of the Organization for the
Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA).[60] The Congolese government
signed an agreement in 2009 to lease 200,000 hectares of land to South
African farmers to reduce its dependence on imports.[61][62]
The GDP of the Republic of the Congo grew by 6% in 2014 and is expected to have
grown by 7.5% in 2015.[63][64]
In 2018, the Republic of the Congo joined the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries.[65]
Transportation[edit]

Maya-Maya Airport in Brazzaville

Main article: Transport in the Republic of the Congo

Transport in the Republic of the Congo includes land, air, and water transportation. The
country's rail system was built by forced laborers during the 1930s and largely remains
in operation. There are also over 1000 km of paved roads, and two major international
airports (Maya-Maya Airport and Pointe-Noire Airport) which have flights to destinations
in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The country also has a large port on the Atlantic
Ocean at Pointe-Noire and others along the Congo River at Brazzaville and Impfondo.

Demographics[edit]
Main article: Demographics of the Republic of the Congo
Religion in the Republic of the Congo by the Association of Religion Data Archives (2015)[2]

  Roman Catholic (52.9%)
  Protestant and Unknown Christian (35.6%)
  Traditional African religions (4.7%)
  Other religions (2.3%)
  No religion (3.0%)
  Don't know (1.4%)

Population[66][67]

Year Million

1950 0.8

2000 3.2

2018 5.2
The Republic of the Congo's sparse population is concentrated in the southwestern
portion of the country, leaving the vast areas of tropical jungle in the north virtually
uninhabited. Thus, Congo is one of the most urbanized countries in Africa, with 70% of
its total population living in a few urban areas, namely in Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire, or
one of the small cities or villages lining the 534-kilometre (332 mi), railway which
connects the two cities. In rural areas, industrial and commercial activity has declined
rapidly in recent years, leaving rural economies dependent on the government for
support and subsistence.[68]
Ethnically and linguistically, the population of the Republic of the Congo is diverse—
Ethnologue recognizes 62 spoken languages in the country [69]—but can be grouped into
three categories. The Kongo is the largest ethnic group and forms roughly half of the
population. The most significant subgroups of the Kongo are Laari, in Brazzaville and
Pool regions, and the Vili, around Pointe-Noire and along the Atlantic coast. The second
largest group is the Teke, who live to the north of Brazzaville, with 16.9% of the
population. Boulangui (M’Boshi) live in the northwest and in Brazzaville and form 13.1%
of the population.[70][71] Pygmies make up 2% of Congo's population.[72]
Before the 1997 war, about 9,000 Europeans and other non-Africans lived in Congo,
most of whom were French; only a fraction of this number remains.[68] Around
300 American expatriates reside in the Congo.[68]
According to CIA World Factbook, the people of the Republic of the Congo are largely a
mix of Catholics (33.1%), Awakening Lutherans (22.3%), and other Protestants (19.9%).
Followers of Islam make up 1.6%; this is primarily due to an influx of foreign workers
into the urban centers.[8]
According to a 2011–12 survey, the total fertility rate was 5.1 children born per woman,
with 4.5 in urban areas and 6.5 in rural areas. [73]
 
 
Largest cities or towns in Republic of the Congo
City Population: CONGO (REP.)
Rank Department Pop.
1 Brazzaville Brazzaville 1,373,382
2 Pointe-Noire Pointe-Noire 715,334
3 Dolisie Niari 83,798
4 Nkayi Bouenza 71,620
Brazzaville
5 Impfondo Likouala 33,911
6 Ouésso Sangha 28,179
7 Madingou Bouenza 25,713
8 Owando Cuvette 24,736
9 Sibiti Lékoumou 22,951
Pointe-Noire 10 Loutété Bouenza 19,212

Health[edit]
Further information: Health in the Republic of the Congo
Public expenditure health was at 8.9% of the GDP in 2004, whereas private expenditure
was at 1.3%.[74] As of 2012, the HIV/AIDS prevalence was at 2.8% among 15- to 49-
year-olds.[8] Health expenditure was at US$30 per capita in 2004. [74] A large proportion of
the population is undernourished,[74] and malnutrition a problem in Congo-Brazzaville.
[75]
 There were 20 physicians per 100,000 persons in the early 2000s (decade). [74]
As of 2010, the maternal mortality rate was 560 deaths/100,000 live births, and
the infant mortality rate was 59.34 deaths/1,000 live births.[8] Female genital
mutilation (FGM) is rare in the country, being confined to limited geographic areas of the
country.[76]

Culture[edit]
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help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced
material may be challenged and removed.
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Main article: Culture of the Republic of the Congo
See also: Languages of the Republic of the Congo

Trois Pieces, a Congo-Brazzaville food

The numerous ethnic groups, forms of art, and political structures express a rich cultural
diversity.
Among the best known are Vili nail fetishes, Beembe statuettes that are full of
expression; the masks of the Punu and Kwele, Kota reliquaries, Teke fetishes, and
cemeteries with monumental tombs are examples of this variety. The Lari people also
have unique artifacts.
The Republic of the Congo also has considerable colonial architectural heritage, which
it is preserving. Restoration of architectural works is underway in Brazzaville, for
example, at the Basilica of Sainte-Anne du Congo, which was completed in 2011. [77]
Because of problems with the communications network, the country is not ready to build
on heritage tourism. It is working to improve the network that supports its hotels and
related tourism facilities in Pointe Noire and Brazzaville. Many sites are difficult to reach
in overland visits. Some of the South's most populous and developed locations are often
the least accessible. For example, the massive Chaillu Mountains are almost impossible
to visit.
Arts[edit]
This section may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality
standards. You can help. The talk page may contain suggestions. (April
2020)

The Franco-Congolese rapper Passi has released several hit albums, such

as Temptations, with the famous song "I zap and I mate." His work is broadcast
internationally. Other notable musicians include M'Passi [fr], singer of the former
group Melgroove [fr], rappers Calbo of Ärsenik, Ben-J [fr] of Nèg' Marrons [fr], Mystic,
RCFA, the group Bisso Na Bisso and Casimir Zao [fr].
Several writers from the Republic of Congo have become recognized elsewhere in
Africa and the French-speaking world, including Alain Mabanckou, Jean-Baptiste Tati
Loutard, Jeannette Balou Tchichelle, Henri Lopes, Lassy Mbouity, and Tchicaya U
Tam'si.
Artists have struggled to build a film industry. After a promising start in the 1970s, the
troubled political situation closed cinemas and made film production difficult. Instead of
making feature films for distribution to theaters, filmmakers generally directly stream
their video productions on the internet.
Congolese culture, art, and media have suffered from a lack of investment due to the
unstable political conditions and warfare.

Education[edit]
Main article: Education in the Republic of the Congo

School children in the classroom, Republic of the Congo

Public expenditure of the GDP was less in 2002–05 than in 1991. [74] Public education is
theoretically free and mandatory for under-16-year-olds, [78] but, in practice, expenses
exist.[78] In 2005 net primary enrollment rate was 44%, a significant drop from 79% in
1991.[74] Education between ages nine and sixteen is compulsory. Pupils who complete
six years of primary school and seven years of secondary school obtain a
baccalaureate.
The country has universities where students can obtain a bachelor's degree in three
years and a master's in five. Marien Ngouabi University—which offers courses in
medicine, law, and other fields—is the country's only public university.
Instruction at all levels is in French and the educational system as a whole models the
French system.

Literature[edit]
Congolese writer Alain Mabanckou published a novel called "Memoirs of a Porcupine"
in 2006 that takes place in a Congolese village. [citation needed]

See also[edit]
 Republic of the Congo portal

 Africa portal

 Countries portal

 Outline of the Republic of the Congo

 Index of Republic of the Congo–related articles

References[edit]
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Further reading[edit]
 Maria Petringa, Brazza, A Life for Africa (2006) ISBN 978-1-4259-1198-0
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