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The First Republic of the Congo Civil War was one of four instances of militia fighting within the Republic of the Congo, or Congo-Brazzaville. This first conflict occurred from 1993 to 1994, while the three related confrontations took place in 1997, 1998-99, and 2002. The First Civil War and the decade of conflict that followed shaped the history of the modern Republic of the Congo, the violence resulting in the deaths of over 12,000 people and the displacement of 860,000 more.

Post-Independence
A brief history may be useful in examining the causes of conflict and the continued instability of the Congo-Brazzaville region. Shortly after gaining independence in 1964, the Republic of the Congo experienced a "period of great instability," in which the military and executive branches of its one-party state came into conflict several times. Some resolution came in the form of Colonel Denis Sassou-Nguesso, an autocratic ruler who took power in 1979 and oversaw a decade of economic growth centered around the oil industry and reparations to relations with France, the former colonial power of Congo-Brazzaville. While he maintained stability by offering positions in the government to elites all around the country, he also turned the country into a "neopatrimonial rentier state," redistributing oil money to allies and prospective supporters of his regime in exchange for education and employment.

1992 Elections and the Push for Democracy
Following an international push for democratization in Francophone countries, President Sassou-Nguesso resigned in 1992. However, instead of being an opportunity to shape a lasting democracy, the 1992 elections were largely seen as a chance to take control of the country's oil reserves. Sassou-Nguesso ran in the election to be the head of the new government against Pascal Lissouba, a former prime minister, and Bernard Kolelas, a former politician. Lissouba won the election due to name recognition and the fact that his home in the south had the most demographic weight.

Government under Lissouba
Lissouba initially ruled a coalition government in partnership with Sassou-Nguesso, who had a strong base but not enough numerical support to win the initial election. However, when Lissouba refused to adopt Sassou's rentier state model of government, Sassou left the coalition. Lissouba didn't give any of Sassou's followers prominent positions in the cabinet, which deprived Sassou of access to "key sources of oil rents and patronage." Without Sassou's aid, Lissouba struggled to maintain control and established a private security force to keep himself secure in power. The situation quickly devolved as Kolelas saw the creation of a militia as an act of aggression and created one of his own, drawing from youths from his own geographic background and deepening ethnic divisions within the government. In 1992, Lissouba responded to Sassou's defection, which deprived him of most of his parliamentary power, by dissolving the parliament itself. He called for a new election in 1993, hoping to win by an overwhelming margin to solidify his power. Instead, Sassou won forty-nine seats, and Kolelas and Lissouba together won sixty-two. Kolelas decided to boycott the second round of voting and urged his supporters to do the same, inciting them and members of his militia to civil disobedience and violence with claims of fraud.

Militia Fighting
For the next months, the militias of Lissouba and Kolelas would clash repeatedly, often taking out hostility on local townships rather than their military opposition. Ethnic divisions played a role in the conflict, which often took the form of rape and violence towards civilians The official figures claim that in the roughly six months of fighting, 2,000 people were killed, 100-300,000 were displaced, and 13,000 houses were destroyed. The fighting ended in July 1993 with a cease-fire, and a month later the Libreville Accords were agreed upon to arbitrate the disputed seats in parliament and attempt to resolve the conflict for good by establishing more specific election procedures.

Effects of the War
Outside the immediate and tragic loss of life, property, and freedom, the decade of fighting that began with the First Civil War has had drastic effects on every part of society in the Republic of the Congo, especially for those who already lived near or below the poverty line In 2005, "two thirds of Congolese live[d] below the poverty line," while less than 30% lived under that threshold before 1993. Primary and secondary school attendance dropped by 30% to 51% over the span of those ten years, and the gender education gap only grew. The economy, largely centered around oil wealth that was managed by the state, fluctuated wildly as the state was destabilized.

Union Pan-Africaine pour la Democratie Sociale (UPADS).
UPADS was Lissouba's party, which were the primary supporters of the Presidential Coalition, briefly also supported by Sassou. The primary militias of UPADS and the Presidential Coalition were the Zulus and the Ministerial Guard.

Parti Congolais du Travail (PCT)
The PCT was Sassou's party, supported directly by the Cobra militia. Interestingly, Lissouba's distrust of the army may not have been unbased. Still led by mostly Northerners and mostly Sassou appointees, the army didn't get involved until the following conflicts several years later, refusing to support Lissouba and following Sassou's pattern of inaction in the direct conflict.

Mouvement congolais pour la démocratie et le développement intégral (MCDDI)
The MCDDI was Kolelas' party, supported by the Ninja militia. Again, the militia was largely made up of members of the Bakongo ethnic group, of which Kolelas himself was a part.