JANUARY
7 Jan 2005 – President Denis Sassou-Nguesso reshuffles his cabinet for the first time since his electoral victory in 2002. The new, 35-member cabinet includes five women, an increase of two. Critics complain the new line-up shows no opening-up of the Republic of Congo’s (ROC’s) political space.
10 Jan – Guns disappear from a gendarmerie base at Bifouity in the ROC’s capital city, Brazzaville. The government says it views it as a move aimed at launching a coup. In response, it detains 11 close associates of one of the country’s former presidents, Pascal Lissouba, who led the country from 1992 to 1997.
31 Jan - Former Ninja rebel leader Frédéric Bitsangou, alias Pasteur Ntoumi, launches an arms-recovery drive in his fiefdom, the region known as Pool, east of Brazzaville. He sets up a commission and appoints Luc Koussala, one of his lieutenants, to supervise it. Eighteen guns are handed in - a first symbolic act in Vindza, 25 km from Bitsangou’s hideout in Loukouo in Pool. [
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FEBRUARY
5 Feb - Leaders of the 10 countries that make up the Congo Basin, conclude a treaty aimed at protecting the world's second largest rainforest. The treaty, signed at the end of a two-day summit in Brazzaville, provides for the creation of a new forestry commission and a fund to finance the protection of the rainforest, as well as the harmonisation of national laws on logging. [
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28 Feb - Damase Bozongo, director-general of the ministry of health, announces that the UN World Health Organization (WHO) has donated US $304,000 to the government to fight against hemorrhagic fevers and other diseases. An outbreak of ebola in Cuvette-Ouest region causes numerous deaths among humans, and hundreds among gorillas in the country's largest national park in Odzala-Kokoua, 800 km north of Brazzaville. [
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MARCH
5 March - The government initiates a new programme for the demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration of 450 former fighters who surrender in the Pool region. The programme is paid for by the government and aimed exclusively at Ninja rebels once loyal to Pasteur Ntoumi. [
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APRIL
2 April - A branch office of the Commission for the Reintegration of Ex-Combatants opens in Kinkala, the main town in Pool. The director of the newly opened office is Capt Emannuel Kodia. [
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25 April - France agrees to give the government €24 million ($31.1 million) to pay off the country's debt to the African Development Bank, the continent's foremost financial institution. Repayment of the ROC's estimated $100-million debt to the bank, is prerequisite for the country to qualify for the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Access to HIPC would help the government secure financing for education, water and health. [
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MAY
18 May - WHO confirms the outbreak of acute haemorrhagic fever in Cuvette-Ouest, to be ebola. Two research facilities in neighbouring Gabon - the Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville and Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - confirm EBOLA to be present in one of the samples sent to them. The ROC government and WHO announce the quarantine of the districts of Etoumbi in Cuvette-Ouest, and Mbomo. [
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24 May - At least 1,200 telephone workers parade through Brazzaville's streets banging metal objects, demanding the payment in arrears of 43 months’ salary. The government also owes its other workers their salaries - some dating as far back as 1995 - totaling an estimated 187.6 billion francs ($361 million). In 2004, the government paid only one month of the arrears it owed all workers. [
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JUNE
17 June - WHO removes from its monitoring list, the names of the last people who came into contact with ebola-infected persons, saying the epidemic would be regarded as epidemiologically over. The organisation clarifies, however, that "the official declaration of the end of the epidemic will come only at the end of 21 days, on 8 July." [
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30 June - The country's main human rights group, the Congolese Human Rights Observatory (OCDH), pulls out of a state-sponsored National Commission of Human Rights, in protest at what it says is the commission’s inaction on known abuses, and at the Commission’s lack of independence from the government. The OCDH says another reason for its withdrawal is the government’s failure to provide adequate funding. The OCDH had been a member of the commission since September 2003. [
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JULY
2 July - For the first time, a couple marry after openly admitting they are living with HIV-AIDS. Valerie Mouellet and Thierry Maba say they want to have children to show people living with the virus, that HIV-positive people can give birth to healthy babies. Both tested HIV-positive more than a decade ago. [
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6 July - The UN Development Programme (UNDP) signs a 9 million franc CFA ($16,370) agreement with a Roman Catholic group to improve shelter and care for senior citizens. The money will be used to expand a home called Ma Maison (My House), run by the Congrégation des Petites Sœurs Catholiques, to cater for 100 senior citizens. [
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19 July – More than a dozen of the country's highest-ranking security officials go on trial in Brazzaville to face charges of killing 353 returning refugees. The defendants in the “Beach” case are accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and assassinations. Among those indicted are the inspector general of the armed forces, General Norbert Dabira; the commander of the Brazzaville military region, Blaise Adoua; and Director General of Police, Jean-François Ndenguet. [
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30 July - The Ministry of Health and Population signs an agreement allocating 803.62 million francs CFA ($1.48 million) to support the fight against HIV/AIDS. The money will go to the government’s National Council for the Fight against AIDS, known by its French acronym CNLS. [
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AUGUST
3 Aug - Construction begins on a 32.5-megawatt power generator for Brazzaville, to alleviate the city’s acute power shortages. The 12-month project will cost some 21 billion francs CFA ($40 million). [
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17 Aug - The criminal court of Brazzaville clears all 15 high-ranking army and police officers accused of killing 353 refugees who returned home to ROC in 1999. In recognition of the state’s greater responsibility for the safety of its citizens, however, the court ordered the government to pay the family of each victim 10 million francs ($18,500) in compensation. [
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OCTOBER
14 Oct: Prime Minister Bernard Kolelas, founder of the Ninja militia in the 1990s, returns home from exile in Mali for the burial of his wife Jacqueline, who had died in Paris. Kolelas had been sentenced to death in absentia in May 2000 for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
16 Oct - The Ministry of Health and Population announces that the ebola outbreak is completely over. However, it says the ebola virus remains a threat because its natural habitat is unknown and researchers have not discovered a vaccine against it. Ebola has a mortality rate of more than 50 percent. [
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18 Oct - Some 189 former guardsmen of late Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko, who have been living in the ROC, are prevented from disembarking at a port on the River Congo in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), because authorities in both countries have not been informed of the journey. [
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19 Oct - Panic and fear spreads across Brazzaville as government troops exchange heavy gunfire with Ninja rebels holed up in the Bakongo district of the city. The army restores calm on 20 October. The government had ordered the army to support the police who, on 13 October, failed to evict the Ninjas from Bakongo. The security forces were trying to dislodge the so-called Ninjas, loyal to Ninja-leader Pasteur Ntoumi, who illegally occupied homes in Bakongo. The urban district is a Ninja stronghold where in 2003, the government built Ntoumi a home in an effort to get him to end his armed rebellion. [
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29 Oct - A DRC government team arrives in Brazzaville to begin the identification and registration of former DRC soldiers who served under Zairian President Mobutu, and who now want to return home. The ex-Forces Armées Zaïroises (ex-FAZ) soldiers fled the DRC in 1997 when the late Laurent Kabila toppled Mobutu. [
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NOVEMBER
4 Nov - Authorities reopen the trade route across the River Congo between the ports of Brazzaville and Kinshasa, ending a two-week suspension of river traffic. The traffic ban was imposed on 18 October after former Zairian army troops occupied Brazzaville Beach, the city's riverside port, demanding that they be allowed to cross the river, which forms part of the ROC’s border with the DRC. [
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8 Nov - Most government school teachers agree to return to class after striking since 3 October, the beginning of the school year. However, an umbrella organisation of teachers’ unions, warns the government that failure to respect its commitments to them, would result in another strike on 6 March 2006, the first day of the next school term. [
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14 Nov - Teachers resume work nationwide, ending a strike that had lasted more than six weeks. Their decision to return to work follows an order by President Sassou-Nguesso for the government to meet the teachers' demands. These include unfreezing funds for education in the 2006 budget; applying a 1991 presidential decree on education; and setting up a commission to integrate voluntary teachers into the civil service. Teachers are also asking the government to increase their allowances for correcting exams. [
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30 Nov - South African President Thabo Mbeki makes his first official visit to the ROC. He is met by President Sassou-Nguesso, who says health, education and infrastructure are his government's main concerns. However, trade issues also figure in Mbeki's two-day visit. [
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DECEMBER
6 Dec – Parliament overturns a death sentence against former Prime Minister Kolelas. Kolelas, 70, had been convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity. [
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18 Dec – The IMF’s board of directors defers until the end of January 2006, a decision on whether the ROC should qualify for debt relief under the most Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, or HIPC. This would grant the ROC debt cancellation by the Paris and London club of creditors, easing pressure on the government’s $5.5 billion external debt. With a small population of just 3.1 million, ROC is one of the most heavily indebted countries in the world.
19 Dec - The European Union and the government sign a 40-billion-franc-CFA deal ($73.85 million) to build a road linking Brazzaville with the town of Kinkala in the Pool region. Construction of the 68 km road is expected to begin in June 2006 and be completed in 24 months. The road will help organisations bring development aid to Pool, now the emergency phase of their operations is over. [
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24 Dec - Torrential rains cause widespread flooding and mudslides in northern suburbs of Brazzaville, leaving scores of people homeless. [
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