Congo-Brazzaville (Republic of the Congo)1992
As early as 1990, prominent citizens in the Republic of the Congo called for a national conference to help resolve the country’s institutional crisis and to broaden political participation. The government initially responded by trying to intimidate opposition leaders. General strikes forced the ruling party to hold an extraordinary congress, at which it agreed to convene a national conference but declined to give the conference sovereign powers. ( The conference’s organizing committee asserted sovereignty in March 1991.)
The national conference developed a partial text, which appears to have had something like the status of immutable principles, although it was not fully immutable. The conference also adopted a charter of national unity and a charter of rights and liberties. It set up a transitional legislature. Responsibility for the final draft lay with this legislature.
The conference had 1202 delegates. The membership included 67 political parties with 8 representatives each. There were also 2 representatives of each of 40 academic societies; 2 representatives each of 11 NGOs; 7 representatives each of 4 major religious faiths; 20 representatives of the transitional body; 1 representative each of 5 unions; 5 representatives of the chambers of commerce and agriculture; 158 representatives of national institutions; 21 representatives of parastatals; 16 representatives of the public service; 19 representatives from the country’s diplomatic service; 34 representatives from the country’s missions to international organizations; 9 traditional authorities; 52 individuals. Women held 62 out of 1202 seats. International observers and the press were present.
Although political parties and civic associations were represented among the delegates, it quickly emerged that there was an ethnic imbalance and that one portion of the country was more heavily represented than others. Ethnic tensions increased throughout the conference and escalated dramatically, later, when the same community’s voter rolls were inflated in the referendum elections. Urban areas were over-represented as well.
The conference divided into 8 commissions. Three of these committees focused on the past: an ad hoc commission on mis-appropriated resources, an ad-hoc commission on assassinations, and an ad hoc commission on repatriation of funds. These committees carried out investigations during the life of the conference. A constitutional commission appointed by the conference took responsibility for preparing the text of key documents.
Notes: The composition of the preparatory commission was the first source of discord in this conference. Opposition parties objected to pro-government dominance of the 25-memmber committee and the membership was in flux when the conference opened, an important factor in creating disarray later. The opposition eventually wrested control of the conference’s presidium. The chair, an archbishop, suffused the conference with a repentant tone, and that move helped fuel delegate interest in focusing on the past, investigating governmental abuses, etc. The army threatened to intervene if the power of any existing institutions was changed by the conference. Although most of these threats failed to materialize, an army mutiny took place before the referendum on the constitution and democracy supporters erected barricades to fight the soldiers.