In Europe, we often mix up the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We know the latter country mostly as Zaire, which was its official name from 1971 to 1997 and dates back to the former Belgian Congo colony. Its neighbor to the west, the former French Congo colony, is much smaller. Both became independent in 1960. The smaller of the two countries (estimated 4 million inhabitants) was firstly known as Congo-Brazzaville, renamed as the People's Republic of Congo in 1969 and then the Republic of Congo in 1991. It is generally referred to as Congo. The capital is the southern border town of Brazzaville.

During the Cold War, the Congo (today the Republic of Congo) was regarded as a sphere of influence for the Soviet Union. In recent decades, president Denis Sassou Nguesso has firmly put his stamp on the politics of the country that he has ruled with autocratic means – more or less uninterrupted –since 1979. A civil war between rival tribes cost tens of thousands of people their lives in 1997. Due to intervention by Angola, Sassou was re-installed as president.

Unlike its neighbor, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been on the United Nations’ list of the Least Developed Countries in the world for years, the Congo’s economy benefits from oil production in the country. Nevertheless, the state is completely riddled with debt due to decades of mismanagement. As a result, the Government cannot afford to finance even the most basic measures against the high child mortality rate, the above average number of people living with AIDS or the urgent lack of infrastructure. The Congo was therefore included on the so-called HIPC (Highly Indebted Poor Countries) Initiative by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is intended to promote the economic independence of affected states by relieving them of their debt.