Denis Sassou Nguesso (born 23 November 1943) is a Congolese politician and former military officer who has served as president of the Republic of the Congo since 1997.

Sassou Nguesso was an opposition leader for five years before returning to power during the Second Republic of the Congo Civil War, in which his rebel forces ousted President Pascal Lissouba.

[14][17] He commanded the Airborne Group, the army and the Brazzaville Military Zone (ZAB), and then headed the Intelligence department of the State Security Services.

[27] At the end of the extraordinary session, Marien Ngouabi asked Sassou Nguessou and five other members for a report on the economic and political situation.

[33][34] A Military Committee of the Congolese Labor Party (Comité militaire du PCT) composed of eleven officers and led by Major Sassou Nguesso immediately took power and repealed the 1973 constitution.

Sassou Nguesso acted as interim head of state from 18 March to 6 April 1977, then he conceded his position to general Joachim Yhombi-Opango, who became president.

[35][37] On 8 July 1979, general elections were held and confirmed the PCT as the dominant political force: the Congolese Labor Party won all the seats in the People's National Assembly.

[40] As the newly elected president, Sassou Nguesso negotiated loans from the International Monetary Fund and allowed foreign investors from France and the Americas to conduct oil and mineral extraction.

Although he was considered by French diplomats as representative of the radical wing of the PCT and as the Soviet Union and Cuba's man,[31] Sassou Nguessou developed and maintained strong relationships with France on which he relied to support the staggering economy.

In October 1980, high-ranking French political figures including former president Valery Giscard d'Estaing, and former prime ministers Jacques Chirac and Pierre Messmer, were guests to the celebration of the Brazzaville centenary.

[42] In May 1980 Sassou Nguessou signed a twenty-year friendship pact with the Soviet Union and in the same year sent two delegations to China while a Chinese minister visited Brazzaville.

However, the economic impact of these relationships remained marginal: France provided up to 50% of the country's foreign aid while the Soviet Union's contribution did not exceed 1.5%.

[46] With the collapse of the socialist states of Eastern Europe, as well as influence from the French, Sassou Nguesso began to bring the country towards capitalism.

[citation needed] He introduced multiparty politics in 1990 and was then stripped of executive powers by the 1991 National Conference,[47] remaining in office as a ceremonial head of state.

In the parliamentary election of June–July 1992, the PCT won only 19 of 125 seats in the National Assembly; the Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UPADS) led by former prime minister Pascal Lissouba, was the largest party.

But it could not obtain an absolute majority in the National Assembly, with the Congolese Movement for Democracy and Integral Development (MCDDI) led by former army General Bernard Kolelas in second position.

[51] Civil war started in November 1993, when the opposition parties (UDR and PCT) contested the results of the parliamentary elections (October 1993) giving victory to the coalition supporting President Lissouba (Tendance présidentielle).

[52] Armed militia supporting President Lissouba (Cocoyes, Zoulous and Mambas) clashed with Kolelas' Ninjas and Sassous Nguesso's Cobras.

[54] After this episode Sassou Nguesso spent seven months in Paris in 1996, returning on 26 January 1997 to contest the presidential election scheduled for July.

[57] On 5 June 1997, government forces surrounded Sassou Nguesso's home in the Mpila section of Brazzaville, attempting to arrest Pierre Aboya and Engobo Bonaventure, who had been implicated in the violence.

By 14 October a final assault covered by Angolan MiG aircraft was launched on the Presidential Palace and neighborhoods in south Brazzaville,[57] then on Pointe Noire, against the President's militias (Zoulou, Cocoys, Aubervillois and Mambas) and the Ninjas.

In December 1997 heavy fighting resumed in the capital's southern suburbs (the Pool area) where the Ninja militia clashed with Congolese and Angolan troops and Cobra militiamen.

[2] Peace agreements were signed on 25 December under the auspices of President Omar Bongo of Gabon,[62] ending the civil war, leaving 8,000–10,000 dead, around 800,000 displaced persons and a devastated country.

At his inauguration Sassou Nguesso announced that he would support an amnesty bill to pardon Lissouba, who had gone into exile after his 1997 ouster and was convicted of crimes in absentia.

"[68] On 27 March 2015 Sassou Nguesso announced that his government would hold a referendum to change the 2002 constitution, which would allow him to run for a third consecutive term.

[80] Sassou Nguesso was criticized by the Republic of Congo's creditors, as he was in negotiations with the World Bank and the UN International Monetary Fund to cancel Congolese debts, claiming inability to repay them.

[80] In July 2007, British NGO Global Witness published documents showing that the President's son, Denis-Christel Sassou Nguesso, may have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars from the country's oil sales on shopping sprees in Paris and Dubai.

The documents show that in August 2006, Denis Christel, who was the head of Cotrade – the marketing branch of Congo's state oil firm SNPC – spent $35,000 on purchases from designers such as Louis Vuitton and Roberto Cavalli.

[82][citation needed] On 30 November 2020, Sassou Nguesso and four ministers issued a decree terminating a contract with Australian mining company Sundance Resources to develop the Mbalam-Nabeba iron-ore deposit.

Permits for the areas Avima, Nabeba and Bandodo were instead awarded to Sangha Mining Development, a subsidiary of Best Way Finance, a Hong Kong Corporation.