[3] Shortly after gaining independence in 1964, the Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) experienced a "period of great instability," in which the military and executive branches of its one-party state came into conflict several times.

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.

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.

[2] 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.

[citation needed] Starting on 8 June 1993, the militias would clash repeatedly, often taking out hostility on local townships rather than their military opposition.

Sassou-Nguesso's Cobras and Kolelas' Ninjas generally allied against Lissouba's Cocoyes, but the violence was complex and the alliances not very strict.

[4] The fighting was suspended on 29 July 1993 with a ceasefire and Gabonese President Omar Bongo and Mohamed Sahnoun of Algeria, special representative of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), mediated negotiations between the parties in Libreville, Gabon.

The Libreville Accord were agreed and signed on 4 August 1993 to arbitrate the disputed seats in parliament and attempt to resolve the conflict for good by establishing more specific election procedures.

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.

[7] Primary and secondary school attendance dropped by 30% to 51% over the span of those ten years, and the gender education gap only grew.