50 years after independence, Congo not free of mass poverty

As Congo-Brazzaville marks a half century of independence this weekend, the people of the oil-rich west central African state remain mired in poverty despite the end of a civil war and signs of growth.

Some 70 per cent of the 3.6 million population live below the poverty line even after seven years of peace and recent double digit economic expansion.

“The tally for 50 years of independence is largely negative,” says an opposition party leader, Mathias Dzon. “Fifty years of independence are marked by failure. They are splattered with blood.”

Until 1992 Congo was under one party rule, but the advent of multi-party politics also saw the rise of armed militias who plunged the country into a spiral of civil war.