Bernard Kolélas

Bernard Kolélas (born 12 June 1933Alain Kounzilat, [http://www1.planeteafrique.com/acorem/Index.asp?affiche=News_Display.asp&articleID=2329&rub=Vitrine "Le jeu triangulaire et dramatique au Congo"] , Kimpwanza (planeteafrique.com) fr icon.] ) is a politician in the Republic of the Congo and the President of the Congolese Movement for Democracy and Integral Development (MCDDI). He placed second in the August 1992 presidential election, behind Pascal Lissouba, and he briefly served as Prime Minister during the 1997 Civil War. He is currently a deputy in the National Assembly.

Kolélas was born in Moloki, Kinkala District, in the Pool Region, and he attended primary and secondary school in Brazzaville. Under President Fulbert Youlou, he was became Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After Youlou was ousted and Alphonse Massemba-Débat took power in August 1963, Kolélas was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs, but he chose to decline this post in favor of David Charles Ganao. Kolélas was arrested in September 1963, spending one month in detention, and again in February 1964; on the latter occasion he was freed at the request of Prime Minister Pascal Lissouba. He then went into exile across the Congo River in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,Rémy Bazenguissa-Ganga, "Les voies du politique au Congo: essai de sociologie historique" (1997), KARTHALA Editions, page 434 fr icon.] and founded an opposition newspaper, "La Résistance".

He unsuccessfully attempted a coup d'etat against Marien Ngouabi in 1969, and on a number of occasions he was imprisoned for complicity in coup attempts during the single-party rule of the Congolese Party of Labour (PCT).

Kolélas later founded a political party, the MCDDI; its statutes were deposited at the Ministry of the Interior on August 3 1989. [Patrice Yengo, "La guerre civile du Congo-Brazzaville, 1993-2002: "chacun aura sa part" (2006), KARTHALA Editions, page 62 fr icon.] As the candidate of the MCDDI, Kolélas placed second in the August 1992 presidential election.John F. Clark, "Congo: Transition and the Struggle to Consolidate", in "Political Reform in Francophone Africa" (1997), ed. John F. Clark and David E. Gardinier, pages 70–75.] Xavier Bienvenu Kitsimbou, [http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/16/84/67/PDF/THESE.pdf "LA DEMOCRATIE ET LES REALITES ETHNIQUES AU CONGO"] , University of Nancy II, October 26, 2001, pages 104–105 fr icon.] In the first round he won 20.32% of the vote, behind Pascal Lissouba of the Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UPADS) and ahead of the PCT candidate, President Denis Sassou-Nguesso. His support was strongest in the Pool Region, where he won 64.4% of the vote in the first round; he did not win a first round majority in any other region, although he placed first in Brazzaville with 29.9% of the vote. In the second round, the PCT backed Lissouba and Kolélas was defeated, taking 38.68% of the vote; he won second round majorities in the Pool Region (88.71%), Brazzaville (56.80%), and Kouilou Region (50.77%) but fared very poorly in the rest of the country.

A period of instability in Congolese politics followed the 1992 election. Kolélas led an opposition coalition, the Union for Democratic Renewal (URD), in alliance with the PCT, despite Kolélas' prior opposition to the PCT. The conflict between the government and the opposition became more severe following the June 1993 parliamentary election, and about 2,000 people were killed in serious political violence from 1993 to 1994. In January 1994, the army blockaded the Bacongo district of Brazzaville, the stronghold of Kolélas' Ninja militia, and attacked the Ninjas with heavy weaponry. Following an agreement on January 30 1994, the violence was reduced, and Lissouba and Kolélas publicly reconciled in June 1994. In July 1994, Kolélas was elected as Mayor of Brazzaville.

During the 1997 civil war, Kolélas was President of the National Mediation Committee. [ [http://www.humanite.fr/1997-09-05_Articles_-Informations "Informations; Congo : vers un « accord de paix » ?"] , "L'Humanité", September 5, 1997 fr icon.] He then became Prime Minister in September 1997, but he and Lissouba were ousted and forced into exile when forces loyal to Sassou-Nguesso captured Brazzaville on October 14, 1997. Ninja rebels loyal to Kolélas continued to fight for some time afterwards. They unsuccessfully attempted to seize Brazzaville in December 1998, and Kolelas, who was in the United States at the time, claimed that his forces were effectively in control of the city, while suggesting that he might return home to lead the country. The government rejected Kolelas' claim and said that the army had the upper hand. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/238912.stm "Congo government denies rebels hold Brazzaville"] , BBC News, December 20, 1998.]

Kolélas was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death "in absentia" by a Congolese court in 2001. In October 2005, he returned to Congo from exile to attend the funeral of his wife, Jacqueline; he was granted a special amnesty on this occasion by Sassou-Nguesso on humanitarian grounds, enabling him to visit. In the Bacongo district of Brazzaville, excitement led to clashes between his supporters and the police on October 13, immediately prior to his return. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4342982.stm "Deaths in Congo as ex-PM returns"] , BBC News, 14 October, 2005.]

In the 2007 parliamentary election, Kolélas was elected to the National Assembly as an MCDDI candidate from Goma Tsé-Tsé constituency in the Pool Region. [ [http://www.brazzaville-adiac.com/index.php?action=depeche&dep_id=17753&oldaction=textes&regpay_id=0&cat_id=&ss_cat_id=&LISTE_FROM=0&select_month=08&select_year=2007 "La liste complète des députés"] , "Les Dépêches de Brazzaville", August 11, 2007 fr icon.] As the oldest deputy in the National Assembly, on September 4 2007 he presided over the first meeting of the newly elected National Assembly, at which the bureau of the National Assembly was elected. [ [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/pays/congo_brazza/article_depeche.asp?art_cle=XIN70027lanounoitcn0 "La nouvelle Assemblée nationale entre en fonction"] , Xinhua (Jeuneafrique.com), September 5, 2007 fr icon.]

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