Yearbook 2006
Congo. According to
CountryAAH, President Denis Sassou-Nguesso was appointed
President of the African Union (AU) in January. The
organization's annual meeting was held in Khartoum, Sudan,
and according to tradition, the Sudanese president would
have more or less automatically assumed the presidency in
the following year. However, because of the conflict in the
Darfur region, it was not possible to get majority support
for Sudan to represent Africa in the outside world, which is
why K. was chosen as a compromise.
The World Bank amortized just over SEK 20 billion of K's
foreign debt, totaling approximately SEK 65 billion. In
return, the country must meet detailed requirements for
improvements in health care and education. Debt amortization
was approved despite the bank's head Paul Wolfowitz
expressing strong concern over the widespread corruption in
K.
In October, the remnants of the Franco-Italian explorer
Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, who founded the then French
Congo colony in the 1880s and renamed its capital, were
buried under solemn forms. Brazza had been buried in Algeria
since his death in 1905. The burial could only be carried
out in Brazzaville after the government agreed to recognize
Auguste Nguempio as the traditional king of the country's
dominant ethnic group, teke. The government had previously
chosen to cooperate with a rival who is close to President
Sassou-Nguesso.
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