This President Has Ruled Congo-Brazzaville For Over 40 Years 🇨🇬”

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]This man has ruled Congo Brazzaville for over 40 years, four decades. Just think about that. Some people were actually born, became adults, had kids, and Denis Sassou Nguesso was still the president.

[00:00:14]He ruled the country for 40 years, and somehow most people don't even know who he is. First things first, this is not Congo-Kinshasa, this is Congo-Brazzaville. Two different countries, two different governments separated by one river, literally.

[00:00:29]Kinshasa and Brazzaville are right across from one another, but politically, their histories went completely different directions. Who exactly is Monsieur Denis Sassou Nguesso? Before becoming the president, he was a military officer. And during the Cold War era, you know, when America and Russia were basically fighting behind other people, he became deeply involved in Congo-Brazzaville's socialist movement. And at that time, Congo-Brazzaville was heavily influenced by communist ideology. And it's around the same time that Sassou became a part of the Congolese Party of Labor, also known as the PCT. Then in 1979, he officially became president.

[00:01:12]Now, this is where the story begins. For the next 12 years, Sassou ruled Congo-Brazzaville as a one-party socialist state. But then around the 1990s, the wave of democracy, democracy was spreading across Africa, and Congo-Brazzaville felt the pressure. So then in the 1990s, Sassou held a multi-party election, and guess what?

[00:01:34]For the first time ever, he lost. It seems as if the people never really liked him, because in 1992, he only finished third in the presidential elections, and he was shocked. Before I carry on with his story, there's something worth mentioning. Most people don't know that this powerful family, Sassou's family from Congo-Brazzaville, was actually connected to the family of Gabon as well, another African political dynasty. His daughter Edith Lucie Bongo actually got married to the former president of Gabon, Omar Bongo. Bongo had more than 30 kids. I swear that's no lie. Basically had two Central African presidents becoming connected through marriage.

[00:02:13]Now, back to Sassou. So, after losing the elections in the early 1990s, Sassou became part of the opposition, but this wasn't for very long because in 1997, Congo-Brazzaville descended into a brutal civil war. And during the chaos, Sassou's soldiers and forces fought against the government of the former president Pascal Lissouba. After the war ended, Denis Sassou Nguesso returned back to power and he became the president in 1997 and he has remained the president ever since. Here's a quick breakdown. He becomes president and then in 1992, he loses the elections. He comes out third in the presidential elections. And then in 1997, he becomes the president again after a civil war.

[00:02:57]And in 2026, he celebrates his