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Abstract

Congo (Brazzaville) has experienced a succession of periods of civil violence that has included an outbreak of ethno-political killing in 1993-1994, two full scale civil wars in 1997 and 1998-1999, and another round of regional rebellion in 2002-2003. Since 2003, the Pool region, site of the last round of serious fighting, has often been the scene of continuing episodes of banditry and corollary government crackdowns. The civil war of 1997 brought back to power Denis Sassou-Nguesso, Congo's ruler under a nominally Marxist regime between 1979 and 1991. Since 1997, Sassou has operated as an "electoral authoritarian" ruler; that is, he stages regular elections under a multiparty constitution, while manipulating both the law and the political opposition to assure his personal dominance. Sassou did not fully consolidate his military grip over the country's territory until the second civil war, during which he eradicated the military opposition to his regime, and terrorized the southern population into submission. The rebellion in the Pool region in 2002-2003 served as a reminder, however, that one large Congolese ethnicity was not yet pacified, the Lari of Pool region. That rebellion was nominally ended through intensive negotiations, as well as a heavy dose of military repression. Since the end of the rebellion, the Congolese government has tried to project an image that it has engaged in sustained and genuine peacebuilding in Pool. The most engaged elements of the international community have tried to facilitate peacebuilding m the Pool, most notably through disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration programs, but they have also unintentionally contributed to the illusion of reconciliation. The reality is one of "pacification" through violence and repression in Pool, setting up the region for another round of violence at the inevitable future moment that Sassou's grip on power wavers.

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