Instead, it gave the job for a year to the president of Congo-Brazzaville, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, who first took power in a coup in 1979.

ECONOMIST: Politics this week

On February 12, 2006, the London Sunday Times reported that Denis Sassou-Nguesso, the President of Congo-Brazzaville, another former French colony in central Africa, had spent more than three hundred thousand dollars on hotel rooms during a visit to New York for a U.N.

NEWYORKER: The Next Crusade

Fighting between supporters of Congo-Brazzaville 's President Pascal Lissouba and his predecessor, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, broke out again in the capital.

ECONOMIST: Distant hope

He could attract the followers of his fallen allies: Hutus from Rwanda, the late Mobutu Sese Seko's presidential guard from Congo, exiled supporters of Congo-Brazzaville's ex-President Pascal Lissouba.

ECONOMIST: Angola on the way to war