16 Facts About Pascal Lissouba

Pascal Lissouba was a Congolese politician who was the first democratically elected President of the Republic of the Congo and served from 31 August 1992 until 25 October 1997.

Pascal Lissouba was overthrown by his predecessor and current president Denis Sassou Nguesso in the 1997 civil war.

Pascal Lissouba began his secondary studies in Brazzaville and gained his education at the Lycee Felix Faure in Nice, where he obtained a baccalaureate.

Pascal Lissouba then studied Agronomy at the Ecole Superieure d'Agriculture in Tunis and secured a diploma in agricultural engineering in 1956.

Pascal Lissouba was a fellow trainee at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris and at ORSTOM.

Pascal Lissouba was appointed lecturer in plant biology by decree of the French Ministry of National Education on 3 November 1961.

Pascal Lissouba was appointed Minister of State for Planning, then for Agriculture, before being sacked by the government.

When Massamba-Debat was overthrown in 1968 Pascal Lissouba remained in government under Marien Ngouabi and although he was suspended from political activity from 1969 to 1971 he was on the Central Committee of the Congolese Workers Party in 1973.

Pascal Lissouba was sentenced to life imprisonment and hard labour in 1977.

Pascal Lissouba was released in 1979 but had to live in exile in France from 1979 to 1990.

When President Denis Sassou Nguesso was forced to move the Congo towards democracy in 1991, Pascal Lissouba returned in February 1992 and was elected president in the August 1992 elections.

Sassou Nguesso proclaimed himself President on 25 October 1997, but militia forces loyal to Pascal Lissouba continued a guerrilla war.

Pascal Lissouba intended to return to the Congo for the 2002 elections, but in December 2001 he was tried in absentia in Brazzaville, and sentenced to 30 years forced labor for treason and corruption, related to a $150 million oil deal with the American company Occidental Petroleum.

Pascal Lissouba was first married to Annette Chantegreil, then to Jocelyne Rosdam, a French national and is the father of eleven children.

Pascal Lissouba's eldest daughter, Mireille Lissouba, was his chief of staff from 1993 to 1996, while his younger daughter, Danielle Bineka is a university professor and writer, both currently exiled in Canada.

Pascal Lissouba died in Perpignan, France, on 24 August 2020, due to complications from Alzheimer's disease, aged 88.