The continued fighting hurt the refugee repatriation programs. By the end of 2002, there were an estimated 109,150 refugees.¹

Information related to the repatriation of refugees was not available. Periodic violence was reported. The rebels took a military general hostage and a French priest went missing from the conflict zone.² Due to conflict, the number of refugees grew in 2001 to 119,150.³

An estimated 40,000 people had fled the Republic of Congo (ROC) as of 1999.⁴ As soon as the accords were signed in November and December 1999, refugees started to return. In November 1999, 350 refugees who had returned to the ROC from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) went missing, or rather, were disappeared.⁵ According to a news report, refugees started to return to the Pool region of the country.

Refugees started to return in trainloads: the first train brought some 2,300 refugees to the Pool region on 18 March 2000; some 1,800 refugees arrived in the Mindouli region on the second trainload on 26 March 2000.⁶ It was reported that the United Nations was trying to generate international support to meet the humanitarian needs of refugees.⁷ According to Muggah, the number of refugees declined to 12,340 in 2000.⁸

No further developments observed.

No further developments observed.

It was reported that President Sassou-Nguesso would allow former President Pascal Lissouba to return and granted him a pardon for the 2001 in absentia conviction for “economic crimes.” However, former President Pascal Lissouba had not returned to the Republic of Congo as of early 2008. In May 2007, the Council of Ministers granted amnesty to former Prime Minister Joachim Yhombi-Opango for the 2001 in absentia conviction for improperly selling the country’s oil while in office.⁸

No developments observed this year.

The amnesty provision of the accord had been implemented. Former Prime Minister Bernard Kolelas, who was not granted amnesty and was in exile, returned to the Republic of Congo for the burial of his wife. President Denis Sassou-Nguesso allowed his return on humanitarian grounds. The government considered granting him amnesty, which he did, in fact, receive in November 2005.⁹

No developments observed this year.

Secret negotiations between the government and the Ntsiloulous took place in early 2003. The two sides reached an agreement in March 2003 in which the Ntsiloulous reaffirmed their commitment to the 1999 accords and, in return, the government offered amnesty and the integration of Ntsiloulou’s career into the new national armed forces.¹⁰ Because of the secret nature of the negotiations, it is not clear how many received amnesty.