Joachim Yhombi-Opango

Joachim-Jacques Yhombi-Opango (born January 12, 1939 in Fort-Rousset , † March 30, 2020 in Paris ) was a Congolese politician. He was President of the Republic of the Congo from 1977 to 1979 and its Prime Minister from 1993 to 1996.

Life

Yhombi-Opango embarked on a military career, became his country's military attaché in Moscow in 1965 and as colonel chief of staff and commander of the Brazzaville region in 1968 . From 1973 to 1974 he was Chief of Staff of the Army and in 1975 Defense Minister and member of the Central Committee of the Unity Party Parti Congolais du Travail (PCT) .

Yhombi-Opango died on March 30, 2020 at the age of 81 in his adopted home in Paris as part of the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

president

After the assassination of his cousin, President Marien Ngouabi , who had ruled since 1968 , on March 18, 1977, he was elected head of state on April 3, 1977 by the ruling junta to which he belonged. He was ousted from office on February 5, 1979, and a few days later Denis Sassou-Nguesso succeeded him for the next 13 years. Yhombi-Opango was accused of corruption and "deviating from the party line" of the PCT, which at the time was closely based on the Soviet Union . He was initially placed under house arrest for five years and then re-imprisoned in 1987 after a failed coup. For a while Amnesty International campaigned for his release. In July 1990 he was given an amnesty .

prime minister

Under President Pascal Lissouba , he was Prime Minister between June 23, 1993 and August 27, 1996, before a civil war that lasted several years, during which Sassou-Nguesso became President again in 1997. In a corruption case against Lissouba at the end of 2001, who remained in exile in London as a precaution, Yhombi-Opango's name was also mentioned. It was about the use of oil revenues of the Congo during both terms of office. He later reconciled with Sassou-Nguesso, but lives in Paris . Both met there on July 19, 2004.

Web links

• Article at congopage on the reconciliation of Sassou-Nguesso with Yhombi-Opango (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Coronavirus: décès de l'ex-président congolais Yhombi Opango. In: Le Figaro. Retrieved March 30, 2020 .