Editing Denis Sassou Nguesso (section)

===1992–1997: First Civil War and election campaigns===
The first round of elections took place on 24 June, and the second on 19 July. Senate elections took place on 26 July. In the [[1992 Republic of the Congo parliamentary election|parliamentary election of June–July 1992]], the PCT won only 19 of 125 seats in the National Assembly; the [[Pan-African Union for Social Democracy]] (UPADS) led by former prime minister Pascal Lissouba, was the largest party. But it could not obtain an absolute majority in the National Assembly, with the [[Congolese Movement for Democracy and Integral Development]] (MCDDI) led by former army General Bernard Kolelas in second position.<ref name=IPU/>

In the [[1992 Republic of the Congo presidential election|August 1992 presidential election]], Sassou Nguesso was eliminated in the first round, placing third with 17% of the vote. He fared poorly everywhere except the north. The second round was held between Lissouba (UPADS) and Kolelas (MCDDI); Sassou Nguesso backed Lissouba, who won in the second round with 61.32% of the vote.<ref name=IPU/>

Lissouba became President of the Republic on 31 August and a new Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Stephane Bongho-Nouarra of UPADS, was formed on 7 August. In the meantime, a new alliance of seven parties, including the MCDDI and the Rally for Democracy and Social Progress (RDPS) was constituted. It was soon joined by the PCT, which was unhappy with the distribution of ministerial portfolios, thus ensuring a new parliamentary majority.

On 31 October, the National Assembly approved a motion of no confidence against Bongho-Nouarra who resigned. On 17 November, President Lissouba dissolved Parliament, announcing elections to break the deadlock. In December, Claude Antoine Dacosta was appointed prime minister at the head of a transitional government.<ref name=IPU>{{Cite web|title=Congo Chambre parlementaire : Sénat {{!}} Élections tenues en 1992|url=http://archive.ipu.org/parline-f/reports/arc/1370_92.htm|access-date=8 August 2021|website=archive.ipu.org/|language=fr}}</ref>

Civil war started in November 1993, when the opposition parties (UDR and PCT) contested the results of the parliamentary elections (October 1993) giving victory to the coalition supporting President Lissouba (Tendance présidentielle).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Chambre parlementaire: Assemblée nationale|url=http://archive.ipu.org/parline-f/reports/arc/1071_93.htm|website=archive.ipu.org}}</ref> Armed militia supporting President Lissouba (Cocoyes, Zoulous and Mambas) clashed with Kolelas' Ninjas and Sassous Nguesso's Cobras.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Congo-Brazzaville: Bulletin spécial d'IRIN sur les milices au Congo|url=https://reliefweb.int/report/congo/congo-brazzaville-bulletin-sp%C3%A9cial-dirin-sur-les-milices-au-congo|website=reliefweb.int}}</ref> The conflict ended in December 1995, but left at least 2,000 dead and more than 100,000 displaced.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pourtier|first=Roland|title=1997: les raisons d'une guerre 'incivile'|publisher=UNHCR Centre for Documentation and Research|year=1998|pages=17}}</ref>

After this episode Sassou Nguesso spent seven months in Paris in 1996, returning on 26 January 1997 to contest the presidential election scheduled for July.<ref name="Entre">{{cite web|url=http://www.fidh.org/rapports/congo.htm|title=Entre arbitraire et impunite: les droits de l'homme au Congo-Brazzaville|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114133125/http://www.fidh.org/rapports/congo.htm |archive-date=14 November 2007|url-status=dead|author1=Congolese Human Rights Observatory|author1-link=Congolese Human Rights Observatory|author2=International Federation of Human Rights|author2-link=International Federation of Human Rights|date=April 1998|language=fr|quote=Le 26 janvier 1997, après un séjour de 7 mois en France, Denis Sassou Nguesso est revenu au Congo.|trans-quote=On 26 January 1997, after a [[wikt:sojourn|sojourn]] of seven months in France, Sassou Nguesso returned to the [Republic of the] Congo.}}</ref>