Ex-Congo President Pascal Lissouba dies at 88

Former Congolese president Pascal Lissouba, who in 1992 won his country’s first multi-party presidential elections, died in France on Monday at the age of 88, his party told AFP.

“President Lissouba passed away after an illness,” Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UPADS) spokesman and MP Honore Sayi said.

Lissouba died in Perpignan, southwestern France, he said.

The death was confirmed on Facebook by his son Jeremie Lissouba, who is also a lawmaker.

Lissouba was president of the Republic of Congo — also called Congo-Brazzaville, to distinguish it from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — from 1992 to 1997.

He fled to France after being overthrown in a brief civil war by the current president, Denis Sassou Nguesso, who had lost the country’s first multi-party elections in 1992.