REPUBUCOFTHE CONGO
Jan. 1, 2012: Est. population, 4,013,000; Members 5,235; Stakes 1; V^ards 9; Branches 8; Percent LDS, .1, or one member in 957; Africa Southeast Area; DR Republic of CongoMission.
The Republic ofCongo, previously known asFrench Equatorial Africa, became independent from France on15August 1960. Located in west-central Africa on the equator, it is bordered by Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic oftheCongo, andGabon. French istheofficial language, while local dia-lects arealso spoken. Fifty percent ofthepeople areChristian, while 48percent follow tribal beliefs and2per-cent areMuslim.
In1971,there werearound10 membersofthe Church scatteredthroughoutthe country. Twentyyearslater,on 20 January 1991, the Zaire Kinshasa Mission President Scott H. Taggart traveled to the capital city of Brazzaville to begin missionary work there. They metwith theMassamba-Sita family andPresident Taggart setapartHyacinthe Massamba-Sita as lead elder in Brazzaville andgave him permission to hold sacrament meetings. Senior missionary couple, George Leland and Emily Burningham arriveda fewmonthslater.
The Zaire Kinshasa Mission headquarters were moved to Brazzaville because of civil unrest in Kinshasa, Zaire, during September and October 1991. The mission headquarters returned to Zaire in November 1991. A month later, on 23 December, thegovernment oftheRepublic oftheCongo granted legal recognition totheChurch.. The Brazzaville Republic of Congo District was organized on 23 February1992.
Elder Richard G. Scott became the first member of the Quorum of the Twelve and first General Authority to visit the Republic ofCongo on 24 August 1992.
On29 December 1993,the ZaireKinshasa Mission, whichincluded the Republic ofCongo, wasclosed becauseofwarsin the region. It was re-openedin late 1994.
On19 October 2003, the Brazzaville Republic ofCongo Stake wascreated withJean Patrice Milembolo as president
Membershipwas 3,262 in 2003.
