A short, fairly clear summary of the Republic of Congo's history can be found at the U.S. Department of State site. Also try Wikipedia for a reasonable potted history of the country, with further links.

An informative round-up of the history of the humanitarian situation in Congo Brazzaville can be found at the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre's site. It includes a summary of a report by Catholic Relief Services, Caritas-Congo and Secours Catholique (Caritas-France). They carried out a detailed survey of the humanitarian situation in Pool involving 900 households.

A graphic account of a British doctor's work rehabilitating a hospital in the incongruously beautiful area of southern Pool, can be found on Medecins Sans Frontieres' website. It is one of the few aid agencies operating in the Republic of Congo.

Others include the International Rescue Committee and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The European Commission's Humanitarian Aid division, ECHO, funds projects in the country.

Amnesty International did detailed work a few years ago investigating "disappearances" that occurred mostly in 1999, and human rights abuses up to and including 2002. There is a 2004 update.

Groups such as Global Witness are campaigning for greater clarity over what happens to Congo's prolific oil revenues.

For information on Congolese refugees, as well as non-Congolese refugees who fled to the country from Angola and neighbouring Democratic Republic Congo (many of whom have recently been repatriated) take a look at UNHCR's website.

For a collection of press releases and news from various sources try AllAfrica.com or the much more detailed Les Depeches de Brazzaville, which is in French.

There is also an active, French-language Congo discussion forum. The critical, French-language Journal de l'Association des democrates Congolais en France carries news, archives and links to articles. Voix Humaine is opposed to President Denis Sassou Nguesso and is based in France.

The Republic of Congo's official website is a buzzy, colourful, well-resourced affair in French where, as well as accessing the latest press releases and discovering the names of government ministers, you can watch television news bulletins and read your horoscope.

The CIA factbook also holds a list of government ministers.

The U.N. news service IRIN regularly carries articles from Congo.