This is because not everyone who was a civic citizen, a citizen of the state of Congo, had an ethnic membership of a Native Authority. While the civic sphere ceased to make a distinction between citizens who were indigenous and those who were not, the ethnic sphere continued to make this distinction. Only those considered indigenous were entitled to a Native Authority of their own, and thus to an ethnic citizenship. Because they are not entitled to have a Native Authority of their own, those immigrants considered non-indigenous are excluded from ethnic citizenship. It is worth exploring the distinction between civic and ethnic citizenship to understand the practical significance of being a civic, but not an ethnic, citizen.
Civic citizenship is a consequence of membership of the central state.
Both the qualifications for citizenship, and the rights that are its entitlement, are specified in the constitution. These rights are mainly individual, and are located in the political and civil domain. In contrast, ethnic citizenship is a result of membership in the Native Authority. It is the source of a different category of rights, mainly social and economic. Further, these rights are not accessed individually but by virtue of group membership, the group being the ethnic community.