Marien Ngouabi
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| “ | When your country is dirty and lacks lasting peace, it cannot achieve its cleanliness and its unity other than by washing it with your blood. | „ |
| ~ Marien Ngouabi |
Marien Ngouabi (December 31, 1938 - March 18, 1977) was the President of the People's Republic of the Congo from January 1, 1969, to March 18, 1977. He presided over a one-party state under the banner of the Congolese Party of Labour. He was suceeded by Denis Sassou Nguesso.
Life and career edit
Marien Ngouabi was born in 1938 in Ombellé, Cuvette department, in Mboshi territory. His family was of humble origin. From 1947 to 1953 he attended primary school in Ovando (capital of the Cuvette department). In 1953 he entered the École des Enfants de troupes Général Leclerc (in Brazzaville) and in 1957 he was sent to Bouar (Oubangui-Chari), currently in the Central African Republic.
After serving in Cameroon (between 1958 and 1960), Ngouabi went to the Ecole Militaire préparatoire (Preparatory Military School) in Strasbourg (France), and in 1961 at the Inter-arms school (in Coëtquidan Saint-Cyr). In 1962 he returned to the Congo as a second lieutenant and was assigned to the Pointe-Noire garrison. In 1963 Marien Ngouabi was promoted to Lieutenant.
Ngouabi's consolidation of power faced multiple attempts at destabilization. In February 1969, he reorganized the Army and created a Revolutionary Court of Justice, responsible for judging those who have carried out activities detrimental to the proper functioning of the MNR since 1963. A few days later, Mouzabakani, suspected of planning once, is arrested. in the company of other officers. In 1973 there was another failed coup attempt, for which Pascal Lissouba was accused of involvement, and arrested.
Bureaucratic centralism, repression, and "communism" of the party-state apparatus, the nguabi's tribalist orientation towards Mboshi and La Cuvette immigrants created opposition within the Communist Party itself, especially its youth organization. In the fall of 1971, the student and school strikes in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire began, severely repressed by the authorities. The situation in the country was severely destabilized. At a special plenary meeting convened by the CPT Central Committee, a group of influential figures opposed the country's leader: former prime ministers Ambrosio Numazalai and Alfred Raul, former minister Bernard Combo-Matsiona, vice president, member of the political bureau of the CPT and head of the Political Direction of the Army Ange Diavara. and several others. However, Nguabi remained in control of the situation, trusting the support of the Army Chief of Staff, Joaquín Yombi-Opango, and his deputy Denis Sassou Nguesso.
Rise to power edit
In 1965 he created the first battalion of paratroopers in the Congo Republic. Known for his leftist views, in April 1966 Ngouabi was demoted to the rank of soldier second class when he refused to be posted again at Pointe-Noire. President Alphonse Massamba-Débat had Ngouabi and Second Lieutenant Eyabo arrested on July 29, 1968.
Ngouabi's arrest provoked discontent among the military, and on July 31 Ngouabi was freed by soldiers. The National Revolutionary Council (CNR), headed by Ngouabi, was created on August 5, 1968. Massamba-Débat, whose powers had been curtailed by the CNR, resigned on September 4, and Prime Minister Alfred Raoul served as acting head of state until December 31, 1968, when the CNR formally became the country's supreme authority and Ngouabi, as head of the CNR, assumed the presidency.
Head of state edit
Once in power, President Ngouabi changed the country's name to the People's Republic of the Congo, declaring it to be Africa's first Marxist-Leninist state, and founded the Congolese Workers' Party (Parti Congolais du Travail, PCT) as the country's sole legal political party.
Ngouabi was a Kouyou from the north and his regime shifted control of the country away from the south. Such moves created opposition among the population in the highly politicized environment of Brazzaville. There was an attempted coup in February 1972 that triggered a series of 'purges' of the opposition. It is claimed that Ngouabi was under French pressure to annex the oil-rich Cabinda enclave, a part of Angola, and his refusal to act cost him French support. There is some speculation that the French financed some of the following attempts to remove Ngouabi. He visited the People's Republic of China in July 1973.
Ngouabi was re-elected to his post as Chairman of the PCT Central Committee on December 30, 1974; he was additionally elected as Permanent Secretary of the PCT. He was then sworn in as President for another term on January 9, 1975. Also in 1975, he signed an economic aid pact with the Soviet Union.
Assassination edit
In early March 1977, Ngouabi received a letter from his predecessor, Alphonse Massamba-Debat. He advised him to resign, because the seriousness of the country's situation required it.8 On March 3, Ngouabi received the former president and his wife in audience. A few days later, in a public meeting organized by the URMC, he lashed out at French imperialism, whom he accused of being responsible for the economic difficulties in the Congo. He also said: "When your country is dirty and lacks lasting peace, you cannot achieve its cleanliness and unity except by washing it with your blood."
In January 1978, the revolutionary court opened a trial against 42 people accused of complicity in the murder. Ten of them were sentenced to death and executed on February 7, 1978. Captain Barthelemý Kikadidi, who managed to escape on the day of the murder (March 18, 1977), was sentenced to death in absentia for leading the platoon that attacked the Ngouabi's life. On February 13, 1978, he was found and executed on the spot by the army.
A Military Committee of the Party (CMP) was named to head an interim government with the conservative Colonel Joachim Yhombi-Opango to serve as Head of State.
Commemoration edit
March 18 is Marien Ngouabi Day in the Republic of Congo.
The country's only university is the Marien Ngouabi University in Brazzaville. Ngouabi is interred at the Marien Ngouabi Mausoleum in Brazzaville.