Louis de Gonzague Bobozo (1915 – July 1982) was a Congolese military officer who served as commander-in-chief of the Congolese National Army from 1965 until 1972.
Louis de Gonzague Bobozo | |
|---|---|
| Other name(s) | Bobozo Salelo Ndembo Adurama |
| Born | 1915 Mongala District, Belgian Congo |
| Died | July 1982 Zaire |
| Allegiance |  Congo DR Congo |
| Service | Force Publique Congolese National Army |
| Years of service | 1933–1972 |
| Rank | Major General |
| Commands | Camp Hardy Fourth Congolese Regiment Armée Nationale Congolaise |
| Battles / wars | |
Biography
editLouis Bobozo was born in 1915 in the Mongala District, Équateur Province, Belgian Congo. He voluntarily enlisted in the Force Publique on 28 June 1933. On 1 April 1940 he was promoted to the rank of sergeant.[1] In 1941 he was deployed to Ethiopia to participate in the East African Campaign of World War II, commanding a machine gun platoon during the Siege of Saïo.[2] From 1953–1954 he served as drill instructor to the young Joseph-Désiré Mobutu in Luluabourg and became his mentor.[3] He was one of the few Congolese soldiers in the entire army to achieve the rank of adjutant before the independence of the Congo in 1960.[4]
Following independence, the Force Publique mutinied to protest poor conditions. African officers were appointed to replace European personnel to alleviate the problem, and Mobutu was made chief-of-staff of the force, renamed the Armée Nationale Congolaise (ANC). Due to the upheaval in the officer corps and his family ties with Mobutu, Bobozo was quickly promoted to colonel and put in charge of the garrison of Camp Hardy in Thysville. He briefly acted as interim commander-in-chief of the army in October.[5] In 1963 he was put in charge of a new unit, the fourth groupement (regiment) of South Katanga.[6] On 30 May 1964 he led a small government force to recapture the town of Albertville from Simba rebels.[7] In July 1964 he was promoted to the rank of major general.[8]
Following Mobutu's coup in November 1965, Bobozo was appointed commander-in-chief of the ANC.[9] On 13 November 1970 he suffered a severe stroke and had to relinquish his duties to an acting general.[10][11] He officially retired as commander-in-chief in 1972.[12] He died in July 1982.[13]
Citations
edit- ^ ANC 1970, p. 25.
- ^ Veranneman 2014, p. 85.
- ^ Young 1965, p. 449.
- ^ Hoskyns 1965, p. 211.
- ^ de Witte 2002, p. 59.
- ^ Young 1965, p. 459.
- ^ O'Ballance 1999, p. 73.
- ^ "Colonel Bobozo". Daily Report : Foreign Radio Broadcasts. No. 132. United States Central Intelligence Agency. 8 July 1964. p. 15.
- ^ Tripathy 1989, p. 81.
- ^ CIA 1970, p. 14.
- ^ CIA 1972, p. 8.
- ^ Young & Turner 2013, p. 154.
- ^ Kisangani 2016, p. 103.
References
edit- L'Armée nationale congolaise, 1960-1970 (in French). Editions Service d'education d'information, Etat-Major Général de l'ANC. 1970.
- "Congo (Kinshasa)" (PDF). Central Intelligence Bulletin. 70 (287). United States Central Intelligence Agency: 14. 1 December 1970. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 23, 2017.
- Hoskyns, Catherine (1965). The Congo Since Independence: January 1960 – December 1961. London: Oxford University Press. OCLC 414961.
- Kisangani, Emizet Francois (2016). Historical Dictionary of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (4th ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781442273160.
- O'Ballance, Edgar (1999). The Congo-Zaire Experience, 1960–98 (illustrated ed.). Springer. ISBN 9780230286481.
- Tripathy, Amulya Kumar (1989). U.S. Foreign Policy: A Study of CIA and External Intervention in Central Africa. Discovery Publishing House. ISBN 9788171410385.
- Veranneman, Jean-Michel (2014). Belgium in the Second World War (illus. ed.). Barnsley: Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-78337-607-0.
- de Witte, Ludo (2002). The Assassination of Lumumba (illustrated ed.). Verso. ISBN 978-1-85984-410-6.
- Young, M. Crawford (1965). Politics in Congo: Decolonization and Independence. Princeton: Princeton University Press. OCLC 307971.
- Young, Crawford; Turner, Thomas Edwin (2013). The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 9780299101138.
- "ZAIRE". Central Intelligence Bulletin. 72 (180). United States Central Intelligence Agency: 8. 28 July 1972.