The Cocoye Militia was a militia during the

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and

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

civil wars that fought for Pascal Lissouba.

History

Formation

The Cocoye militia was formed in 1993,

Pascal Lissouba Pascal Lissouba (15 November 1931 – 24 August 2020) was a Congolese politician who was the first democratically elected President of the Republic of the Congo and served from 31 August 1992 until 25 October 1997. He was overthrown by the form ...

heavily distrusted the armed forces of the county and did not think that they would support them. He moved to form his own forces he could count on to support him. He pulled from army personnel and supporters from the Department of

Niari Niari, also known as "Radhi", is a caste in Odisha know for their traditional work "Chudakuta" (making flattened rice) and "Muudikuta" (making puffed rice). They're subcaste of Kshatriya.They are belong to general caste. History In history a ...

, Lékoumou, and

Bouenza Bouenza (can also be written as ''Buenza'') is a Departments of the Republic of the Congo, department of the Republic of the Congo in the southern part of the country. It borders the departments of Lékoumou Department, Lékoumou, Niari Department ...

to form the militia. He bought mercenaries from

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

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, and

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

to train his militia.

First Civil War

During the first civil war the Cocoye militia was allied with Lissouba, they fought against the allied

Ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enem ...

and Cobra militias. In

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, the Cocoye controlled the center of the city, the conflict ended up killing 2,000 and ended in the peace agreement with neither side gaining victory.

Second civil war

In June 1997 Lissouba feared a

Coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

and sent the Cocoyes to arrest the leader of the Cobra's leader

Denis Sassou Nguesso Denis Sassou Nguesso (born 23 November 1943) is a Congolese politician and former military officer. He became president of the Republic of the Congo in 1997. He served a previous term as president from 1979 to 1992. During his first period as p ...

and disarm the militia starting the second civil war. Their Former enemy the Ninjas allied with them against the cobra, during the second civil war the Cocoye played a major role, capturing

Moukoukoulou Dam The Moukoukoulou Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Bouenza River in the Republic of the Congo, built by Chinese technicians and commissioned in 1979 to supply energy to Pointe-Noire. It is the main source of power to the south of the country. Due ...

and cutting power to much of the south.

References

{{reflist Militias in Africa History of the Republic of the Congo