Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

Joseph-Damien Tshatshi Djamba was a Congolese military officer who was assassinated by rebels at

Kisangani Kisangani (formerly Stanleyville or Stanleystad) is the capital of Tshopo province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the fifth most populous urban area in the country, with an estimated population of 1,312,000 in 2021, and the larg ...

on 23 July 1966 during the Kisangani mutiny. Tshatshi began his military career in the

Force Publique The ''Force Publique'' (, "Public Force"; nl, Openbare Weermacht) was a gendarmerie and military force in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1885 (when the territory was known as the Congo Free State), through the period of ...

under Belgian colonial rule and later trained at the

Officer Training School Officer Training School (OTS) is a United States Air Force and United States Space Force commissioning program located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. Overview Officer Training School is a part of the Jeanne M. Holm Center fo ...

at Luluabourg (modern-day Kananga). He remained with the army after Congolese independence in 1960 in the re-formed

Armée Nationale Congolaise The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: Forces armées de la république démocratique du Congo ARDC is the state organisation responsible for defending the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The FARDC was rebuilt pa ...

(ANC). He remained loyal to the government at

Léopoldville Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one of ...

during the

Congo Crisis The Congo Crisis (french: Crise congolaise, link=no) was a period of political upheaval and conflict between 1960 and 1965 in the Republic of the Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The crisis began almost immediately after ...

and participated in the repression of the Katanga secession after 1963. He was nicknamed "the terrible" (''le terrible''). A loyalist to

Joseph-Désiré Mobutu Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...

, he was a signatory to the proclamation of the Second Republic on 24 November 1965. At the time of his death, he commanded the 5th Mechanised Brigade (''5^e Brigade mécanisée'') and was serving as Republican Commissioner (''commissaire de la République'') for the Provinces of

Haut-Congo Haut-Congo Province was a province of the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville), now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was formed in April 1962 from part of the Orientale Province. In 1966 it was merged back into the reconstituted Orientale ...

, Kibali-Ituri, and Uélé. Tshatshi was killed during an uprising among former Katangese soldiers near

on 23 July 1966. The mutiny was apparently sparked by rumours that the former Katangese leader

Moïse Tshombe Moïse Kapenda Tshombe (sometimes written Tshombé) (10 November 1919 – 29 June 1969) was a Congolese businessman and politician. He served as the president of the secessionist State of Katanga from 1960 to 1963 and as prime minister of the D ...

would return to the country from exile, and was only repressed by force in September. In the aftermath of the killing, "Colonel Tshatshi" was celebrated as a hero by the Mobutu regime. A large military installation at Ngaliema in Léopoldville was renamed the

Colonel Tshatshi Military Camp The Colonel Tshatshi Military Camp (french: Camp militaire "Colonel Tshatshi") is a military compound in Ngaliema, Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It serves as the headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of ...

. Today the camp houses the command of the

Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: Forces armées de la république démocratique du Congo ARDC is the state organisation responsible for defending the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The FARDC was rebuilt pat ...

. In the same city, a major thoroughfare was renamed Boulevard Colonel Tshatshi in his honour.

Le Grand Kallé Joseph Athanase Tshamala Kabasele (16 December 1930 in Matadi, Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) – 11 February 1983 in Paris, France), popularly known as Le Grand Kallé, was a Congolese singer and bandleader, considered the ...

dedicated his song "Paracommando" to Tshatshi's memory. In 1974 he was posthumously awarded the

Order of the Companions of the Revolution Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...

by Mobutu.

References

;Sources *

External links

The assassination of Colonel Tshatshi in Kisangani
extract of unpublished manuscript of Opendo Mbula-Matari, matonge.be

c-retro-actuel.com Proclamation of the High Military Command of the Armed Forces, c-retro-actuel.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Tshatshi, Joseph Damien Democratic Republic of the Congo military personnel 1966 deaths 1927 births People murdered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo People of the Congo Crisis

References

Further reading

External links