Pierre Oba (born 17 July 1953) is a Congolese security official who has served in the government of Congo-Brazzaville as Minister of Mines since 2005. During the 1980s, he served successively as Director of Presidential Security and as Director-General of Public Security. Later, he was Minister of the Interior from 1997 to 2002 and Minister of Security from 2002 to 2005. He is also a ''Général de Brigade'' of the National Police..

Background and early military–political career

Oba, an ethnic

Mbochi The Mbochi (or M'Boshi) are a Bantu ethnic group in Central Africa. Their language originates from the regions of the African Great Lakes where they began, after a long migration from the east to the centre, over the years, until 1850. This centr ...

,Emmanuel Okamba, ''La gouvernance, une affaire de société: Analyse mythiumétrique de la performance'' (2010), L'Harmattan, page 181 . was born at Ollembé, located in the

Ollombo District Ollombo is a district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, severa ...

of Plateaux Region. He is a cousin of Congolese President

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 ...

.Rémy Bazenguissa-Ganga, ''Les voies du politique au Congo: essai de sociologie historique'' (1997), Karthala Editions, pages 292 and 443. Oba became Director of Presidential Security in 1984"Oba Pierre", ''Congo Brazzaville: Les Hommes de Pouvoir n°1'', Africa Intelligence, 29 October 2002 . and was named Director-General of Public Security on 11 September 1987. In 1989, he was elected to the Central Committee of the

Congolese Labour Party The Congolese Party of Labour (french: Parti congolais du travail, PCT) is the ruling party of the Republic of the Congo. Founded in 1969 by Marien Ngouabi, it was originally a pro-Soviet, Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist vanguard party w ...

(PCT). In the early 1990s, when the PCT's single-party rule collapsed and multiparty politics was introduced, Oba lost his post as Director-General of Public Security; subsequently he served as '' aide-de-camp'' to Sassou Nguesso.John F. Clark and Samuel Decalo, ''Historical Dictionary of Republic of the Congo'', fourth edition (2012), Scarecrow Press, page 329. Along with Colonel

Michel Ngakala Michel Ngakala is a Republic of the Congo, Congolese military officer and politician who is a leading member of the Congolese Labour Party (PCT), the ruling party in the Republic of the Congo, serving as its Permanent Secretary for Organization. He ...

, he created the "Cobras", a militia loyal to opposition leader Sassou-Nguesso, in 1993.

Political career since 1997

Oba participated in the June–October 1997 civil war on Sassou Nguesso's side and was wounded in the fighting. After Sassou Nguesso's Cobra militia returned him to power in October 1997, Oba was appointed as Minister of the Interior, Security, and Territorial Administration on 2 November 1997. He was the only member of the government who did not stand as a candidate in the May–June 2002 parliamentary election. After the election, in the government named on 18 August 2002, Oba was appointed as Minister of Security and Police. Oba was believed to have been marginalized by Jean-Dominique Okemba, another influential security official and Sassou Nguesso relative, during the mid-2000s. In the government named on 7 January 2005, he was moved to the position of Minister of Mines, Mining Industries, and Geology; the move decreased Oba's prominence. Following the death of

Jean-Baptiste Tati Loutard Jean-Baptiste Tati Loutard (15 December 1938 – 4 July 2009) was a Congolese politician and poet. Having previously served as Minister of Higher Education and Minister of Arts and Culture, he was Minister of Hydrocarbons in the government of Co ...

, the Minister of State for Hydrocarbons, in July 2009, Oba additionally managed his portfolio in an interim capacity. He was retained as Minister of Mines and Geology in the government appointed on 15 September 2009, but was released from his interim responsibility for the hydrocarbons portfolio. In August 2013, he was probed by French authorities for the alleged role he may have played in human rights abuses during the 1997 civil war."Human rights abuse suspect Pierre Oba pulls out of Perth conference"
''

WAtoday WAtoday is an online newspaper, focusing its coverage on Perth and Western Australia. It was established on 10 June 2008, and is owned by Fairfax Digital (now Nine Publishing, under Nine Entertainment Co). The company employs ten journalists in ...

'', August 30, 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oba, Pierre Living people Republic of the Congo military personnel 1953 births Interior ministers of the Republic of the Congo Mining ministers of the Republic of the Congo Congolese Party of Labour politicians People from Plateaux Department (Republic of the Congo)