Louis de Gonzague Bobozo (1915 – July 1982) was a Congolese military officer who served as commander-in-chief of the

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 ...

from 1965 until 1972.

Biography

Louis Bobozo was born in 1915 in the

Mongala District Mongala District (french: District du Mongala, nl, District Mongala) was a district of the Belgian Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It went through various changes in extent. It covered roughly the same area as the present Mongala ...

, Équateur,

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

. He voluntarily enlisted 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 ...

on 28 June 1933. On 1 April 1940 he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. In 1941 he was deployed to Ethiopia to participate in the East African Campaign of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, commanding a machine gun platoon during the

Siege of Saïo The siege of Saïo or battle of Saïo took place during the East African Campaign of World War II. Belgo-Congolese troops, British Commonwealth forces and local resistance fighters besieged the fort at the market town of Saïo in south-wester ...

. From 1953–1954 he served as drill instructor to the young

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 ...

in Luluabourg and became his mentor. 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. 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

(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 Mbanza-Ngungu, formerly known as Thysville or Thysstad, named after Albert Thys, is a city and territory in Kongo Central Province in the western part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, lying on a short branch off the Matadi-Kinshasa Railway. ...

. He briefly acted as interim commander-in-chief of the army in October. In 1963 he was put in charge of a new unit, the fourth ''groupement'' (regiment) of South Katanga. On 30 May 1964 he led a small government force to recapture the town of

Albertville Albertville (; Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a subprefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. It is best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. In 2018, the commune had ...

from

Simba rebels The Simba rebellion, also known as the Orientale revolt, was a regional uprising which took place in the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville), Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1963 and 1965 in the wider context of the Congo Crisis and the ...

. In July 1964 he was promoted to the rank of major general. Following Mobutu's coup in November 1965, Bobozo was appointed commander-in-chief of the ANC. On 13 November 1970 he suffered a severe stroke and had to relinquish his duties to an acting general. He officially retired as commander-in-chief in 1972. He died in July 1982.

Citations

References

* * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bobozo, Louis Soldiers of the Force Publique Belgian military personnel of World War II People of the Congo Crisis Democratic Republic of the Congo military personnel People from Mongala 1915 births 1982 deaths