Marien Ngouabi
| Marien Ngouabi | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| President of the People's Republic of the Congo | |
|
In office 1969–1977 |
|
| Preceded by | Alfred Raoul |
| Succeeded by | Joachim Yhombi-Opango |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
December 31, 1938 Ombellé, Cuvette, French Equatorial Africa |
| Died | March 18, 1977 (aged 38) |
| Political party | Congolese Party of Labor |
Marien Ngouabi (or N'Gouabi) (December 31, 1938 – March 18, 1977) was the military President of the Republic of the Congo from January 1, 1969, to March 18, 1977.
Marien Ngouabi was born in 1938 at Ombellé, Cuvette Department, in kuyu territory. His family was of humble origins. From 1947 to 1953, he went to primary school in Owando. In 1953, he went to study to the Ecole des enfants de troupes Général Leclerc in Brazzaville and in 1957 he was sent to Bouar, Oubangui-Chari (now the Central African Republic).
After serving in Cameroun (1958–1960), Marien went to the Ecole Militaire Préparatoire in Strasbourg, France and then to the Ecole Inter-armes at Coëtquidan Saint-Cyr in 1961. He returned to Congo in 1962 as Second Lieutenant and was stationed at the Pointe-Noire garrison. In 1963 Marien Ngouabi was promoted to Lieutenant.
In 1965 he created the first battalion of paratroopers in the Congo Republic. Known for his leftist views, in April 1966 Ngouabi was demoted to the rank of soldier second class when he refused to be posted again at Pointe-Noire. President Alphonse Massamba-Débat had Ngouabi and Second Lieutenant Eyabo arrested on July 29, 1968.
Ngouabi's arrest provoked discontent among the military, and on July 31 Ngouabi was freed by soldiers. The National Revolutionary Council (CNR), headed by Ngouabi, was created on August 5, 1968. Massamba-Débat, whose powers had been curtailed by the CNR, resigned on September 4, and Prime Minister Alfred Raoul served as acting head of state until December 31, 1968, when the CNR formally became the country's supreme authority and Ngouabi, as head of the CNR, assumed the presidency.
Once in power, President Ngouabi changed the country's name to the People's Republic of the Congo, declaring it to be Africa's first Marxist–Leninist state, and founded the Congolese Workers' Party (Parti Congolais du Travail, PCT) as the country's sole legal political party.
...
Wikipedia