Congo-Brazzaville Army - National People's Army (APN)
On the last day of 1969, at the close of a three-day congress of the national political party, the National Revolutionary Movement (Mouvement National de la Revolution—MNR), President Marien Ngouabi proclaimed the country Africa's first People's Republic. The army was officially desig¬nated the National People's Army (Armee Populaire Nationale - APN) and was assigned a political as well as a military role. Its power was readily available to the president and provided a strong base of support.
The Congolese military establishment had been under predominant French influence since its emergence as a national army in 1961, but after late 1964 the Soviet Union and Communist China also became significant sources of military materiel and equipment. French military aid and assistance continued to be provided under the terms of the 1960 military cooperation agreements, which remained in force in late 1969.
Since 1966 the revolutionary character of the political developments in the country resulted in frequent organizational and command changes in the military establishment. Most of these changes, however, were intended mainly to integrate the military and security forces into a more unified command relationship, rather than alter the basic structure of the individual services themselves. The missions of the armed forces in 1969 were defined as the defense of the country's frontiers against invasion by unfriendly forces and the maintenance of internal order and security. The gendarmerie, the air force, and the navy, as integral components of the armed forces, were charged with providing support to the army in carrying out these missions.
As the commander in chief of the armed forces, responsible for overall national defense and state security, the president controlled the military establishment through the political directorate of the CNR. He also exercised direct authority over the chief of staff of the army, an officer in whom functional and operational control of the armed forces was vested. The headquarters of the army, located in Brazzaville, included a conventional general staff patterned after that in the French army, as well as a political directorate, headed by a political commissar.
The navy, the air force, and the six operational defense zones into which the country was divided were subordinate to the army headquarters. The military zones in turn controlled various elements of the approximate five battalions that formed the tactical element of the army. The air force, with a strength of about 100, operated a few C-47-type transport and light reconnaissance aircraft, mostly of French origin. The navy's small complement of little more than 50 men controlled a force of about six patrol boats on the Congo River, largely in support of the gendarmerie.
Under the 1960 bilateral defense agreement, the French continued their programs of officer and noncommissioned officer training that had been initiated before independence. Sizable French training missions were established in the Congo, and French officers were retained as advisers and instructors at various training centers that had been turned over to the Congolese. After 1964, however, French training influence diminished, and the Congolese began to accept military training assistance from Communist China and the Soviet Union, as well as other leftist-oriented countries.
By the mid-1960s Cuban Communist military advisers and technicians had been accepted in considerable numbers and had been given the responsibility of training the political militia of the single-party regime. Much of the foreign-assisted training leveled off by the late 1960s and took the form of small groups of Congolese being sent periodically to African countries, such as Algeria, as well as to other nations for training. Mobile training teams were also sent from these countries to the Congo on specific training missions.
The armed forces logistic system was limited since the country had virtually no capability of providing adequate support for the military establishment from domestic resources. Lacking a defense industry, the Congo depended on foreign sources for almost all its armament and equipment. Although self-sufficient in some foods, it lacked the ability to supply its forces with uniforms, combat boots, or other items of personal equipment.
The distribution of supplies and equipment was facilitated by the colocation of the two major military bases at the principal transshipment ports of Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville. Since the bulk of military supplies was received from overseas areas, this material was delivered usually by sea at Pointe-Noire and stored in army depots, from which issue was made directly to locally based units. That portion needed by organizations based at Brazzaville was moved to that area by rail for storage and issue from that point. Little was known in the West at the tiem concerning local subsistence procurement, vehicle maintenance and repair, or specialized technical operations in support of the field forces.
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