Michel Ngakala is a 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 was Commander of the Congolese People's Militia during the 1980s, and he was the High Commissioner for the Reintegration of Former Combatants, a role that involved the implementation of peace agreements with rebels, from 2001 to 2012.
Military and political career under single-party rule Ngakala was promoted to the rank of master corporal in 1968.Albert-Rogert Massema, Crimes de sang et pouvoir au Congo Brazzaville : les assassinats de Lazare Matsokota, Joseph Pouabou, Anselme Massouémé, Ange Diawara, Marien Ngouabi et Pierre Anga (2005), L'Harmattan, page 241 . Said to be a cousin of President Denis Sassou Nguesso,Rémy Bazenguissa-Ganga, Les voies du politique au Congo: essai de sociologie historique (1997), Karthala Editions, page 352 . Ngakala was elected to the PCT Central Committee at an extraordinary party congress held on 26–31 March 1979.Bazenguissa-Ganga, Les voies du politique au Congo: essai de sociologie historique, page 262 . He was also appointed as Commander of the Congolese People's Militia.Bazenguissa-Ganga, Les voies du politique au Congo: essai de sociologie historique, page 440 .
Ngakala was considered part of the "Oyo clan", a group of political and military figures who were natives of Sassou Nguesso's home village, Oyo. Sassou Nguesso placed particular trust in members of the "Oyo clan", and they were given important positions in his regime.Patrice Yengo, La guerre civile du Congo-Brazzaville, 1993–2002: "chacun aura sa part" (2006), Karthala Editions, page 40 . At the PCT's Third Ordinary Congress, held on 27–31 July 1984, Ngakala was re-elected to the 75-member PCT Central Committee."Third Congolese Party Congress Issues Statement", Mweti, 1 August 1984, pages 4–6.Bazenguissa-Ganga, Les voies du politique au Congo: essai de sociologie historique, page 277 . Together with Sassou Nguesso, he visited East Germany in May 1985. East Germany, as an ally of Congo-Brazzaville, provided the Congolese People's Militia with training and equipment.Gareth M. Winrow, The Foreign Policy of the GDR in Africa (1990), Cambridge University Press, page 141, note 99.
Ngakala was also First Secretary of the Union of Congolese Socialist Youth (UJSC), the PCT's youth organization, for a time."Michel Ngakala réintègre le PCT", Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 20 December 2004 . In 1990, he was promoted to the rank of colonel.
Events of the 1990s After Sassou Nguesso was defeated in the August 1992 presidential election, he and the PCT went into opposition. The controversial May–June 1993 parliamentary election was followed by an extended round of serious political violence between the government and opposition, and in that environment the various sides formed ethnically based militias to fight in Brazzaville.John F. Clark, "Congo: Transition and the Struggle to Consolidate", in Political Reform in Francophone Africa (1997), eds. John F. Clark and David E. Gardinier, Westview Press, pages 70–75.Florence Bernault, "The Political Shaping of Sacred Locality in Brazzaville 1959–97", in Africa's Urban Past (2000), eds. David M. Anderson and Richard Rathbone, James Currey Ltd., pages 287–288. Ngakala and General Pierre Oba created the Cobra militia, which was loyal to Sassou Nguesso.Mbow M. Amphas, Political Transformations of the Congo (2000), Pentland Press, page 102.François-Xavier Verschave, Noir silence: qui arrêtera la Françafrique? (2000), Les Arènes, page 53 . The Cobras were concentrated in the Mpila, Ouenzé, and Talangaï districts of Brazzaville, and they were allied with the Ninja militia loyal to another opposition leader, Bernard Kolélas, which was concentrated in the Bacongo district. The army and the Zoulou militia loyal to President Pascal Lissouba attacked their opponents on 3 November 1993, but were unsuccessful; the competing militias continued to violently dominate the city. An agreement in January 1994 facilitated a gradual return to peace.
On 5 June 1997, a civil war broke out between the government of President Lissouba and Sassou Nguesso's Cobra militia. After months of fighting, the Cobras, assisted by Angolan troops, captured Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire on 14–15 October 1997, thereby ousting Lissouba and returning Sassou Nguesso to power.Howard W. French, "Rebels, Backed by Angola, Take Brazzaville and Oil Port", The New York Times, 16 October 1997.Rémy Bazenguissa-Ganga, "The Spread of Political Violence in Congo-Brazzaville", in African Affairs, vol. 98, no. 390, January 1999, pages 389–411.
High Commissioner for Reintegration After a 2001 national peace convention,"Delegates at Republic of Congo talks sign peace convention", Associated Press, 15 April 2001. the office of High Commissioner for the Reintegration of Former Combatants was established through a presidential decree on 10 August 2001, and Ngakala was appointed to the post. His task was to oversee the process of disarming rebels and reintegrating them into civilian life."Le Haut commissariat à la réinsertion dresse le bilan de ses activités", Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 26 February 2001 . As High Commissioner for the Reintegration of Former Combatants, Ngakala continued to be closely associated with Pierre Oba, who served in the government as Minister of the Interior. Ngakala's work was focused on the reintegration of rebel fighters from the Pool-based Ninja militia of Pasteur Ntoumi."By other means", Africa Confidential, volume 43, number 12, 14 June 2002. He met with Ntoumi in the Vinza district on 16 October 2001, and both sides spoke warmly about peace and cooperation."Le Haut-commissaire chargé de la réinsertion des ex-miliciens rencontre le pasteur Ntoumi", Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 19 October 2001 .
On 25 February 2002, Ngakala said that the disarmament and reintegration program was nearly ready to begin and that five regional offices across the country would be opened to facilitate its work. He also observed that the program had received about 3.4 billion CFA francs in funding from the International Development Association and that the International Organization for Migration (IOM) had already managed to collect about 1,200 weapons. However, the number of weapons collected by the IOM constituted only a small fraction of the total number of illegal weapons."Revue de la presse congolaise - semaine du 25 Février", Congopage website, 2 March 2002 .
The process proved to be difficult and spotty. Frustrated by the lack of progress, Ngakala sharply criticized Ntoumi on 21 March 2002, accusing him of failing to follow through on his commitments and thereby obstructing the peace process. He stressed that Ntoumi could not be allowed to continue controlling the Vinza district indefinitely, as the area was entitled to its parliamentary representation and local government, and he said that Ntoumi should not interpret the government's attempts at peaceful resolution as a sign of weakness."Les autorités congolaises souhaitent régler au plus vite le cas « Ntoumi »", Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 22 March 2002 . Ngakala's "inflammatory" remarks were followed by a round of renewed fighting between the army and the Ninjas. Shooting subsequently broke out at an April 2002 meeting between Ngakala and about 700 Ninjas in Brazzaville, causing around 80,000 people to flee.
Ngakala retired from the military in 2002. The pace of disarmament and reintegration remained slow in subsequent years. Speaking on 4 June 2004, Ngakala again blamed Ntoumi for delaying the process through his failure to follow through on his commitments."Michel Ngakala : « Les accords de paix souffrent de la versatilité du pasteur Ntoumi »", Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 5 June 2004 .
On 18 December 2004, Ngakala announced that he had rejoined the PCT. In the wake of disappointing results and international disapproval for the reintegration program, Ngalaka presented a revamped program on 9 February 2005. The new program was broader in scope and placed a higher priority on disarmament, which was to be funded by the European Union."Le gouvernement présente son nouveau programme de désarmement et réinsertion des ex-combattants", Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 10 February 2005 .
Ngakala was included on the Directory of the Preparatory Committee for the PCT's Fifth Extraordinary Congress; although not a member of the PCT Political Bureau, he was specially added to the Directory on 31 October 2006, along with a number of others."PCT : le bureau politique réunifié annonce le congrès d'ici le 15 novembre", Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 2 November 2006 ."La feuille de route du PCT en vue de la tenue du 5e congrès extraordinaire du parti", Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 3 November 2006 . The congress was held on 22–29 December 2006."La direction du Parti Congolais du Travail s'ouvre aux jeunes et aux femmes", Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 30 December 2006 .
On 17–18 January 2007, Ngakala—acting as the representative of the PCT—met with François Ibovi, the Minister of Territorial Administration, to discuss preparations for the 2007 parliamentary election, along with representatives from various other parties.Gankama N'Siah, "Le ministre de l'Administration du territoire rencontre les responsables des partis politiques", Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 19 January 2007 . Ngakala played an important role in the PCT's activities during the election period due to his role as the PCT's Permanent Secretary in charge of Organization and Party Life.Thierry Noungou, "Michel Ngakala : « Nous devons respecter l'esprit de nos accords politiques »", Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 5 July 2007 .
The results of the first round of the parliamentary election, held in June 2007, showed the PCT winning half of the seats that were decided in the first round, while PCT allies won many of the other seats. Regarding electoral strategy for the second round, Ngakala said on 4 July 2007 that the PCT was focused on "consultation and consensus" with its allies. While acknowledging that disagreement within the PCT and between the PCT and its allies was common, he said that the party "did not want to stifle enthusiasm". He also said that the election was a stepping stone towards improving the majority's ability to implement Sassou Nguesso's policies.
Following the second round, Ngakala said on 11 August 2007 that the results were good because they gave Sassou Nguesso "a comfortable majority in the National Assembly". He also looked ahead to the 2009 presidential election, saying that a reorganization of the Presidential Majority was necessary to improve its position for that election. Some PCT candidates argued that they failed to win seats due to their opposition to the "refoundation" of the PCT (a project that was favored by the PCT's top leadership), but Ngakala retorted that no action had been taken to eliminate their candidacies and that they had only lost because they failed to win enough votes. He noted that some opponents of the "refoundation" project had succeeded in winning seats.Roger Ngombé, "Michel Ngakala tire les leçons des élections législatives pour le PCT", Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 11 August 2007 .