Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0417/04177.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 40KB | 618 lines

$Unique_ID{COW04177}
$Pretitle{267}
$Title{Zaire
Chapter 5B.   Evolution of the Forces}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Eugene K. Keefe}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{military
army
mobutu
forces
kolwezi
troops
shaba
belgian
officers
country}
$Date{1978}
$Log{President Seko*0417701.scf
}
Country:     Zaire
Book:        Zaire, A Country Study
Author:      Eugene K. Keefe
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1978

Chapter 5B.   Evolution of the Forces

The Colonial Era

     The armed forces of Zaire (Forces Armee Zairoises-FAZ) trace their
lineage back to the late nineteenth century creation of the Force Publique in
the area then known as the Congo Free State. In October 1885 the Belgian king,
Leopold II, directed the organization of a government for the Congo Free State
and specifically charged the Department of the Interior of that government
with the formation and supervision of necessary police and military forces.
The Congo Free State remained as his personal domain from 1885 until 1908 (see
King Leopold and the Congo, ch. 1).

     In 1886 Belgian army captain Leon Roget was sent to the Congo Free State
to organize suitable armed forces for Leopold's colony as the king had
directed. Assisted by a small group of European officers and noncommissioned
officers (NCOs), most of whom were Belgians, Roget formed the first military
units by employing mercenaries from as far away as Liberia to the west and
Zanzibar to the east to serve as the nucleus of the force. Establishing a
military garrison that included a recruit training center at Boma, the Free
State's early capital, Roget within two years had trained an army of 2,000
men. On August 5, 1888, that army was officially named the Force Publique, the
title by which it was known until the colony became independent on June 30,
1960.

     From its inception the Force Publique was an African army officered by
Europeans rather than a European army sent from the homeland to conquer and
colonize a foreign possession. In fact, the opening of the Congo Free State's
vast territory to exploration, trade, and colonization was relatively peaceful
except during the early 1890s when battles were fought against Arabs who had
entered the country from the east in quest of slaves and ivory and had
established political control over wide areas in the eastern reaches of
present-day Zaire. By 1894 the Arabs had been defeated and their control of
the eastern territories ended. Also during the early 1890s the Force Publique
secured the copper-rich region of Katanga for Leopold in a race against agents
of the British financier and empire builder, Cecil Rhodes.

     Even though the Force Publique was not engaged in constant warfare, life
for the troops was never easy, and dissatisfactions were many. Tours of duty
were long (seven-year hitches for African recruits), living conditions in the
field where the army spent much of its time were harsh, pay was low, and
discipline was severe. Flogging was a favored form of punishment, and the
attitudes of Belgian officers toward black soldiers were archaic and extremely
paternalistic. The difficult conditions of military life led to discontent,
which had erupted into serious mutinies on three occasions by 1900. In each
case one particular ethnic group had become strong enough to rally support for
a mutiny, a situation that led to a strict Belgian policy of integrating
ethnic groups at all echelons; henceforth every platoon would have soldiers
from at least four different ethnic groups.

     Shortly after the outbreak of World War I the Force Publique was
reinforced by several contingents from the Belgian metropolitan army. In
addition, modern weapons and equipment were also shipped into the colony
and issued to the local troops. Infantry regiments that included organic
artillery and support units were created to increase the firepower and combat
effectiveness of the african army, and organizational changes were adapted to
permit the formation of brigades when needed for large-scale operations.

     As early as 1914 a detachment of the Force Publique was dispatched to the
Cameroon to join French forces in operations against German forces. Larger
Congolese units saw considerable action alongside other Allied troops in
operations in German East Africa (later Tanganyika). During all of this long
struggle the Congolese units acquitted themselves well and were commended by
the Allied command for their part in the difficult campaign. After their
return to the Belgian Congo some of the veterans were demobilized, others
returned to the peacetime duties of garrison soldiers, and others took up
police duties that continued to be part of the mission of the Force Publique.

     After the war the Belgians reorganized the Congo army along more
definitive lines that would better fulfill the dual mission of defense against
external aggression and maintenance of internal security. A hybrid
organization was adopted composed of Garrison Troops (Troupes Campees) for
general military purposes and Territorial Service Troops (Troupes en Service
Territorial) for police and gendarmerie duties.

     In 1940 when the Belgian homeland was once more overrun by German
invaders, the Force Publique was again mobilized for war. As the Belgian
government moved into exile in London, the Belgian Congo quickly pledged its
support to the Allied cause. In early 1941 Congolese troops were employed in
Ethiopia to help in the elimination of the last Italian centers of resistance,
and in the following year an expeditionary corps left the Congo to join forces
with the West African Frontier Force in British Nigeria. Later other Congolese
troops were sent to Egypt where they were used primarily as guards around
supply dumps and prisoner of war camps. As in World War I the Force Publique
acquitted itself well wherever employed and returned home after the war with
commendations from Allied leaders. The Belgian Congo's main importance to the
World War II effort, however, was as a source of raw materials for the huge
Allied war industry.

     During the early postwar period the Belgians failed to appreciate the
fact that changes in the world order were happening at a greatly accelerated
rate rather than at the measured pace of earlier years. In the mid-1950s
Belgians were still talking about a thirty-year period of preparation before
the Congo could be ready for independence.

     The composition and organization of the Force Publique remained unchanged
(except that the name of the Territorial Service Troops had been changed to
gendarmerie) from the end of World War II until the achievement of
independence. For the first time units from the Belgian armed forces (almost
4,000 strong) were stationed in the colony in the postwar years, but they did
not join or augment the force, remaining segregated in their own
installations. The force itself continued to be officered by Belgians, and not
until the late 1950s were steps taken to institute a military education
system whereby young Africans could be prepared for commissioned service. The
program was designed to be so gradual, however, that generations would pass
before the officer corps could be entirely Africanized. On the eve of
independence the overall attitude of the Belgian officers toward the Congolese
soldiers seemed to be about the same as it had been fifty years earlier, that
is, African soldiers were like children and must be treated as such.

     Compounding the resentment incurred by Belgian paternalism was the
arrogance of Lieutenant General Emile Janssens, commander of the Force
Publique at the time of independence. Having heard the grumbling of the
Congolese soldiers and low-ranking NCOs who foresaw little chance for
self-advancement in an army still officered and controlled by foreigners,
Janssens called a meeting of the officers and NCOs of the Leopoldville
garrison on July 5, 1960, to remind them of their oaths of loyalty and
obedience. Janssens then wrote on a blackboard, "After indep