The available information on the following officers is incomplete and sometimes contradictory. In addition to armed forces chiefs of staff, in 1966 Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand Malila was listed as Army Chief of Staff.[1]
^Chief of Staff since October 1964, until named Prime Minister after coup of 25 November 1965.[4]
^Commandant en chef de l'Armée nationale congolaise. Bobozo was a Major General in 1965 and appears to have been a full General by 1972. Entered the Force Publique on 23 June 1933; after training, joined 3rd Company, 14th Battalion Service Territoriale at
Lisala 3 September 1935; promoted Corporal 1 May 1938; promoted Sergeant 19 April 1940, took part in Abyssian Campaign; 1st Sergeant 1947; First Sergeant-Major 1 January 1951. Despatched to Adjutants' School for the Force Publique at Luluabourg, 5 September 1959. Part of 4 Brigade, Thysville, 1960, and became commander of the brigade after 30 June 1960. Promoted in 1961 to Colonel. Tasked with organising units for operations in Katanga; became commander of 4th Groupement, Elisabethville, 1964 and promoted to Major-General.[5] Became C.-in-C. 25 November 1965; retired 25 July 1972.
^former commander of the Airborne Division (DITRAC: Division de Troupes Aeromobiles Reinforcee de Choc). From Equateur; Crawford and Young describe him as 'illiterate, but a forceful personality.'[8] One of a number of military leaders who entered the
Popular Movement of the Revolution (MPR) Political Bureau in 1975, when the MPR was merged with the state, and in 1975 became one of the eight permanent members of the Political Bureau. Captain General of the
Forces Armées Zaïroises.
^Former Director-General of the Defence Ministry, and graduate of the Belgian defence academy.[8]
^Took control of the army after Celestin Kifwa was removed as Chief of Staff by Laurent-Desire Kabila.[12]
^Reappointed 8 March 2001 in accordance with Decree 010/2001.[14]
References
^Miami News, 18 June 1966 and Sydney Taylor (ed), The New Africans: A Guide to the Contemporary History of Emergent Africa and its Leaders, Paul Hamlin, London/Reuters, 1967, p.95, 102
^Ludo de Witte, 'The Assassination of Lumumba,' Verso, 2001, 127.
^Colonel S.C. Davis, British Military Attache Kinshasa, Report on the Zairean Armed Forces for the Period Apr 1971 – Apr 1972, DA/KIN/76, 5 May 1972,
FCO 31/1170, accessed at
Public Record Office,
Kew
^Decree 010/2001, Portant Nomination du Chef d'etat-major inter-armées et du chef d'etat-major Q.G. Also
Gerard Prunier, 'From Genocide to Continental War: the 'Congolese' Conflict and the Crisis of Contemporary Africa,' Hurst & Co., London, 2009,
ISBN978-1-85065-523-7, p.263 (see also p.230; there is also a confusing reference to General Lwetcha being made FAC chief of staff in September 1999).