Marien Ngouabi (or N'Gouabi) (December 31, 1938 – March 18, 1977) was the fourth President of the Republic of the Congo from January 1, 1969, to March 18, 1977.

Biography

Origins
Marien Ngouabi was born in 1938 at the village of Ombellé, Cuvette Department, in Kouyou territory to Dominique Osséré m'Opoma and Antoinette Mboualé-Abemba. He is originally from a Mbochi humble family. From 1947 to 1953, he went to primary school in Owando. On 14 September 1953, he went to study at 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 Cameroon as a member of the second battalion of the tirailleurs with the rank of Sergeant (1958–1960), Ngouabi went to the Ecole Militaire Préparatoire in Strasbourg, France in September 1960 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. He was assigned to the Pointe-Noire garrison as a deputy commander of an infantry battalion. In 1963, Ngouabi was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.

Rise to power
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, after rebelling against the army's inflexibility in politics and voicing strong criticism to the president. 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 from the Civil Defense. The National Revolutionary Council (CNR), headed by Ngouabi, was created on August 5, 1968. On 1 October 1968, he was promoted to the rank of Commanding Officer, a rank he held until his death. 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.

Head of state
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 only legal political party.

Ngouabi was a Mbochi from the north and his regime shifted control of the country away from the south. Such moves created opposition among the population in the highly politicized environment of Brazzaville. Bureaucratic centralism, repression, the "mechanism" of the party apparatus, and Ngouabi's tribalist orientation towards Mboshi and La Cuvette immigrants created opposition within the Communist Party itself, especially its youth organization. In the fall of 1971, students that went on strike in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire were severely repressed by the authorities. The situation in the country was severely destabilized. There was an attempted coup in February 1972 that triggered a series of 'purges' of the opposition. It is claimed that Ngouabi was under French pressure to annex the oil-rich Cabinda enclave, a part of Portuguese Angola, and his refusal to act cost him the French support. There is some speculation that the French financed several coups in order to remove Ngouabi in power. Starting in February 1973, the army began military operations in the Goma Tse-tse region to dismantle the M22 insurgency led by former army members led by Vice President Ange Diawara. During the same month, Ngouabi denounced another attempted Diawara coup and arrested 45 people, including Pascal Lissouba and Sylvain Bemba, Minister of Information. His trial took place from March 16 to 23. Several sentences were pronounced, while Lissouba was acquitted.

The M22 business abruptly ended on April 24, 1973, with the capture and execution of the maquis. The bodies of Diawara, Ikoko and 

Bakekolo were toured around Brazzaville and exhibited by Ngouabi in person during a popular gathering held at the Stade de la Révolution. The lack of consideration for the lifeless bodies of the Maquis caused considerable disapproval nationally due to the cultural sensitivity surrounding the reverential treatment of dead bodies. He visited the People's Republic of China in July 1973.

Ngouabi was re-elected to his post as Chairman of the PCT Central Committee on December 30, 1974; he was additionally elected as Permanent Secretary of the PCT. He was then sworn in as president for another term on January 9, 1975. Also in 1975, he signed an economic aid pact with the Soviet Union.

On March 23, Lieutenant General Pierre Kinganga, in exile in Kinshasa in neighbouring Zaire since his alleged June 1969 coup attempt, disembarked in Brazzaville at the head of a commando attempting to overthrow the regime. His attempt failed and he was shot dead near the national radio station he had just taken. His body and that of his command members who fell with him remained exposed for a long time in front of the radio building. Several enthusiastic young supporters who had joined Kinganga's column were also armed. Captain Augustin Poignet, also involved, managed to escape to Kinshasa. A week later, 3 accomplices (Miawouama, Nkoutou and Mengo), sentenced by a court-martial, were executed. The command members and accomplices in the army and gendarmerie were convicted by the revolutionary court. After the events, Marien Ngouabi denounced the involvement of the CIA and President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) in the coup.

Following this attempt, the PCT met in an extraordinary congress from March 30 to April 2, 1970. The Political Bureau was expanded to 10 members, to the benefit of Ambroise Noumazalaye and Captain Sassou N'Guesso. The Gendarmerie, whose loyalty was not complete during the events, was dissolved and its members joined the army. The Council of State was reorganized.

On August 29, 1970, former Minister Stéphane-Maurice Bongo-Nouarra was arrested for a counter-revolutionary conspiracy. He was sentenced to 10 years of forced labour.

Assassination
On March 18, 1977, at 14:30 hours, President Ngouabi was assassinated. Those accused of taking part in the assassination were tried and some were executed including Massamba-Débat.

In the aftermath of the assassination, the Military Committee of the Party (CMP) was named to head an interim government with the conservative Colonel Joachim Yhombi-Opango to serve as Head of State.

Commemoration
March 18 is Marien Ngouabi Day in the Republic of Congo. The country's only university is the Marien Ngouabi University in Brazzaville. Ngouabi is interred at the Marien Ngouabi Mausoleum in Brazzaville.

References

 
 

1938 births
1977 deaths
Deaths by firearm in the Republic of the Congo
Presidents of the Republic of the Congo
Leaders who took power by coup
Assassinated Republic of the Congo politicians
People murdered in the Republic of the Congo
Congolese Party of Labour politicians
National Movement of the Revolution politicians
Communism in the Republic of the Congo
People from Cuvette Department
1977 crimes in the Republic of the Congo
1970s murders in the Republic of the Congo
1970s assassinated politicians in Africa
Assassinated presidents in Africa
20th-century Republic of the Congo politicians
마리앵 응구아비(, 1938년 12월 31일 ~ 1977년 3월 18일)는 콩고의 공산주의 군인이자, 콩고 인민공화국의 정치인이다. 1970년부터 암살당할 때까지 콩고 인민공화국의 대통령을 맡았다.

국가원수 재임 
그는 1968년 12월 29일에서 1969년 1월 1일까지 콩고 공화국 대통령 권한대행을 역임하였고, 1969년 1월 1일에서 1969년 12월 31일까지 콩고 공화국 대통령을 역임하였으며, 1969년 12월 31일에서 이튿날 1970년 1월 1일까지 콩고 인민공화국 국가원수 권한대행을 잠시 역임하였고, 1970년 1월 1일에서 1977년 3월 18일까지 콩고 인민공화국 대통령 직위를 맡았다.

생애

일생 
그는 1938년 당시 프랑스 식민지 콩고 이북 지방에서 태어나 브라자빌을 거쳐 부아르에서 공부하고 이후 1961년 프랑스에 정착해 스트라스부르에서 교육을 받고 군대에 입대하였다. 1962년 콩고로 돌아와 부앵트누아르 육군 특전공수여단 수비대대 예하 수비소대장 및 육군 중위로 주둔하다가 1963년 육군 대위 진급과 함께 콩고 부앵트누아르 육군 특전공수여단 수비대대 예하 수색중대장이 되었다.

1964년 육군 소령 진급 이후 1965년 콩고 공화국 최초의 낙하산 대대를 창설하여 육군 중령 진급했으나 정부와의 갈등으로 1966년 다시 육군 소령 신분으로 강등되었고 이후 쿠데타 모의를 이유로 대통령 알퐁스 마셈바데바에 의해 1968년 7월 29일 콩고 육군 중위 알프레드 라울 콩고 육군 작전사령부 작전장교와 함께 체포되었다. 그러나 응구아비의 체포는 군인들의 불만을 폭발시켜 7월 31일 군인들에 의해 구출되어 8월 5일 국가 혁명 위원회(CNR)을 조직하고 수장이 되었다.

9월 4일 마셈바데바가 사임하자 총리 알프레드 라울이 12월 31일까지 대통령을 맡다가 응구아비에게 권한을 넘기면서 콩고를 아프리카 최초의 마르크스주의 국가로 선포했다. 콩고의 유일 합법 정당인 콩고 노동당(PCT)을 결성하고 정치적으로는 중도였으나, 실제로는 마르크스 이데올로기를 도입하여 엄격한 사회주의를 표하였다. 이후 다른 한편 1967년 2월에는 육군 중령 재진급, 1968년 1월에 육군 대령 진급하는 등 거듭 육군 계급이 진급하여 1968년 7월 14일을 기하여 육군 준장 진급으로써 장군이 되며 1968년 12월 29일을 기하여 콩고 공화국 대통령 권한대행이 되었고 1969년 1월 1일을 기하여 정식으로 콩고 공화국 대통령이 되었으며 1969년 3월 2일을 기하여 예비역 콩고 육군 준장으로 전역하였고 이후 자신의 32번째 생일이었던 1969년 12월 31일을 기하여 콩고 인민공화국을 선포하였다.

또한 북부에서 남부까지 국가 전체를 통제하면서 여러 반발을 불러일으켜 1972년 2월 브리자빌에서 야당에 의한 군사 쿠데타가 일어났는데 응구아비가 석유가 풍부한 앙골라의 영토인 카빈다를 위협하면서 프랑스의 압력에 의해 일어났다고 추측된다. 1973년 응구아비는 중화인민공화국을 방문했고 1974년 12월 30일 PCT 후보로 나서 재선되었고 PCT의 종신 의장(영구 직위)으로도 선출되었다.

말로 
1975년 1월 9일 대통령 선서 후 콩고 인민공화국 3선 대통령에 취임하였고 소련과 경제 원조 협정을 체결하기도 했으나 1977년 3월 18일 전직 대통령 마셈바데바와 함께 자살 폭탄 테러로 암살되었다. 사후 당 군사위원회(CMP)의 주도로 요야킴 욤비 오판고가 임시 정부를 조직하고 후임 대통령이 되었다. 브라자빌에 묻혔으며 해마다 3월 18일은 마리앵 응구아비의 날로 정해졌으며 브라자빌에 위치한 콩고 유일의 대학도 마리앵 응구아비 대학교로 명명되었다.

출처 
 T. Obenga, Vie de Marien Ngouabi, Présence Africaine, 1977.
 Encyclopédie Universalis, édition de 1977. Notices biographiques.
 J-P Thystère-Tchicaya, "Itinéraire d'un africain vers la démocratie", Édition du Tricorne, 1992
 R. Bazanguissa-Ganga, Les voies du politique au Congo, Karthala, 1997
 D Sassou N'Guesso, "Le manguier, le fleuve et la souris", JC Lattès, 1997.
 J-M Nkouka-Menga, "Chronique politique congolaise", L'harmattan, 1997.
 Ph. Moukoko, "Dictionnaire général du Congo-Brazzaville", L'harmattan, 1999.
 A-R Massema, "Crimes de sang et pouvoir au Congo-Brazzaville", L'harmattan, 2005.
 P Eboundit, "Le M22, une expérience du Congo. Devoir de mémoire. Entretiens", CCINIA, 2009.

1938년 출생
1977년 사망
콩고 공화국의 대통령
사회주의자
육군 장군
콩고 공화국의 암살된 정치인
화기에 죽은 사람
쿠데타로 집권한 지도자