SUMMARY
The Ntsiloulous (sometimes spelled Nsiloulous) was a rebel group fighting the government of the Republic of Congo in 1998-99, 2002, and again in 2016. Due to the group’s close connections to the Congolese Ninja movement it is sometimes called the Ntsiloulou-Ninjas.
The group surfaced relatively late in the intrastate conflict in Congo, which had been active in 1993-1994 and then erupted again in 1997. Its name meaning the ’promise’, the group had originally been a peaceful messianic movement with its own congregation near Vinza in the northern part of the Pool region. Led by Frédéric Bitsangou, who had taken the name Pastor Ntoumi, or ‘messenger’, the movement’s religious basis was a combination of Christianity, Matsouanism (a messianic sect with many followers in Pool) and traditional African beliefs. Ntoumi claimed that he had been sent by God as the saviour of the people of Pool.
The conditions of the intrastate conflict had changed completely when the Cobra rebel group together with Angolan troops succeeded in overthrowing the government and seizing power in late 1997. With a new regime in place a majority of the fighters in the militias loyal to the former government, the Cocoyes and the Ninjas, hid and regrouped in the south of the country. The latter group had been formed by the political party that represented the people pf the Pool region in the ethnically and regionally divided political life of the country. During the spring of 1998 the government started to forcibly disarm some Ninjas, killing several of them in the process. This led a group of fighters to take refuge in Ntoumi’s church where they became influenced by his preaching and subsequently joined the Ntsiloulous. Through his charismatic leadership, Ntoumi was able to attract a large following amongst the Ninjas who thought that by following Ntoumi’s orders they were carrying out the will of God. When fighting resumed in the region Ntoumi organised his fighters into an armed group and the Ntsiloulous rebel group was formed. The group was further reinforced as both youths from the region and Ninjas in hiding were forcibly recruited.
Despite the fact that there were two to three rebel movements fighting a common enemy, the Congolese government, in 1998-99, there was very little cooperation between them. With regards to the Ntsiloulous’ relationship with fellow-Pool militia the Ninjas, this was characterized by violence, with Ntoumi forcibly trying to gain control of all Ninja fighters, eventually succeeding by the spring of 1999. The Cocoyes were fighting in the Niari, Bouenza and Lékoumou regions and were thus geographically separated from the Ntsiloulous. Thus, there was no coordination of the armed struggle. However, the two groups did form a political coalition, called the CNR (Conseil National de la Résistance, National Resistance Council) in late 1999, with the intentions of increasing the political leverage they could bring to the negotiation table in the upcoming peace talks. However, the coalition was short-lived. After the parties had signed a peace agreement in December 1999, the Cocoyes agreed to disband and end their armed struggle, while the Ntsiloulous were unhappy with the implementation of the accord and continued their struggle.
The Ntsiloulous have been involved in the intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
