Jean-Marie Mokoko

Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko (born 19 March 1947) is a Congolese general and politician.

He served as Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of the Congo and was advisor to President Denis Sassou-Nguesso.

Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko was born on 19 March 1947 in Mossaka, Cuvette province, Republic of the Congo.

He attended the General Leclerc Military Preparatory School in Brazzaville.

He then prepared for the entrance examination to the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr and to the preparatory classes for Saint-Cyr at the Lycée Dumont d'Urville in Toulon.

In 1970 he joined the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr.

During this period the school was directed by Brigadier General Jean Richard.

From 1970 to 1972, Mokoko was an officer cadet belonging to promotion No. 157 "General de Gaulle".

as were the former Ivorian and Senegalese Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Mathias Doué and General Babacar Gaye, the late General Celestin Ilunga Shamanga, Chief of Staff of Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko and the following French officers: General Bernard Périco, former Commander of the Paris Fire Brigade, Lieutenant General Jean-Loup Moreau and General Elrick Irastorza, former Chief of Staff of the French Army.

The two Congolese of this promotion were Emmanuel Eta Onka, Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko and formerly Sébastien Goma.

Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko was also from the same promotion as the following Senegalese soldiers: Colonel Mbaye Faye (former sub-CEM), Colonel of Gendarmerie Alioune Badara Niang (former DG of the Autonomous Port of Dakar as was Pathé Ndiaye) General Abdoulaye Dieng (former Ambassador of Senegal to Guinea-Bissau) and Intendant Colonel Oumar Niang (former Military Attaché in Morocco).

Mokoko continued his studies at the School of Engineering Application in Angers.

He then graduated from the staff college in Compiègne.

From 1977 to 1983 Mokoko was central director of Engineering.

At the time, Colonel Victor Ntsikakabala was Chief of the General Staff.

From 1983 to 1987 Mokoko was Commander of the Autonomous Zone of Brazzaville and of the 3rd Motorized Infantry Regiment.

From 1984 to 1987 he was also Commander of the Land Forces, under the command of Colonel Emmanuel Elenga, Chief of the General Staff.

From 1987 to 1993 he was Chief of the General Staff of the Congolese Armed Forces.

On 1 January 1990 he was elevated to the rank of brigadier general with Louis Sylvain-Goma, Raymond Damase Ngollo, Emmanuel Ngouélondélé Mongo and Norbert Dabira.

During the advent of democracy, Mokoko tried to depoliticize the armed forces in order to reduce the influence of the military in Congolese political life.

2005-2013: special advisor to the Congolese head of state, head of the peace and collective security department in Africa.

2006-2007: Special representative of the current president of the African Union for Côte d'Ivoire and President of the mediation group in the Ivorian crisis (he was based in Abidjan).

From November 28, 2013 to October 15, 2014 (one month after the transfer of authority from MISCA to MINUSCA)

From October 15, 2014 to February 21, 2016 (date on which he was replaced by Professor Hacen El Lebatt, former Mauritanian Minister of Foreign Affairs).

At the end of July 2015 General Mokoko, then stationed in Bangui on behalf of the African Union and at the same time still adviser to President Sassou-Nguesso in matters of security, spoke out against the change of the constitution which was to allow the President of the Republic in office to run for a third term.

In the process, his popularity increased.

Originally from the same region as the outgoing President, a general officer like him, he then appeared as his most formidable adversary.

His statements were photocopied and resold in the street.

He was a candidate for the presidential election of March 2016, where he won 13.74% of the vote and came third out of nine candidates.

He did not recognize the re-election of Denis Sassou Nguesso, who had been in power for more than 35 years, and called for civil disobedience.

On 9 February 2016, as he left the Central African Republic, to formalize his candidacy for the early presidential election of 20 March, Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko was received at Brazzaville international airport by a militia close to the power of Brazzaville that threw stones and launched tear gas.

On 13 February, Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko formalized his candidacy through a speech at the Brazzaville convention center in the presence of several leaders of the Congolese opposition.

On 15 February at Maya-Maya Airport, Mokoko was banned from flying to Pointe-Noire.

The same day, a video was broadcast by the Congolese national television channel showing the General planning a coup.

This information circulated on the internet and social networks.

A meeting was held the same day at the home of Aimé Emmanuel Yoka, Minister of Justice and maternal uncle of President Sassou-Nguesso, at the end of which the public prosecutor, André Oko Ngakala, made a statement on national television.

He ordered the immediate arrest of Mokoko on 17 February 2016, and the start of his questioning without delay.

The public prosecutor referred to articles 12 and 29 of the code of penal procedure.

Mokoko would attend these summons to the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGST)

He was arrested in June 2016 and sentenced on 11 May 2018 to 20 years in prison for "endangering the internal security of the state".