Inventory of the Conseil national de libération (Congo) Commandement des forces armées populaires. Etat major général records
Finding aid prepared by Elizabeth Konzak
Hoover Institution Library and Archives
© 2008
434 Galvez Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003
hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu
Title: Conseil national de libération (Congo) Commandement des forces armées populaires. Etat major général records, 1959-1988
Date (inclusive): 1959-1988
Collection Number: 76079
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: In French and Likeleve
Physical Description:
20 manuscript boxes, 1 reel of magnetic tape
(6.1 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Includes materials such as government records, correspondence, reports, orders, battle plans, and lists; all relating to military
and political aspects of a rebellion in the Kwilu region of the Congo in 1964. Materials were collected and organized by Herbert
F. Weiss, a scholar and professor of the City University of New York. Also includes indexes and summaries created by Weiss.
A portion of the collection is also available on microfilm (21 reels). Sound use copy of sound recording available.
Creator:
Weiss, Herbert F.
Creator:
Conseil national de libération (Congo). Commandement des forces armées populaires. Etat major général
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Access
Microfilm use only. Materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital
media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
Use
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Acquisition Information
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1976.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Etat major général records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Alternative Forms of Material Available
A portion of the collection is available on microfilm (21 reels)
Biography / Administrative History
The Kwilu Rebellion
The recently independent Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of Congo) experienced a wave of unrest in 1964, sparked by
a rebellion in its Kwilu province under the leadership of Pierre Mulele. In the Kwilu province, a solid group of Mulele followers
formed among members of his own ethnic group, the Mbunda, as well as among Antoine Gizenga's kinsmen, the Pende, both of whom
had long been the target of government repression.
The Kwilu rebellion began in January 1964, when Mulelist insurgents attacked government outposts, mission stations, and company
installations. Troops were immediately sent to the area, and by April a measure of stability had been restored to the area.
However, the rebels did establish control over an entire region for a period of nearly two years, ending in December 1965.
The initial success of Mulelism encouraged a series of further uprisings, which brought the central government to the brink
of collapse.
Although the Kwilu rebellion was ultimately reduced by a combination of military force and regional economic stagnation and
thus failed in its objective, it has attracted considerable scholarly attention because it illustrates the origination and
evolution process of social movements in the postwar third world.
Additional Sources:
Hermann Kinder and Werner Hilgemann,
The Anchor Atlas of World History, 2, Garden City, New York, 1978, p. 268.
Mark Traugott, "The Economic Origins of the Kwilu Rebellion,"
Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 21, No. 3. (Jul., 1979), pp. 459-479.
Renee C. Fox, Willy de Craemer, and Jean-Marie Ribeaucourt "The Second Independence: A Case Study of the Kwilu Rebellion in
the Congo (in Millennial Overtones in Rebellion),"
Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 8, No. 1. (Oct., 1965), pp. 78-109.
Scope and Content of Collection
Includes materials such as government records, correspondence, reports, orders, battle plans, and lists; all relating to military
and political aspects of a rebellion in the Kwilu region of the Congo in 1964. Materials were collected and organized by Herbert
F. Weiss, a scholar and professor of the City University of New York.
The Kwilu Rebellion documents were collected by Weiss after the materials were abandoned by a section of the Conseil national
de libération (CNL) general headquarters unit near Gungu towards the end of 1964 or early 1965. A majority of the documents
are dated in the spring and summer of 1964, the period of the highest amount of rebel activity. Documents created by the rebellion
were individually numbered when filed and originally kept bound into rolls with bits of flexible root. Some papers were held
together with handmade wood needles. The documents were created in the local language, Likeleve, and French. Included are
Weiss' translations into French of these documents.
The records contain additional Kwilu administration documents, generally government documents, correspondence, and reports,
arranged chronologically in two groups, general documents and specific subject related documents.
Additional translations into French, summaries, and indexes of the original Kwilu Rebellion documents and some Kwilu Administration
documents, created by Weiss are also available. Additional materials included were given to Weiss by Professor Benoit Verhaegen,
another noted academic working on aspects of the Kwilu Rebellion.
Bundundu Government documents were collected by Weiss in 1972 with the backing of the State/Party, the MPR, for use in a more
general analysis of the Province than the focused Kwilu Documents. The documents from various levels of the administration
(colonial and post-colonial) focused on the province (Leopoldville Province until shortly after independence and later variously
Kwilu Province and Bandundu Province) where the Kwilu Rebellion occurred.
Sound recordings include interviews with individuals involved in the Kwilu Rebellion, Constant N'dom, Felix Mukulubundu, and
W. Mwatha. Constant N'dom, a high-school student when the Kwilu Rebellion broke out, was recruited and assigned to the Direction
Générale, the highest administrative organ of the rebellion. After the rebellion, he married and moved to Belgium, later returning.
In 2006 elections, he joined the opposition to J. Kabila and was elected member of Parliament from the Kwilu region. The late
Felix Mukulubundu came from the Kwilu, where he actively participated in the CNL. He was assigned to head a training camp
for Congo partisans located not far from Brazzaville, a project that was rapidly abandoned. Thus, Mukulubundu never actively
participated in the rebellion in the Congo.
Arrangement
The collection has generally been kept in the original order of the creator.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Congo (Democratic Republic) -- History
Kwilu region (Congo) -- History
Microfilm Reel Content Guide
Kwilu Rebellion documents, in numbered sequence
1964.
Scope and Contents note
Documents about the Kwilu rebellion, abandoned by a section of the Rebellion's general headquarters unit. Includes translations
in French of selected documents. In numbered sequence, although not all numbers are present in the documents
box 1, folder 1
"Les partisans au Kwilu: Analyse des origins sociales des membres et cadres des équipes de base" and "Kwilu Rebellion Documents",
by Herbert Weiss
undated
box 6, folder 1
Kwilu Rebel équipe Lists
circa 1960.
Scope and Contents note
Missing numbers from previous files may be found here. File includes various numbers from 0183-5647.
box 6, folder 2-7
Translations into French, documents 0001-2296
box 7, folder 1-12
Translations into French, documents 2301-5682
Kwilu Administration documents
1959-1966.
Scope and Contents note
Generally government documents, correspondence, and reports. Arranged chronologically in two groups, general documents and
specific subject related documents. Some materials are numbered and correspond to the card files below
box 8, folder 1
1965-1966.
Scope and Contents note
Numbered 6001-6085
box 8, folder 2-5
1965-1972.
Scope and Contents note
Numbered G65-G72
box 8, folder 6-10
Photocopied documents, government documents regarding rebellion
1964.
Scope and Contents note
Numbered B97-B256
box 8, folder 11-12
Kwilu Idiofa (territory) administrative reports
1960-1961
box 9, folder 3
David J. Yongo
1963-1966.
Scope and Contents note
Numbered Q1-Q33
box 9, folder 6-7
Administration and Church
1964-1966
Indexes and Card files
undated, 1979.
Scope and Contents note
Summary abstracts on cards of both the Kwilu Rebellion Documents and some Kwilu Administration Documents created by Herbert
Weiss. Also includes an unused attempt to categorize the content of the documents by computer program reports. Arranged in
numerical sequence, although not all numbers are present in the documents
box 9, folder 8-9
Indexes and Computer Reports
undated
Scope and Contents note
Weiss' attempt to categorize the content of the documents by computer program reports, and other miscellany, eventually unused.
Professor Benoit Verhaegen Kwilu materials
circa 1962-1966.
Scope and Contents note
Sources, interviews and miscellany collected from Verhaegen, author of
Rébellions au Congo,
Vol 1 & 2 (CRISP, Brussels, 1969). Arranged by physical form
box 9, folder 10-11
Kwilu Administration sources
circa 1962-1966
box 9, folder 12
Interviews and miscellany
Bandundu Province Government Documents
1956-1959.
Scope and Contents note
Documents from various levels of the Administration (colonial and post-colonial) focused on the province (Leopoldville Province
until shortly after independence and later variously Kwilu Province and Bandundu Province) where the Kwilu Rebellion occurred.
Sound Recordings
1975 1980-1988
Scope and Contents note
Interviews of Constant N'dom, assigned to the Direction Générale, the highest administrative organ of the rebellion, and Felix
Mukulubundu, who actively participated in the CNL and was assigned to head a training camp for Congo partisans. Arranged alphabetically
by interviewee, then chronologically with notations from original labels.
Interviews of Constant N'dom
1975, 1988
box 15
Weiss N'Dom
undated
Conditions Governing Access note
Use copy reference number: 76079_a_0000925
box 15
N'Dom
1975 July 5
Conditions Governing Access note
Use copy reference number: 76079_a_0000924
Scope and Contents note
Program on side A seems to be recorded over a recording of a lesson on "The Changing Nature of American Politics". Applicable
program on this side lasts about twenty minutes. Side B is dictation for letters on culture. In English.
box 15
Comments on "F", Doc Ser. A
1988 July
Physical Description: 2.0 Cassettes
Conditions Governing Access note
Use copy reference number: 76079_a_0000927
box 15
N'Dom Weiss Tape 3
1988 July 26
box 15
N'Dom Doc G
1988 October
Conditions Governing Access note
Use copy reference number: 76079_a_0000928
box 15
N'Dom "Conflicts" 7/18/89
1989 July 18
Conditions Governing Access note
Use copy reference number: 76079_a_0000929
box 15
N'Dom 7/25/89, DG replies continued
Conditions Governing Access note
Use copy reference number: 76079_a_0000931
box 15
N'Dom
1989 July 20
1989 July 24
Conditions Governing Access note
Use copy reference number: 76079_a_0000930
box 15
N'Dom July 28, 89, DG, N'Dom DG docs. 7/31/89
Conditions Governing Access note
Use copy reference number: 76079_a_0000932
box 15
N'Dom/Weiss discussion for September 1989
Conditions Governing Access note
Use copy reference number: 76079_a_0000933
Interviews of Felix Mukulubundu
1984
box 15
Mukulu. Kw. Reb and ABO Mukulubundu, Mmme Mulele +, Mukulubundu
1984 April 5
Conditions Governing Access note
Use copy reference number: 76079_a_0000922
box 15
Mukulubundu
1984 December 17-18
Conditions Governing Access note
Use copy reference number: 76079_a_0000921
Scope and Contents note
(4 cassettes, recorded on both sides) Taped interview with Felix Mukulubundu in French.
box 15
Interview W. Mwatha BX 6/30/75, Warren Weinstein Human rights 12/80
1975 June 30, 1980 December.
Conditions Governing Access note
Use copy reference number: 76079_a_0000923
Scope and Contents note
Side A: Interview with Mwatha; Side B: Warren Weinstein, human rights. Weinstein discusses human rights in Africa during the
Nixon and Carter administrations. The Mwatha interview is in French, the Weinstein interview is in English.
Kwilu Rebellion documents II
1955-1970
box 16, folder 1-7
Kwilu rebellion equipé and village lists
1964
Scope and Contents note
Documents were a part of the Kwilu Rebellion documents, in numbered sequence, separated for research use by Herbert Weiss.
box 16, folder 8
Kwilu Rebellion demography 1961-1969 chart
undated
box 16, folder 9
Kwilu Rebellion documents, missionary materials retained by the rebels
circa 1955.
Scope and Contents note
The documents are a part of the foot locker of rebel documents acquired by Herbert Weiss that created the Kwilu Rebellion
documents series.
box 16, folder 10
Kwilu rebellion documents French translations, numbered over 6000
1964-1966
box 16, folder 11
Non-rebel Kwilu documents
1966
box 16, folder 12-14
Idiofa territory original administrative documents
1955-1970
box 16, folder 15-20
Gungu (Kondu) administrative documents
1960-1970
box 17, folder 1-6
Gungu (Kondu) administrative documents
1960-1970
Kwilu Administration documents II
1959-1978.
Scope and Contents note
Mainly Photocopies.
box 17, folder 7
Kwilu pre-independence administrative documents
1959-1960.
Scope and Contents note
Includes original documents
Kwilu Province administrative documents
box 18, folder 11-12
Kikwit, Kwilu, administrative documents
1963
box 18, folder 14
Kwilu post-rebellion development
1966
Bandundu Administration documents II
1964-1978.
Scope and Contents note
Photocopies.
Bandundu Province administrative documents
box 19, folder 6
Idiofa Uprising, Bandundu, Kwilu
1978
Interview files
circa 1972-1984
box 19, folder 7
Interview Questionnaires of former rebels, N'Dom research
circa 1972
box 19, folder 9
Mukulubundu (early Kwilu rebel leader)
undated
box 19, folder 10
Mukulubundu interview transcript
1984
Research materials
1933-1988
box 20, folder 1
Les Bayansi du Bas Kwilu, by R. de Beaucorps
1933
box 20, folder 2
Principes fondamentaux d'une révolution, handwritten document
undated
box 20, folder 4-5
Failed attempts to quantify information in Kwilu Rebellion documents with computers at MIT
circa 1968-1970
box 20, folder 6
Kwilu Rebellion published participant and expert commentaries
circa 1988
box 10
Material not yet described
box 11
Material not yet described
box 12
Material not yet described