Claude-Ernest Ndalla - Political Career in The 1960s and 1970s

Political Career in The 1960s and 1970s

Ndalla was born in Brazzaville in 1937 and studied mathematics at the University of Toulouse in France. At Toulouse, he was known for his appetite and was nicknamed Graille, or crow. Back in Congo-Brazzaville, he quickly attained a prominent place in the radicalized political scene of the period that followed the August 1963 ouster of Fulbert Youlou, and he started a magazine, Dipanda.

In 1964, Ndalla was included on the executive committee of the Youth of the National Movement of the Revolution (JMNR), the radical youth wing of the ruling National Movement of the Revolution (MNR), and he acquired a reputation as a radical leftist and ideologue. On 6 April 1965, President Alphonse Massemba-Débat appointed Ndalla as Secretary of State at the Presidency in charge of Youth and Civic Education. However, Massemba-Débat dismissed Ndalla from that post in December 1965. In light of Ndalla's prominent identification with the JMNR, his dismissal indicated that the JMNR had lost some influence, but Ambroise Noumazalaye—a strong advocate for the JMNR—was appointed as Prime Minister in April 1966.

Ndalla was the Director of Congolese Radio and Television Broadcasting from 1967 to 1969, and he was appointed as Ambassador to the People's Republic of China in 1969; in the latter post, he was also assigned responsibility for relations with North Vietnam and North Korea. He arrived in Beijing on 24 April 1969 and was received by the Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Lin Biao at Tiananmen Square on 1 May 1969. He held a reception in Beijing on 15 August 1969 to mark the sixth anniversary of the revolution; various high-ranking Chinese officials, including Premier Zhou Enlai, attended.

Along with various other prominent politicians, including Massemba-Débat and Pascal Lissouba, Ndalla was put on trial by President Marien Ngouabi in 1969 for involvement in the murder of government officials, but he was acquitted on 21 November 1969. He then spent a few weeks at his diplomatic post in Beijing before returning home.

In December 1969, a new ruling Marxist-Leninist ruling party was created under President Ngouabi: the Congolese Labour Party (PCT). Ndalla was one of the party's founding members; he was included in the PCT's original Political Bureau and was designated as First Secretary in charge of Organization, in which capacity he was responsible for managing internal organizational matters. Ndalla represented the far-left faction of the PCT, and his designation as First Secretary bolstered the far-left while positioning him as "Ngouabi's principal rival", as he was effectively the second-ranking figure in the PCT regime. Despite his clear affinity for China and Maoism, Ndalla led a Congolese delegation that visited the Soviet Union in June 1970.

Student protests and a strike led Ngouabi to sideline the PCT's radical leftist leaders, who were associated with Maoism, in November 1971. Ndalla and another high-ranking radical, Ange Diawara, were among those affected by Ngouabi's move. Diawara then led an unsuccessful left-wing coup attempt against Ngouabi on 22 February 1972. Ndalla and the others who supported a far-left, pro-Chinese political line were known as the 22 February Movement (M-22). Implicated in the plot, Ndalla was tried along with 177 others and sentenced to life in prison on 25 March 1972. President Ngouabi later released him as part of an amnesty, along with others from the M-22, in September 1975. Following his release, Ndalla faced difficulties and it took him some time to find work.

President Ngouabi was assassinated under mysterious circumstances in March 1977. Various prominent political figures suspected of disloyalty were immediately brought before a military tribunal and tried for complicity in the assassination. Massemba-Débat was executed, while Ndalla and Lissouba were among those sentenced to life in prison.