| Pool War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Areas bombed by the Congolese army on 5 April 2016 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Republic of the Congo | Ninja militia | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Denis Sassou Nguesso | Frédéric Bintsamou | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Armed Forces of the Republic of the Congo | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown number of servicemen | Unknown number of militants | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 115 killed in total[1][2] 13,000 displaced[3] | |||||||
ThePool War[4][5] was a conflict between theRepublic of the Congo and theNinja militia in thePool Department in the southeastern part of the country. Tensions grew betweenFrédéric Bintsamou (also known as Pastor Ntumi) and Congolese presidentDenis Sassou-Nguesso, after Bintsamou contested modifications to the constitution. Bintsamou was formerly a collaborator of Sassou-Nguesso.[6]
Between April 2016 and April 2017, a total of 115 people died in the conflict.[1] An estimated 13,000 people have been displaced as a result of the violence.[3]
In March 2016,Denis Sassou Nguesso, who ruled for more than 30 years overCongo-Brazzaville, was re-elected in the2016 presidential election. After the victory of Nguesso was declared, the opposition claimed the election was a fraud and clashes broke out soon after, in the southern part of Brazzaville, three police officers and two gunmen were killed in the clashes. The government claimed theNinjas were the raiders and they were responsible for the attacks. According to the following Tuesday's statement from the government 2 civilians and 12 assailants were killed. The government also stated that it arrested fifty ex-militants after an attack.[7]
On 4 April 2016, the Congolese government accused the Ninja militia of attacking security forces. The militia denied the accusations, calling them false pretext for political suppression.[6] Violence continued with events such as shelling by the Congolese armed forces and attacks on trains by the Ninja militia.[8][9] On 18 April 2017, 18 Congolese soldiers were killed by Ninja militiamen.[2] The Congolese government and the Ninja militia signed a ceasefire agreement on 23 December 2017. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, the Ninjas were to hand over their arms and cease their interference with trade between the cities of Brazzaville and Pointe Noire.[10]
Despite the end of the war, it wasn't until November 2018 that the Congo-Ocean Railway traffic was resumed.[11]