Kokolo Military Camp

The camp is composed of 21 quartiers (neighborhoods) allocated between officers and first-, second-, and third-class non-commissioned officers and enlisted ranks. Administratively, it falls under the authority of the Commander of the Central Camps Group (commandant de groupement des camps centre), which also includes the following extensions: including Loano quartier, Ndolo Prison, Koweit, the Institute of Medical Education (IEM; Institut d'Enseignement médical), Kalicack, Munganga, and Mbandaka.^[14] A population census conducted in 2005 recorded 33,675 inhabitants within the camp,^[14] while estimates in 2022 placed the population at approximately 40,000.^[7] The camp residents, who are predominantly military families, engage in agricultural and community initiatives.^[14]

The camp serves multiple core FARDC functions, notably providing accommodation for military personnel and their families through extensive residential infrastructure, acting as a central logistical base for the coordination of national military operations, and serving as a center for training and organizational activities that bring together active forces, including the police and the national service.^[14] Housing within the camp differs according to rank and status, with officers' quartiers featuring single-family houses of one to four bedrooms, typically including a living room, bathroom, toilet, storage space, garage, and occasionally an annex, while other sectors contain prefabricated houses with two or three bedrooms and standard amenities.^[15]

Additional housing arrangements include semi-detached houses of two or three bedrooms, some equipped with kitchens and others without, particularly in 21 quartier, as well as apartment blocks comprising 10 to 13 units, each with a bedroom and living room, often supplemented by a designated apartment with a kitchen.^[15] Enlisted personnel quartiers are also supported by shared facilities such as sanitary blocks, communal kitchens, and hangars, alongside various administrative buildings. Beyond residential and administrative infrastructure, the camp hosts health, educational, religious, and sports facilities, as well as sanitation systems for wastewater management.^[15] Within the camp is the Central Military Hospital of Lieutenant-Colonel Kokolo Camp (hôpital militaire central du camp lieutenant-colonel Kokolo), commonly known as the Central Military Hospital (Hôpital Militaire Central; HMC), a major medical institution in Kinshasa and nationally recognized for providing care for a wide range of cases, particularly road-traffic accident victims and war wounded.^[16][17]

Lieutenant-Colonel Kokolo Camp was constructed in 1924 during the Belgian colonial period and was initially known as Camp Léopold II. The site was intended to serve as a major garrison and logistical center for colonial forces, and although completed in the 1920s, the camp was formally inaugurated much later, on 8 July 1956.^[14]

Following the independence of the Belgian Congo in 1960, the camp was renamed Lieutenant-Colonel Kokolo Camp (Camp militaire Lieutenant-Colonel Kokolo) in tribute to Justin Kokolo-Longo. In the post-Mobutu period, the legal status of the site was formalized when the concession known as "Camp Lieutenant Colonel Kokolo" was officially established by Ministerial Decree No. 0035/90 of 29 August 1999, which defined its land tenure within the jurisdictions of Funa (Bandalungwa) and Lukunga (Gombe).^[14] Since independence, Lieutenant-Colonel Kokolo Camp has served as a central base for successive Congolese armed forces, including the Armée nationale congolaise (ANC), the Forces armées zaïroises (FAZ) during the Zaire period, and the Forces armées congolaises (FAC) under Laurent-Désiré Kabila, before its integration into the reformed Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC).^[14]