Kokolo Military Camp

Kokolo Military Camp covers a total area of 161.39 hectares, excluding the Monganga, Kalicack, Music School, and logistics base zones. In the post-Mobutu era, the camp's land tenure was formally defined by Ministerial Decree No. 0035/90 of 29 August 1999, which established the concession across the Funa (Bandalungwa) and Lukunga (Gombe) jurisdictions. Climatically, the camp falls within Kinshasa's tropical climate, marked by high temperatures averaging 25 °C annually and humid conditions with approximately 1,400 mm of rainfall per year, distributed across a rainy season from late September to May, peaking in April (16%) and November (18%), and a dry season extending from June to September. Geologically, the surface formations of the Kinshasa plain exhibit limited variation, with the area predominantly composed of sandy or silty soils, with a few protrusions or outcrops of "polymorphic sandstones" or "soft sandstones". == Administration and demographics ==

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. 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. == History ==

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. 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). 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). == References ==