Cobra Militia / Forces Démocratique and Patriotique (FDP)

The Cobra / Forces Démocratique and Patriotique (FDP) was a militia loyal to President Denis Sassou-Nguesso. Strongholds have been the north of the country. Fought along side Denis Sassou-Nguesso in the 1997 and 1998/9 civil wars. By 2003 this force was largely integrated into the army.

Sassou-Nguesso, who had been president since 1979, lost to Pascal Lissouba in the country's first multi-party elections in 1992. Sassou's and Kolelas' militia groups were allied against Lissouba during the country's first civil war in 1993/4. That conflict followed controversial 1993 parliamentary elections in which both the MCDDI and Sassou's socialist Parti congolais du travail (PCT) alleged voting irregularities. Although a compromise was reached the following year, the 1993/94 conflict militarized the Congo's political culture, with the Cobra and the Ninja emerging from the PCT and the MCDDI, respectively. Sassou's Cobra militia, supported by Angolan troops, defeated Lissouba' s forces in the 1997 war.

The Cobra members are drawn from Sassou's sparsely-populated northern Congo. Since Sassou's return to power, it has been difficult to make a clear distinction between the Cobra and the regular army. Human rights groups have accused ill-disciplined Cobra militia of rape, arbitrary killings and other abuses against civilians. The number of Cobras is estimated by 'L'Autre Afrique' magazine at 8,000. While Sassou has integrated some into the regular army, many Cobras not selected for integration have retained their weapons and resorted to banditry and looting. Recent reports indicate a factionalism within the ranks of the Cobra.

The Cobra militia of President Sassou-Nguesso was incorporated into the army. These militia members claimed to have won the war by helping Sassou-Nguesso retake power and thus felt they are accountable to nobody. If those forces decide to harass a person, they knew very well that nobody would interfere and challenge their behaviour. In cases where the police tried to intervene the militia fought the police as well. They, along with various other groups who have supported Sassou-Nguesso - former members of the Rwandan Armed Forces and the Division spéciale présidentielle, an elite unit of the former Zairian army - were under the command of powerful warlords who act with total impunity.