The
Ninjas were a
militia in the
Republic of the Congo, which participated in numerous wars and insurgencies in the 1990s and 2000s. The Ninjas were formed by the politician
Bernard Kolélas in the early 1990s and were commanded by
Frédéric Bintsangou, alias Pastor Ntoumi when Kolelas was in exile. They fought the supporters of President
Pascal Lissouba in the 1993-94 armed conflict in the Congo. In the 1997-99
Republic of the Congo Civil War, they allied with Lissouba's forces against the supporters of former President
Denis Sassou Nguesso. After Sassou Nguesso's victory in the Civil War, Ntoumi's Ninjas fought an insurgency against his government in the
Pool Department. The conflict in the Pool escalated in a series of violent clashes in 2002-03, after which the Ninja leadership eventually gave up their armed struggle. Ntoumi announced the disbanding of the Ninjas in 2008.