Alphonse Massamba-Débat (February 11, 1921 – March 25, 1977) was a political figure of the Republic of the Congo who led the country from 1963 until 1968 in a one-party system.

He was born in the small village of Nkolo, Boko District, French Equatorial Africa, in 1921,[2] into a Kongo family.

[3][2] By 1940, he had joined the anti-colonialist Chadian Progressive Party and served as the general secretary of the Association for the Development of Chad in 1945.

[4] By 1957, Massamba-Débat had joined Fulbert Youlou's Democratic Union for the Defense of African Interests party (UDDIA), stopped teaching and became the Minister of Education and two years later he was elected to national assembly.

Che Guevara went to meet Massamba-Débat in January 1965 and diplomatic relations were severed with the United States.

Relations were strained with the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, whose political path was increasingly influenced by Mobutist ambitions.

[3] In July 1968, he arrested Captain Ngouabi, dissolved the National Assembly and the Political Bureau of the MNR and suspended the 1963 Constitution.