A strategic gathering in Brazzaville
From 14 to 15 October, the ninth Board of Directors of the Central African Aviation Safety Oversight Agency, ASSA-AC, is convening in Brazzaville under the chairmanship of Serge Florent Dzota, Director-General of Congo’s National Civil Aviation Agency. The meeting is expected to endorse volumes I and II of the Community Training Manual together with a triannual training plan for technical personnel drawn from the six member states of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, CEMAC.
Opening the session, ASSA-AC Director-General Eugène Apombi recalled that the community had, since 16 August, equipped itself with common aviation-safety regulations, calling the step “a decisive milestone toward the people-centred CEMAC we all strive for, one where citizens, goods and services circulate with greater ease”. Within that framework, he insisted, the forthcoming training instruments are of “paramount importance for strengthening the operational capacity of all actors in charge of aviation safety in our states”.
Why a shared training blueprint matters
The documents slated for adoption will provide a uniform syllabus for both initial and recurrent courses, thereby reducing disparities in inspection, certification and surveillance practices across the zone. According to Dzota, “reinforcing the skills of national inspectors and experts, and consolidating the regional supervision system, remain at the core of our strategic plan”.
ASSA-AC’s own training school is expected to open its doors in December, offering the first intake of students programmes calibrated to International Civil Aviation Organization standards. While continuous training already proceeds through contracts with external academies, the in-house facility should, in Apombi’s words, “ensure sustained ownership of safety culture across the Community”.
Regulatory convergence on the horizon
Beyond the pedagogical dimension, the Board will refine the draft regulation on safety occurrences, designed to enrich the fresh community rulebook adopted in August. The directors will also review the resolutions passed on 4 October 2024 and 4 June 2025, in preparation for the forthcoming Council of Ministers responsible for Transport, Civil Aviation and Merchant Marine, chaired by Congo-Brazzaville’s minister Ingrid Olga Ghislaine Ebouka-Babackas.
Member states are gearing up for the 2026 migration toward full application of the community regulations. Awareness sessions have begun in the Central African Republic, while Equatorial Guinea will shortly sign a memorandum of understanding with the Spanish civil-aviation authority to translate the texts and identify trainers, thereby overcoming the language barrier. Cameroon has publicly announced that it has embarked on the transition and is urging its peers to follow suit.
Financing the regional safety ambition
Notwithstanding these advances, persistent budgetary constraints weigh on ASSA-AC. Equal contributions by member states, the collection of statistics, and the billing and recovery of the regional safety fee remain imperfect. “The corrective measures requested by the Board have been initiated and should bear fruit once a recovery agreement is signed, as required by the decision establishing the fee,” Apombi explained.
The agency is simultaneously pursuing durable financing for its activities, the effective harmonisation of certification procedures and the modernisation of infrastructure and human resources in several states. In Dzota’s assessment, tangible progress is visible: national inspectors have benefitted from targeted capacity-building, joint assistance missions have multiplied, and data-sharing mechanisms have gained in reliability.
Legal and economic outlook
The draft training plan and the ancillary regulations will ultimately go before the CEMAC ministers, whose approval would anchor them in the regional legal order. By pooling expertise and standardising oversight, the Community seeks to meet the global safety objectives set by the International Civil Aviation Organization while boosting intra-regional connectivity, a prerequisite for trade and investment flows.
From an economic standpoint, convergent safety standards are expected to cut operators’ compliance costs, attract new carriers and support the broader agenda of diversifying Central African economies. Legally, the forthcoming instrument on safety occurrences will reinforce the obligation of reporting and enable a more systematic feedback loop, further embedding a proactive safety culture.
While challenges endure, the Brazzaville meeting signals that CEMAC’s air-transport authorities are determined to translate political will into technical action. As the Board finalises its deliberations, the region’s airlines, exporters and passengers alike await the concrete benefits of safer, more predictable skies.