Author: Congo Times

Beijing as a Premier Diplomatic Arena When President Denis Sassou Nguesso walks through the Zhongnanhai compound in early September, the choreography will have been rehearsed for weeks. For the Republic of the Congo, co-chair of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation, the Beijing platform is more than ceremonial; it is a negotiating table at which financial terms, delivery timetables and political symbolism converge. Chinese officials, eager to showcase the durability of their African partnerships, have conveyed that the visit will be accorded a protocol usually reserved for heads of government whose countries supply strategic commodities. The overture comes at a moment…

A High-Level Journey Framed by Strategic Timing When President Denis Sassou-Nguesso lands in Beijing on 3 September at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, the symbolism will extend far beyond a bilateral courtesy. The three-day state visit marks the Congolese leader’s third mission to China since Brazzaville assumed, in 2023, the co-presidency of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Matin Libre Congo). As co-chair, the Republic of the Congo will steward the agenda of this continental mechanism until 2027, culminating in the next FOCAC summit scheduled for Brazzaville in two years. In diplomatic circles, the timing underscores a desire to synchronise…

Social Fabric and Child Welfare in Pointe-Noire When schools across the Republic of the Congo ring the final bell in late July, educators, parents and municipal officials share a common concern: ensuring that holiday freedom does not drift into idleness or unsafe pastimes. In recent years, Pointe-Noire has multiplied programmes that strengthen the social fabric around children, from the Ministry of Social Affairs’ neighbourhood sports camps to UNICEF-supported reading clubs. Against this backdrop, the Association of Young Mothers of Congo, chaired by entrepreneur and philanthropist Michaelle Moutouari Tchicamboud, inaugurated a seasonal amusement park on 23 August inside the grounds of…

A Lifelong Commitment to Peaceful Engagement The death of Vital Balla on 24 August in Brazzaville closes a chapter that began well before Congo-Brazzaville itself entered the United Nations in 1960. Born in 1936 in Madingou, Bouenza, Balla was barely twenty-nine when he co-founded the Congolese Association for Friendship Among Peoples (Acap) in 1965. The organisation would be recognised two decades later by the United Nations as a “Messenger of Peace” (UN Department of Public Information, 1987). Over sixty-one uninterrupted years, Balla positioned Acap as a discreet yet efficient platform for people-to-people diplomacy, mobilising teachers, artists and rural cooperatives to…

Strategic Timing for Economic Diversification In the marble-lined hall of the Ministry for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Handicrafts, Minister Jacqueline Lydia Mikolo formally opened a process that many economists had anticipated: the drafting of Congo-Brazzaville’s first comprehensive national policy for small and medium-sized enterprises and artisans. The move comes as the government pursues its 2022-2026 National Development Plan, in which economic diversification is described as a “sovereign imperative” after years of dependence on hydrocarbons. According to the African Development Bank, oil still accounts for roughly 45 percent of gross domestic product and 80 percent of exports, leaving the economy…

A Budget Letter Signalling Renewed Discipline When Prime Minister Anatole Collinet Makosso circulated his budget-setting letter for fiscal year 2026, the document immediately resonated across diplomatic missions in Brazzaville. The ten objectives outlined by the head of government are framed as instruments for restoring long-term macroeconomic balance after the external shocks of the past decade. Far from a routine administrative exercise, the text is read by many observers as the clearest articulation to date of President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s determination to consolidate the gains secured since the 2022 Staff-Monitored Programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF Article IV Consultation 2023).…

Youth-led diplomacy crosses the Congo River On a humid August evening along the Charles-Ebina pedestrian alley, just metres from the swirling river that separates Kinshasa from Brazzaville, Jonathan Lumbeya Masuta stepped before an audience of diplomats, UN officials and carefully selected students to continue what he calls “the upstream current of continental renewal.” The president of the International Forum of African Youth for Africa’s Development (FIJADA), accompanied by a small but disciplined delegation, was not merely paying a courtesy visit; he was exporting the intellectual capital generated on the opposite bank during the International Youth Day round-table of 12 August…

Pointe-Noire poised for regional cultural spotlight When the sun sets on 12 September, the harbour lights of Pointe-Noire will give way to an even brighter glow: the stage lighting of the International Festival of Music and Arts, better known as FIMA. For three consecutive evenings, the industrial hub of the Republic of Congo will pivot from crude-oil exports to cultural exports, offering a vibrant illustration of the government’s ambition to diversify the national brand beyond hydrocarbons. Organised by the non-governmental entity MB Production under the stewardship of Médard Mbongo, the festival has quietly matured since its 2001 inception into one…

Cholera Response in Congo-Brazzaville: Current Data When the Ministry of Health and Population formally declared a cholera outbreak on 26 July 2025, epidemiologists were already witnessing a worrying acceleration on Île Mbamou. By 4 August, official tallies recorded 335 suspected cases, 29 fatalities and 234 recoveries, numbers that have since stabilised according to the latest situation report (Ministry of Health, 2025). The government’s incident-management framework, refined after previous water-borne emergencies, immediately activated surveillance cells, deployed mobile laboratories and issued stringent hygiene advisories. “The window for containment was narrow, but decisive action prevented exponential spread,” observed Dr Vincent Sossou Soudjinou, WHO…

Context of the Fee Adjustment Few institutions in Central Africa embody post-independence nation-building as vividly as Université Marien Ngouabi, created in 1971 and named after the late head of state. Housing more than 45 000 learners across eleven faculties, the university revealed in August a consolidation of previously fragmented charges into a single registration line: 21 000 CFA francs at bachelor level, 50 000 at master level and 100 000 at doctoral level. According to the rectorate, those figures merely aggregate laboratory contributions, health-insurance premiums, identity-card printing and diploma certification that were already borne by students in separate transactions (Les…