Author: Congo Times

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…

A Stall That Commands Attention in Bacongo Anyone entering Brazzaville’s storied Total market in the riverside district of Bacongo is likely to encounter a small cosmetics counter whose packaging choices outshine the neon shopfronts around it. Tubes promising increased curvature of the hips and oils touting athletic virility are accompanied by high-definition illustrations of unclothed bodies caught mid-embrace. Shoppers young and old flow past the display; some avert their gaze, others pause with discreet curiosity, and yet others extract their phones for a surreptitious photograph. The vendor, an enterprising man in his thirties, notes that the pictures “speak louder than…

Humanitarian Diplomacy at the Heart of Congo’s Business Capital In a city better known for its bustling deep-sea port and hydrocarbon terminals, a quieter operation has been gathering momentum. On 21 June, at the Centre Polio of Pointe-Noire, more than one hundred elderly and economically fragile residents filed patiently to receive parcels of rice, cooking oil and salted fish. The distribution, orchestrated by Caritas Pointe-Noire under the pastoral guidance of Archbishop Abel Liluala, marked the launch of a quarterly food-aid cycle that speaks volumes about the evolving architecture of social protection in the Republic of Congo. While Caritas has long…

Brazzaville’s Gymnase Maxime Matsima Sets the Tone The humid Sunday evening of 7 August 2025 offered a scene of orchestrated enthusiasm at Brazzaville’s Gymnase Maxime Matsima, where the opening tip-off of the national basketball championships echoed far beyond the hardwood. Forty-nine clubs across senior men, senior women, junior men and cadet categories embarked on a seventeen-day contest that will culminate on 24 August with the coronation of the 2025 national titleholders (FECOKET press release, 7 Aug 2025). It is the first edition overseen by the newly elected president of the Fédération congolaise de basket-ball, Fabrice Makaya Matève, whose tenure has…

Closing of the 2025 Ordinary Session in Brazzaville Under the marble dome of the Palais des Congrès, the Congolese National Assembly and Senate simultaneously lowered the curtain on their 2025 ordinary session on 13 August. National Assembly Speaker Isidore Mvouba and Senate President Pierre Ngolo, addressing a chamber packed with lawmakers, members of the diplomatic corps and invited observers from the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, sounded a note of cautious optimism. “The quality of deliberation has honoured the expectations of our constituents,” Mvouba stated, acknowledging the diligence of the 151 deputies who sat for twelve uninterrupted weeks of…