Author: Congo Times

Cabinet endorsement underscores strategic priority Chaired by President Denis Sassou Nguesso, the recent Council of Ministers endorsed a decree that thoroughly revises the rules governing environmental and social impact assessments. Invited to present the text, Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development and the Congo Basin Arlette Soudan-Nonault described the instrument as “a decisive lever for responsible growth”. Her characterisation reflects the government’s wider positioning: ecological diligence is no longer perceived as a constraint but as a prerequisite for the country’s economic diversification agenda, particularly in agriculture, mining and infrastructure. Connecting the 2023 sustainability law with global standards The decree operationalises Law…

Diplomatic Signals from the People’s Palace The long marble corridors of the Palais du Peuple in Brazzaville still serve as the epicentre of Congolese statecraft. On 23 July 2025 they resounded once again with the formal cadence of cabinet deliberation, steered by President Denis Sassou Nguesso, whose tenure has been marked by a deliberate pairing of macroeconomic restraint with sector-specific modernisation. For foreign observers, the choreography of this latest session is less about pageantry than about signalling the rhythm of reform to creditors, investors and neighbouring capitals alike. Environmental Impact Decree Anchors Green Diplomacy Environment Minister Arlette Soudan-Nonault secured cabinet…

Brazzaville stakes a claim to digital leadership The twelfth edition of the Pan-African Music Festival (FESPAM) opened an unusually technical chapter this year, convening a two-day workshop whose vocabulary owed more to data science than to folklore. Under the aegis of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and with the full backing of the Congolese authorities, musicians, festival directors and platform managers debated the elusive notion of “discoverability” in an era dominated by recommendation engines. The choice of Brazzaville as host location was anything but incidental; officials emphasised that a capital already celebrated for its rumba heritage now intends to…

A ceremonial overture in Brazzaville An expectant hush swept through the packed Congress Palace before President Denis Sassou Nguesso delivered the brief but resonant formula that unlocked the twelfth Pan-African Music Festival. Multicoloured beams ricocheted off the marble walls, television cameras hovered and the diplomatic corps nodded in unison as the head of state underlined the event’s celebratory and unifying vocation. The moment confirmed how a cultural rendez-vous, originally launched in 1996, has matured into a pillar of the Republic of Congo’s international calendar, carefully choreographed to broadcast stability and cultural confidence. Soft power and statecraft through melody Brazzaville’s authorities…

A Pan-African Concert of Ideas Opens With the ceremonial gravitas befitting a continental forum, Prime Minister Anatole Collinet Makosso inaugurated the twelfth Festival Panafricain de Musique symposium in the marble halls of Brazzaville’s Palais des Congrès. Diplomats, ethnomusicologists and tech entrepreneurs alike converged on 21 July 2025 to interrogate the interplay between cultural identity and market forces. The gathering, described by participants as the ‘intellectual heartbeat’ of FESPAM, signals Congo-Brazzaville’s aspiration to anchor soft-power diplomacy in a thriving creative economy. Economic Resonance of Digital Sound Under the banner Music and Economic Stakes in Africa in the Digital Era, speakers mapped…

An Unexpected Bestseller in Brazzaville’s Legal Circuit Rarely does a 457-page treatise on administrative law generate lively debate beyond faculty lounges, yet the second edition of Professor Placide Moudoudou’s “Droit administratif congolais” has done precisely that. Launched at the Presses universitaires de Brazzaville in late 2023, the volume sold out its inaugural print run within weeks, prompting a reprint even before the spring semester opened (Presses universitaires data, 2024). Diplomats stationed in Brazzaville hurried to secure copies as a window into the legal mechanics underpinning President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s governance model, while domestic practitioners hailed the book as a long-awaited…

Fespam Steers Continental Soft Power When the Pan-African Music Festival (Fespam) unfurled its banners across Brazzaville for a twelfth edition this July, it did more than curate performances; it recalibrated the Republic of Congo’s soft-power credentials. Launched in 1996 under the aegis of the African Union and regularly supported by UNESCO reports on cultural diversity, Fespam has become a biennial rendez-vous where states negotiate image and influence through melody rather than communiqué. This year’s inclusion of the Venezuelan ensemble Madera, announced by Ambassador Laura Evangelia Suárez and confirmed by the festival’s official programme, extends that diplomatic reach beyond Africa’s shores.…

A Cultural Overture of South-South Solidarity Brazzaville’s humid July air carries more than the hum of the Congo River this year; it vibrates with the syncopated brass and percussion of Caracas. Madera, an emblematic Venezuelan collective founded in the 1980s to blend Afro-Venezuelan folk with jazz and salsa, set foot in the Congolese capital as the first Venezuelan act ever accredited by the Pan-African Music Festival. The twelfth edition of FESPAM, supported by the Congolese Ministry of Culture and UNESCO, has repeatedly professed a commitment to South-South artistic traffic, yet tangible Latin American participation had remained elusive until now. According…

Shockwave across the Kintélé Viaduct The early morning of 23 July was meant to be solemn rather than sensational. A hearse, carrying the remains of a Brazzaville resident to his final resting place, approached the graceful arches of the Kintélé viaduct—a structure celebrated during the 2015 All-Africa Games as a symbol of national modernity. Moments later, witnesses described a sudden swerve, the screech of tyres and a muted thud. The driver, reportedly travelling well above the recommended speed limit, lost control on the slight incline and collided with the safety barrier. The vehicle overturned, fatally wounding the chauffeur. The casket…

Diaspora Engagement Aligns With National Vision The Republic of Congo’s diplomatic overtures toward its global communities have found an illustrative counterpart in the recently formalised 120 Mpaka network. While Brazzaville’s 2014 National Diaspora Forum called upon citizens abroad to channel remittances and expertise toward local development (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2014), the Mpaka initiative translates that broad exhortation into granular action focused on a single, densely populated neighbourhood of Pointe-Noire. Officials at the Congolese Embassy in Paris discreetly welcome the endeavour, noting that community-led projects ‘provide a supple complement to state programming without competing for visibility’. Such convergence of grassroots…