Author: Congo Times

A packed legislative agenda The Seventh Conference of Presidents in the Senate and the Tenth in the National Assembly, both held on 8 October in Brazzaville, have lifted the veil on an unusually dense ordinary session slated to commence on 15 October. Senate President Pierre Ngolo, flanked by Prime Minister Anatole Collinet Makosso, detailed twelve matters inscribed on the upper chamber’s docket, eleven of which are entirely new. Parallel consultations in the lower house, chaired by Speaker Isidore Mvouba, produced a schedule of comparable magnitude that will keep lawmakers engaged well into the final quarter of the year (official communiqué,…

Setting the Stage for Excellence in Madibou On 8 October, the usually quiet courtyard of Lycée Sébastien-Mafouta in the eighth arrondissement of Brazzaville filled with an unusual buzz. Standing before rows of neatly pressed uniforms, Professor Francine Ntoumi—internationally respected microbiologist and chair of the Congolese Foundation for Medical Research (FCRM)—announced the creation of the Francine-Ntoumi Scholarship, subtitled “special Madibou” and inspired by the rallying call “Giving Ambition Wings”. The symbolism is deliberate: ambition, like flight, requires lift, and Ntoumi hopes her personal endowment will provide exactly that for the district’s most promising young women. The gesture arrives at a sensitive…

Strategic Momentum Towards SDG 6 In Brazzaville this week, the Ministry of Urban Sanitation, Local Development and Road Maintenance convenes what observers describe as a decisive forum: the first national validation workshop for the National Sanitation Policy 2026-2030. The gathering, organised in partnership with UNICEF, is presented as the operational translation of pledges made during the inaugural National Conference on Urban Sanitation. By anchoring the new framework in the Sustainable Development Goal 6—universal access to water and sanitation—Congolese authorities signal their commitment to a global agenda that views hygiene not merely as a social good, but as a cornerstone of…

Electoral recalibration follows administrative innovation Seven months after Parliament ratified the creation of three new departments, the Council of Ministers convened in Oyo on 7 October adopted a draft law that remodels the electoral code first promulgated in December 2001. The move is portrayed by government spokespersons as a technical yet indispensable consequence of the territorial reconfiguration that birthed the districts of Odziba in Djoué-Léfini and Bouémba in Nkéni-Alima. With these additions the National Assembly will see its seating plan expand, and several departmental and municipal councils will gain extra councillors, an evolution described by one senior official as “a…

Scientific momentum at the University Denis Sassou Nguesso In the modern amphitheatre overlooking the Congo River at Kintélé, Professor Arnaud Wilfrid Etou Ossibi formally opened the second edition of the Faculty of Applied Sciences’ Scientific Activities Week on 6 October. The dean described the gathering as “a genuine moment of scientific awakening”, designed to complement academic instruction with hands-on exposure to research and technology. By adopting the theme “Applied research at the Faculty of Applied Sciences: sustainable solutions for enterprises and target populations”, the organisers framed the week as a bridge between theory and the urgent needs of Congolese society.…

Grassroots Legal Aid Gains Momentum in Brazzaville In the bustle of Brazzaville’s fourth-arrondissement courthouse, Garcel Dubblon’s discreet desk attracts a small yet steady queue of plaintiffs and defendants clutching sheaves of documents. As secretary-general of Le Livre du Congo blanc, the jurist-led organisation that relaunched its activities on 4 October, he now offers what many Congolese litigants have long sought but rarely obtained: free, competent guidance on the art—and science—of pleading before the bench. The initiative originates from a simple diagnostic. In civil and criminal chambers alike, Dubblon observes that otherwise legitimate claims collapse because the facts are imprecisely narrated,…

A decisive sting in the commercial hub of Niari The usually vibrant railway town of Dolisie, capital of the Niari department, was momentarily thrust into the national spotlight when gendarmes, working in concert with officers from the Directorate of Forest Economy and the Wildlife Law Enforcement Support Project (PALF), intercepted two men in possession of four elephant tusks. The operation, made public on 7 October, was executed without incident but with considerable symbolism, the tusks representing the death of at least two elephants – a species accorded the highest level of legal protection by the Republic of Congo. Suspects cooperate…

Historic edifice as cinematic protagonist When the lights dim at CanalOlympia Brazzaville on 11 October, the audience will discover that the true protagonist of “Memories of the CFRAD” is neither a single hero nor a fictional narrative but a building whose walls have witnessed the 20th and 21st centuries unfold. The Centre for Training and Research in Dramatic Arts, better known by its French acronym CFRAD, began life in 1904 as the Cercle civil et militaire français. It hosted, among other pivotal gatherings, the 1944 Brazzaville Conference chaired by General Charles de Gaulle. Hassim Tall Boukambou’s long-form documentary turns the…

A seasoned Egyptologist steps into multilateral spotlight The Executive Board of UNESCO, convening in Paris on 6 October, bestowed 55 votes on Khaled el-Enany, formerly Egypt’s minister of Tourism and Antiquities, thereby setting the stage for a four-year term that many diplomats already describe as ‘decisive’. The 54-year-old scholar, fluent in Arabic, French and English, forged his academic reputation at Helwan University before earning a doctorate in Montpellier. While supervising the opening of more than twenty museums and the restitution of thousands of artefacts to Cairo, he cultivated a network that now spans the Arab League, several European capitals and…

Early-morning shock in Makélékélé district The calm of 2 October was abruptly shattered in Château d’Eau, a neighbourhood of the first arrondissement of Brazzaville, when a young woman of about twenty years was allegedly attacked with a machete by her partner. According to family members, the man arrived at the familial residence determined to take their five-month-old daughter to a health facility. The mother, convinced that her first-hand knowledge of the child’s recent symptoms was indispensable for the consultation, resisted the idea of being left behind. Within moments, the disagreement escalated to brutal violence, leaving the young woman lying on…