Author: Congo Times

Brazzaville’s Midnight Transfer of Power Shortly before the stroke of midnight on 14 August 1960, the gardens of the colonial governor’s residence—today’s Palais du Peuple—became the discreet epicentre of a geopolitical repositioning whose consequences still reverberate across Central Africa. Against a backdrop of velvet darkness and the subdued fragrance of frangipani, Prime Minister-cum-priest Fulbert Youlou and French Minister of Cultural Affairs André Malraux exchanged formal instruments of authority. The timing was meticulously calibrated so that Youlou’s inaugural words—“Our accession to independence is realised in peace and unity, in complete accord with France” —would fall on 15 August, the feast of…

Oldenburg Derby Win Bolsters Northern Ambitions In Lower Saxony, VfB Oldenburg seized regional bragging rights with a narrow 1–0 victory over SV Meppen, a result that elevated the club to third place in the fiercely contested Regionalliga Nord. Congolese winger Aurel Loubongo Mboungou, deployed on the left flank, was instrumental in stretching the opposition’s back four and drawing fouls in advanced zones. While the final touch came from German striker Max Wegner, local commentators credited Loubongo Mboungou’s “relentless verticality” for tilting the derby (Nordwest Zeitung). The performance strengthens the 24-year-old’s candidacy for a return to the Red Devils’ senior squad…

Sanitation Surge Sets a New Tone in the Capital The Congolese capital has rarely looked as orderly as it did this August. Days before the 64th anniversary of Independence, Minister of Urban Sanitation, Local Development and Road Maintenance Juste Désiré Mondélé toured Brazzaville’s main arteries and market districts and awarded the ongoing “operation spéciale d’assainissement et de déguerpissement” an encouraging “assez bien”. While the rating is cautious, the optics were unmistakable: freshly swept boulevards, informal stalls pushed back to allocated zones and pedestrians reclaiming sidewalks along the emblematic Denis Sassou Nguesso and Alfred Raoul avenues (government communiqué, 14 Aug 2023).…

Continental Arbitration Spotlight on FECOHAND Vote Brazzaville’s sporting community woke up on 15 August to a rare intersection of judicial urgency and competitive anticipation. The Congolese Handball Federation (FECOHAND) is scheduled to elect its new executive on 16 August 2025, yet a petition for provisional suspension lodged before the Chambre de conciliation et d’arbitrage du sport (CCAS) may force a pause only hours before ballots are cast. The application was filed by counsel for contender Avicenne Nzikou after the candidate’s list was declared ineligible by the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) on 14 August. Similar eleventh-hour challenges have arisen in other…

Brazzaville and UNICEF at a Diplomatic Crossroads When Foreign Minister Jean-Claude Gakosso welcomed Mariavittoria Ballotta, the newly appointed UNICEF Representative to the Republic of Congo, the encounter carried significance extending well beyond the courtesies of protocol. In a region where demographic dynamics are rapidly reshaping economic and social agendas, the alignment between the Congolese administration and the United Nations Children’s Fund arrives at a pivotal juncture. According to the official communiqués released in Brazzaville, both interlocutors emphasised the need to translate the government’s Vision 2025 and the National Development Plan into tangible improvements in child welfare, in consonance with the…

Political Stability Ahead of the 2026 Presidential Election When closing the sixth ordinary administrative session of the fourth legislature on 13 August, Senate President Pierre Ngolo chose his words carefully, yet firmly. “Protecting and consolidating our democracy by recognising the sovereign right of the people to the final arbitration must remain the priority,” he stated to an audience of lawmakers, diplomats and journalists in Brazzaville. His exhortation aligns with President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s oft-repeated view that social cohesion remains the indispensable precondition for development. Regional observers from the Economic Community of Central African States note that the Republic of Congo…

High-stakes compliance in Central Africa From Douala to Libreville, Central African capitals are paying closer attention to the evolving rulebook of the Financial Action Task Force, conscious that a single grey-listing can chill correspondent banking lines overnight. In Brazzaville this awareness is keenly felt: oil receipts, cross-border telecom ventures and an embryonic financial hub increasingly rely on an unblemished reputation in the global clearing system. Government advisers quietly note that the Republic of Congo escaped the FATF’s 2010–2015 watch list cycle thanks to early statutory reforms, yet still faces what one diplomat calls a “perpetual probation period”. Against this backdrop,…

Historic Parade Signals National Resilience For the first time since 2019, the Boulevard Alfred-Raoul in Brazzaville vibrated once more to the cadence of marching boots, brass bands and ululations as the Republic of Congo commemorated sixty-five years of independence. The resumption of the full-scale parade, suspended during the COVID-19 emergency, constituted both an act of remembrance and a statement of national recovery. President Denis Sassou Nguesso, clad in the dark sash of Grand Maître des Ordres Nationaux, observed the three-hour ceremony from a tribune where senior officials and foreign dignitaries were seated. According to the national broadcaster Télé Congo, nearly…

Diaspora Creativity, Homeward Resonance When Congolese vocalist Cedro La Loi—civil-name Nolhy Cedrick Ndoudi Yimbou—moved his studio base to Paris in early 2024, he joined a growing constellation of Central-African creatives leveraging diasporic platforms to recast national narratives. France’s capital, with its estimated 100 000 Congolese residents (INSEE), offers both production infrastructure and a pan-African audience, yet the singer’s declared artistic compass continues to point resolutely toward Brazzaville. “My passport, my melodies and my memories all bear the same seal,” he told a private webcast in June. The forthcoming single, “Nzéla ya ebendé” (Lingala for “railway”), exemplifies that pledge, situating the…

A Sudden Crisis for a Revered Institution Even in a nation accustomed to spirited theological debate, the mid-August disclosure of private recordings allegedly featuring an archbishop using disparaging language toward a fellow bishop and his community landed like a thunderclap. According to regional media compilations reviewed by international wire services, the excerpts circulated first on encrypted social-media channels before crossing into the mainstream press (Agence France-Presse, 15 Aug 2025). The visceral nature of the epithets has confronted the Catholic Church of Congo-Brazzaville—an institution that often positions itself as guardian of national concord—with the uncomfortable reality that ethnic stereotypes can resurface…