Author: Congo Times

Fresh Mandate, Elevated Expectations In the hushed auditorium of the Commission’s Brazzaville headquarters, newly elected chair Casimir Ndomba opened the inaugural session of the National Human Rights Commission with a pledge to infuse the institution with renewed momentum. The four-day meeting, held from 22 to 25 September 2025, reunited the commissioners appointed last May and signalled the operational start of a mandate that aspires, in Ndomba’s words, to make the Commission “a reference point for dignity in the Republic of the Congo”. The presence of United Nations Resident Coordinator Abdourahmane Diallo, alongside senior officials and representatives of the diplomatic corps,…

Nigeria’s representation gap comes under renewed scrutiny In the gleaming but still unfinished wings of the National Assembly Complex in Abuja, an old arithmetic continues to unsettle activists: four women sit among 109 senators, and sixteen among 360 representatives. The imbalance, repeatedly flagged by election observers and civil-society lawyers, places Africa’s most populous country near the foot of global gender-parity tables despite its vibrant pool of female professionals. The numbers, recited this week by hundreds of women who converged on the capital, have acquired the ring of a mantra—symptom and rallying cry at once. A bold ‘Special Seats Bill’ and…

A nascent department at the heart of party renewal The Republic of Congo’s political cartography has just been redrawn with the advent of the Nkéni-Alima department. Its six districts—Gomboma, Makotipoko, Ongony, Ollombo, Abala and Allembé—have been detached from the historical Plateaux region, giving local actors a fresh institutional arena. Far from being a purely administrative exercise, the change anchors the Congolese Party of Labour (PCT) more firmly in a territory described by observers as both demographically dynamic and agriculturally promising, aligning with the national objective of balanced regional development championed by President Denis Sassou Nguesso. Yves Fortuné Moundele-Ngollo Ehourossia takes…

A strategic pipeline for human capital Under the early morning shade of the Revolution High School in Ouenzé, the air vibrated with a mixture of nervousness and ambition. Six hundred and forty-five recent graduates, armed with freshly sharpened pencils and graphing calculators, began the selective test that may turn them into the statisticians and planners on whom Congo-Brazzaville increasingly pins its development trajectory. By jointly opening the proceedings, the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Integration, Ludovic Ngatsé, and the Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technological Innovation, Edith Delphine Emmanuel, signalled a rare convergence of policy and…

A’Solidarity Day Sets an Ambitious Tone for Public Health The rhythmic bustle of the Port Autonome de Pointe-Noire paused on 23 September 2025, only to resume in a more generous cadence. Under the banner of A’Solidarity Day, Africa Global Logistics (AGL) convened 1,500 colleagues from its subsidiaries – Congo Terminal and Terminaux du Bassin du Congo – for a blood-donation marathon simultaneously held in Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville. The move, applauded by medical practitioners on both banks of the Congo River, illustrates how a logistics group can leverage industrial discipline to advance a national health priority. In concrete terms, the operation…

Ocean Governance at the Heart of Brazzaville The morning mist over the Congolese capital carried an unusual maritime fragrance, as officials, diplomats and students gathered on 25 September to observe World Maritime Day. Convened under the International Maritime Organization’s annual theme, “Our Ocean, Our Responsibility, Our Opportunity,” the ceremony offered more than protocol. It became a forum in which the Republic of Congo asserted its conviction that ocean protection is inseparable from human progress. Reading the government declaration, Minister of Transport, Civil Aviation and Merchant Marine Ingrid Olga Ghislaine Ebouka Babackas framed the ocean as a dual entity: priceless common…

Academic Triumph Behind Bars The iron gates of Brazzaville’s Maison d’arrêt et de correction momentarily receded into the background on 20 September, as the courtyard filled with applause rather than the familiar clank of cell doors. Nineteen detainees, including fourteen candidates for the Baccalauréat d’enseignement général, received official certificates attesting their success in the June 2025 state examinations. Their achievements crown a pedagogical programme launched in 2017 that has progressively turned the penitentiary into an unexpected, if modest, centre of learning. This year’s results—ten passes out of eleven entrants for the Certificat d’études primaires élémentaires, ten out of ten at…

Exam Success in Brazzaville Correctional Facility The rust-coloured gates of the Brazzaville Remand and Correction Centre briefly opened on 20 September not to release inmates but to let knowledge in. During a tightly choreographed ceremony, Colonel-Major Jean Blaise Komo, Director-General of the Penitentiary Administration, distributed the official attestations for the 2025 session of State examinations: the Primary School Certificate, the Junior Secondary Brevet and, most coveted, the General Baccalaureate. In a context where study hours are constrained by security protocols and materials often scarce, fourteen candidates had nevertheless braved the syllabus; eleven were declared successful, a record percentage that the…

A diplomatic handshake with financial resonance The margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York offered an opportune theatre for the first encounter between the newly installed president of the African Development Bank, Sidi Ould Tah, and President Denis Sassou Nguesso. On 22 September, the former Mauritanian minister, who took the helm of the continental lender on 1 September, paid tribute to what he called “the crucial role” played by the Congolese leader in his election and to the “steadfast support” that Brazzaville continues to extend to the institution (African Development Bank press communication, 22 Sept.). For the…

Symbolic Return to a Global Stage The marble-lined gallery of the United Nations General Assembly welcomed a familiar silhouette at the opening of its 80th session. President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who last addressed the hemicycle in 2022, chose the anniversary gathering to mark his return and, by extension, to reaffirm the Republic of Congo’s multilateral vocation. The timing is laden with symbolism: as the United Nations commemorates eighty years of existence, Member States are invited to reflect on the founding promise of cooperation that emerged from the ruins of the Second World War. For Brazzaville, whose diplomatic tradition is anchored…