Author: Congo Times

A Journalist Steps Onto the Political Stage When Alexis Bongo faced the cameras of DRTV each week to moderate the current-affairs programme “Homéosthasie”, his questions helped shape public debate. On 16 August the seasoned broadcaster reversed the logic of the studio, stepping before reporters at Brazzaville’s Zola Cultural Centre to confirm that he will seek the presidency in March 2026. At fifty-six, Bongo frames his entrance less as a personal odyssey than as part of what he calls “Le Congo nouveau”, an appeal to national renewal couched in pan-African vocabulary. His declaration reprises an ambition first voiced in 2016 but…

Anniversary Diplomacy and Symbolic Timing August 15, 2020 marked six-and-a-half decades since the Republic of the Congo proclaimed sovereignty from France, and the date furnished an opportunity for Washington to recalibrate its message to Brazzaville. In a presidential letter released through the Congolese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and confirmed by U.S. officials in the region (U.S. Embassy Brazzaville, 2020), Donald J. Trump conveyed “warm greetings to the Government and the people of the Republic of the Congo” and praised the country’s “enduring pursuit of peace and prosperity.” Although such congratulatory notes are routine within diplomatic protocol, their wording—often vetted by…

Historic Bilateral Foundations Since 1961 Few African-European relationships have shown the quiet endurance of the Congo-Belgium axis. Formal ties, initiated in 1961, were soon underpinned by the 1983 General Agreement on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation and follow-on pacts in training, culture, aviation and development finance. Belgian investment accompanied Congolese oil revenues through the 1990s while academic exchanges channelled hundreds of Congolese scholars to Leuven and Liège. According to the Belgian Development Agency, cumulative aid has exceeded 500 million euro over four decades, a figure that places Brazzaville among Brussels’s ten priority partners (Enabel annual report 2023). A Quiet Summit…

A Literary Milestone Anchored in National Commemoration On 14 August, on the eve of the Republic of Congo’s sixty-fifth Independence Day, Franco-Congolese academic Milie Théodora Miéré will publish Culture ou cultures d’entreprise with Paris-based L’Harmattan. The carefully chosen date embeds the volume within a broader national narrative that celebrates sovereignty while projecting contemporary intellectual ambition. Government officials in Brazzaville have long regarded the cultural sphere as a catalyst for international engagement, and a high-profile release by a diasporic scholar reinforces that strategy at a moment of heightened diplomatic visibility (Ministry of Culture, Brazzaville 2024). Congo’s Literary Diaspora and Soft Power…

A rite of passage in Congo’s maritime capital In the nave of Saint Christophe parish, beneath a vaulted ceiling that still bears traces of colonial architecture, Archbishop Abel Liluala placed his hand on the bowed heads of 104 catechumens and invoked the Holy Spirit. The 13 July 2025 liturgy, enriched by the polyrhythmic harmonies of the parish choir, conferred the sacrament of confirmation upon candidates drawn from six communities of the Vicariate Mgr Foret. In a nation where Christianity coexists with vibrant indigenous traditions, the rite reaffirmed the Church’s determination to nurture a generation capable of reconciling faith with the…

Decentralisation Gains Renewed Momentum For more than a decade the Republic of Congo has formally embraced decentralisation as a vector for balanced territorial development. The 2014 law on local authorities granted departments and communes wider latitude in socioeconomic programming, while the National Development Plan 2022-2026 underlined the need to translate macro-economic ambition into grassroots impact. Recent data from the African Development Bank suggest that sub-national expenditure now accounts for roughly ten percent of public investment (African Development Bank, 2024), a figure still modest but steadily increasing. Against this backdrop, a specialised workshop convened in Brazzaville on 11 July 2025 has…

Medals in Oran and a Surge of National Pride Inside the new Miloud Hadefi Stadium of Oran, the six-member Congolese delegation walked away with one gold and three bronze medals, an efficiency ratio that drew measured applause from African Union observers. Long-jumper Gladise Boukama Ndoulou’s 6.18-metre flight—her personal best—earned Congo’s first gold of the Games, while judokas Symphoria Mankala and Divine Mpiaya Massala secured bronze in the –52 kg and –57 kg categories. Boukama Ndoulou added a second bronze over 200 metres, illustrating a versatility that national coaches hailed as “rare in continental youth sport” (Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 7…

Veteran Broadcasters Reunite in Brazzaville In the hushed auditorium of the Centre Interdiocésain des Œuvres, the roll call of familiar voices carried a distinct resonance. On 1 August 2025, mic in hand, Michel Rudel Ngandziami, once a household name on the airwaves, presided over the inaugural session of the Amicale des Anciens Journalistes de Radio Congo. Three months after the organisation’s formal creation, the gathering signalled much more than a nostalgic reunion: it offered the promise of a structured contribution to the Republic of Congo’s evolving media environment. Observers from the Ministry of Communication and several diplomatic missions discreetly attended,…

A Quiet Powerhouse in Brazzaville Few institutions in Central Africa have navigated the nexus of academia and public policy with the quiet persistence displayed by the Centre for Strategic Studies of the Congo Basin, better known by its French acronym CESBC. Founded in 2005 in Évry before relocating the bulk of its operations to Brazzaville, the non-profit think-tank has evolved from a doctoral support hub into a multidisciplinary engine of evidence-based advice. On 30 July 2025, scholars, civil servants and diplomats gathered in the capital to salute two decades of work and to debate a theme of acute global relevance:…

A Farewell That Resonates Beyond the Pitch News of Bienvenu Kimbembé’s death on 28 July 2025 at the age of seventy-one moved the Congolese public and diplomatic circles in equal measure. Messages of condolence flowed from the presidency, the Ministry of Sports and the Congolese Football Federation, all acknowledging that the disappearance of “Akim-La Wanka” deprives the nation of a rare figure who embodied both sporting excellence and civic modesty. While the language of grief is universal, the circumstances of this farewell offer an instructive glimpse into the ways in which Brazzaville articulates soft power through the commemoration of its…