Author: Congo Times

A Timely Milestone in Congo Presidential Politics On 28–29 June 2025 the Parti pour l’Action de la République, better known by its acronym P.A.R, closed its first extraordinary congress in Brazzaville with a unanimous resolution: the formation of a structured primary to designate its single standard-bearer for the March 2026 presidential poll. Party leader Anguios Nganguia Engambé, whose organisation constitutes a legal opposition force, described the decision as “an act of responsible pluralism within the constitutional order” (Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 30 June 2025). Since the adoption of the 2015 Constitution, presidential elections in the Republic of Congo follow a…

UNESCO Capacity-Building Initiative for 2026 Elections The quiet conference rooms of Pefaco Hotel in Brazzaville became, for three days in August 2025, a laboratory of ideas on responsible electoral journalism. In partnership with the Ministry of Communication and the National Independent Electoral Commission (CNEI), UNESCO brought together fifty women reporters from public and private outlets for an intensive workshop designed to strengthen professional standards ahead of the presidential polls of 17 and 22 March 2026. “Every electoral cycle is an opportunity to refresh the social contract,” underlined UNESCO Representative Fatoumata Barry Marega, invoking the organisation’s mandate to promote free, pluralistic…

Youth Employment Stakes in Congo’s Waste Ecosystem Across the Republic of Congo, the demographic surge of citizens under thirty forms a reservoir of talent and energy that, if insufficiently channelled, risks becoming a source of socio-economic strain. The World Bank estimates youth unemployment in the country at around 42 per cent, a figure that underscores the urgency of creating labour-intensive niches compatible with limited start-up capital (World Bank, 2022). Household waste, paradoxically abundant in Brazzaville where roughly a thousand tonnes are generated each day, is emerging as such a niche. By transforming rubbish into revenue, young Congolese are asserting economic…

Government-backed fair spotlights artisanal excellence The vast courtyard of the Palais des Congrès has taken on the air of a bustling craft village as more than one hundred stalls display hand-carved beds, polished mahogany armchairs and woven raphia handbags. The fourth edition of the Salon des Métiers du Bois, running from 11 to 25 August, was opened by the Minister of Industrial Development and the Promotion of the Private Sector, who described the exhibition as “a living laboratory of Congolese know-how”. Official figures indicate that some 70 percent of the exhibitors come from the nation’s interior departments, suggesting a deliberate…

Historical Foundations Shaping Contemporary Governance Long before the modern state emerged, the lands that now form the Republic of the Congo were knitted together by vigorous Bantu-speaking polities whose riverine commerce connected the Atlantic coast to the heart of Central Africa. French annexation in the late nineteenth century eventually folded the territory into French Equatorial Africa, and the proclamation of the republic in 1958 initiated a constitutional trajectory distinct from neighbouring former colonies. Independence came on 15 August 1960, yet the ideological inflection that followed—most conspicuously the Marxist-Leninist interlude of 1969-1992—imprinted a lasting state-centric vision of development. The 1997 civil…

Presidential Decree Sets a New Tone for Media Governance On 7 August 2025, Presidential Decree 2025-340 entrusted Médard Milandou Nsonga with the presidency of the Conseil supérieur de la liberté de communication (CSLC). The nomination, applauded by the Ministry of Communication, has been presented as part of a broader governmental roadmap aimed at “consolidating democratic debate through responsible journalism”. While some foreign observers interpret the move as continuity, domestic stakeholders perceive a possible inflection point, given Mr Nsonga’s dual background as a journalist and cultural impresario. CSLC’s Institutional Evolution and International Benchmarks Created in 2001, the CSLC was conceived to…

Brazzaville as Pilot Site for the Mattei Blueprint When Italian Ambassador Enrico Nunziata stood beside Minister Léon Juste Ibombo in Brazzaville on 22 July, the symbolism was deliberate. By confirming that the Republic of the Congo would serve as the inaugural laboratory for the Mattei Plan’s start-up window, Rome placed a diplomatic wager on one of Central Africa’s most stable political environments. Signed in Rome on 19 June, the bilateral memorandum anticipates a roll-out capable of accompanying up to half a million African ventures over the next decade, with Congo’s experience expected to shape subsequent deployments across the continent (Italian…

Strategic Lifeline for Pool Region By launching the 86-kilometre Mpiem–Kindamba rehabilitation on 8 August 2025, Minister of Urban Sanitation, Local Development and Road Maintenance Juste Désiré Mondelé signalled Brazzaville’s intent to address one of the Pool Department’s most persistent logistical bottlenecks (Ministry press release, 8 Aug 2025). The earthen strip linking the small trading post of Mpiem to Kindamba, and from there to Kimba and Vinza, has long been the only artery through which cassava, peanuts and charcoal reach urban centres. Seasonal deterioration frequently isolates entire communities for weeks, inflating transport costs and eroding household incomes. Local administrators interviewed by…

Strategic Geography and Demography In the cartography of Central Africa, the Republic of the Congo occupies a linchpin position between the Gulf of Guinea and the Congo River basin, providing Brazzaville with a natural vantage point over both Atlantic maritime routes and deep continental hinterlands. Stretching from mangrove-lined littorals to equatorial rainforests, the territory offers an exceptional range of ecological assets. Satellite data released by the Central African Forest Initiative in 2023 indicate that more than 60 percent of Congo’s 342,000 km² remain under primary forest cover, a carbon sink that places the country at the forefront of global climate…

Algiers Sets the Stage for Pan-African Commerce From 4 to 10 September, the Palais des Expositions in Algiers will momentarily become the continent’s busiest trading floor. The fourth Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF), convened by Afreximbank in partnership with the African Union and the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, is forecast to welcome more than 2 000 companies, 35 000 visitors and a cohort of political leaders intent on translating the AfCFTA’s promise into palpable contracts (Afreximbank press release). The organisers target 44 billion USD in trade and investment commitments—an ambition that would eclipse the 36 billion concluded during the…