Author: Congo Times

Holiday Consumption Meets Digital Finance For a growing share of Central African travellers, the act of stepping onto a beach in Pointe-Noire or a rainforest lodge on the Lefini plateau now begins not with a wad of bank notes but with a slender plastic card. Holiday seasons, traditionally weighted with logistical frictions around foreign exchange and security, are being reshaped by digital payment rails. Recent numbers from the Bank of Central African States indicate that electronic transactions across the Communauté Économique et Monétaire de l’Afrique Centrale rose by roughly thirty-eight percent year-on-year in 2023, outpacing nominal GDP growth. The spike…

Memory, Literature and Nationhood in Brazzaville The sun-washed patios of the Maison Russe in Brazzaville rarely witness a silence as pregnant with expectation as on 26 July 2025. Writers, critics, students and a sprinkling of diplomats settled into polished wooden chairs for the inaugural Grand Atelier Littéraire, curated by the essayist and critic David Gomez Dimixson. Entitled “From Memory to the Future: Literature Building Bridges,” the gathering came at a propitious moment: the Republic of the Congo is refining its cultural diplomacy, and the written word figures prominently in that strategy (Agence Congolaise d’Information, 2024). Seated in the first row,…

Franco-Congolese Rap as an Emerging Diplomatic Language When Tiakola, known for his crystalline melodic phrasing, joined forces with the more percussive Genezio for the EP “Fara Fara Gang”, the collaboration was immediately framed by industry observers as a commercial coup. Yet the release also deserves attention from diplomatic circles: it embodies a form of non-state soft power that operates at the intersection of the Congolese diaspora in France and a rejuvenated cultural scene in Brazzaville. Streaming data compiled by Spotify for Artists indicate that more than forty percent of the EP’s first-week plays originated from Central and West Africa, an…

A decisive moment for human-capital formation The first week of August found school courtyards in Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire and eight departmental capitals humming with the controlled excitement typical of high-stakes testing. According to the Ministry of Technical and Vocational Education, 7,738 candidates—4,421 of them in the capital—were registered for the annual concours direct, the gateway to the country’s most sought-after institutes of technology. By seven o’clock on 6 August, sealed envelopes containing French language papers had been opened under the joint supervision of the Director of Cabinet to the Minister, Mamadou Kanté, and the President of the National Board of Examiners,…

Subtle Codes of Respect in Congolese Society To an outsider, the casual cordiality of urban Brazzaville can mask a highly codified system of social precedence. Age, lineage and institutional rank remain decisive markers of authority, and public discourse is ritually tempered to honour them. Congolese linguist Jean-Gildas Nzouzi notes that “direct contradiction of an elder is still interpreted as a blemish on one’s own dignity” (Nzouzi 2023). The practice, far from inhibiting debate, channels it through consensus-building formulas that diplomats often describe as a local art of compromise. This culturally embedded deference has facilitated the government’s national dialogue forums, where…

French Withdrawal Accelerates Across the Continent From Rabat to Pointe-Noire the tricolour logos that once dominated African high streets are being repainted. In the course of eighteen months Société Générale announced the divestiture of a dozen subsidiaries, including its Congolese unit sold to Vista Group in 2023, while BNP Paribas finalised its West African exit and BPCE reduced its network to a handful of representative offices (Reuters, company statements 2023-24). Rather than an isolated repositioning, the decisions reflect a long-gestated consensus in Parisian boardrooms that capital and compliance budgets yield higher risk-adjusted returns in Europe or North America. Executives frame…

A Timely Infusion of Medical Resources The arrival in early August of pharmaceuticals and surgical equipment worth 27.51 million FCFA at the Sino-Congolese Friendship Hospital of Mfilou has generated measured optimism among practitioners in Brazzaville. Handed over by Dr Wang Zhitao, head of the 28th Chinese medical mission, to senior health-ministry official Donatien Moukassa, the consignment comprises anti-inflammatories, antimalarials and broad-spectrum antibiotics, alongside sterilisation sets and portable monitors (Xinhua dispatch, 05 Aug 2025). Although modest in absolute monetary terms—roughly 44 000 USD—the package plugs recurrent supply gaps at a facility that receives close to 400 outpatient visits daily. Health Diplomacy…

Brazzaville’s Semi-Marathon at Twenty When the starter’s pistol echoes along the banks of the Congo River on 14 August 2025, the Brazzaville International Half-Marathon (SMIB) will celebrate its twentieth edition. Born in 2005 under the aegis of the National Petroleum Company of Congo (SNPC) and held each year on the eve of Independence Day, the race has matured into a flagship of soft power, pairing athletic prowess with a festive assertion of national unity (SNPC press release, 2023). The high patronage of President Denis Sassou Nguesso underscores the state’s conviction that endurance sport can function as a consensual rallying point,…

A Resonant Weekend in Mouyondzi Under the vaulted sky of Mouyondzi’s public garden, far from the maritime bustle of Pointe-Noire, the reggae ensemble Conquering Lions unfolded two marathon performances on 31 July and 1 August. The concerts, lasting well over three hours apiece, have already joined local lore. What could have been a routine provincial tour became, by common testimony, an exercise in collective catharsis: the pulses of roots reggae merged with the polyrhythms of Central Africa, eliciting both dance and reflection among an audience that soon outnumbered the venue’s formal capacity. Soft Power and the Recalibration of Cultural Policy…

Regional Corridors at a Turning Point From the forested tri-border junction of Cameroon, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, the six-member Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) sought this July to translate continental ambition into local reality. The sixteenth Trans-Border Fair of Central Africa, widely known by its French acronym FOTRAC, unfolded over two weeks in Kyé-Ossi, Bitam and Ebibeyin, towns whose dusty arteries funnel much of the sub-region’s informal commerce. In the broader diplomatic discourse on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), corridors are often invoked as metaphors; here they were literal, throbbing with trucks, small vendors and customs…