Author: Congo Times

Academic Year Culminates Amid Optimism The closing ceremony at Saint Joseph Le Grand in Mfilou merged the solemnity of report-card distribution with the exuberance of a student-led showcase, drawing a standing ovation from parents, teachers and local officials. The scene, carefully choreographed yet disarmingly spontaneous, underscored a national calendar that has seen nearly 1.9 million Congolese pupils complete the 2023-2024 cycle, according to preliminary data from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. While end-of-term festivities are hardly new, the scale of engagement this year points to a growing realisation that ceremonial pageantry can serve as soft power in the…

A ceremonial handshake with strategic undertones Four days after presenting her credentials to President Denis Sassou Nguesso, Ambassador An Qing crossed the granite forecourt of the Ministry of National Defence in Brazzaville. Behind the formality of military salutes lay a quiet acceleration of the Sino-Congolese defence dialogue. The minister, General Charles Richard Mondjo, invoked what he called a “mature partnership anchored in mutual respect,” while the envoy spoke of ushering in a “new Golden Sixty,” a phrase that riffs on the six productive decades since diplomatic ties were forged in 1964 (Xinhua, 8 July 2024). The timing is emblematic. Brazzaville…

From Strasbourg to Brazzaville: A Career Forged in Multilateral Arenas Before her appointment as Special Adviser to President Denis Sassou Nguesso, Françoise Joly built a career that repeatedly placed her at the confluence of Franco-African relations. Formed at Sciences Po Strasbourg and later within France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, she quickly became known for her deft handling of multilateral negotiations in the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. Her transition to Brazzaville in 2017 answered a presidential wish to reinforce the Republic of Congo’s representation in global fora and to attract climate-finance opportunities that smaller economies often fail to…

A Grassroots Voice with Diplomatic Resonance Few neighbourhood names in Brazzaville carry as much emotive heft as Ouenzé, cradle of bustling markets, music troupes and collective resilience. That heritage travelled across borders with the Congolese diaspora, giving birth in 2009 to the Ouenzé Intendance Association (AOI) in the Paris metropolitan area. While formally registered as a mutual-aid organisation, the AOI has gradually acquired a quasi-diplomatic function, relaying community expectations to both French municipal authorities and the Congolese embassy. The appointment of communication specialist Roch Le Prince Okouele as president therefore transcends a mere internal reshuffle; it hints at a repositioning…

A Delegation Steps onto Xinjiang’s Resonant Stage Urumqi’s crisp autumn air greeted a delegation of thirty-five journalists drawn from Africa, Europe and Central Asia, among them a contingent from Congo-Brazzaville’s Union des journalistes. Their first appointment was the cavernous Muqam Art Theatre, a modern venue whose façade is etched with motifs echoing the Taklamakan Desert. The visit, organised by the All-China Journalists Association, sought to showcase the narrative elasticity of Uyghur Muqam, a performing art that fuses poetry, dance and melodic cycles into what many musicologists call a “sonic chronicle” of the Silk Road. An Intangible Heritage Crowned by UNESCO…

A well-choreographed academic marathon When the last scripts of the BEPC are collected on 18 July, Congo-Brazzaville will have guided more than half a million pupils through a three-stage national evaluation cycle that began with the CEPE in early June. According to data released by the Ministry of Pre-School, Primary, Secondary and Literacy Education (MEPPSA), the country’s examination calendar has remained unperturbed by the regional disruptions that have occasionally affected Central Africa’s school systems (UNESCO 2024). The smooth sequencing—from primary gateways to the baccalauréat—has been interpreted by several diplomatic observers as a sign of administrative maturity and political stability. An…

A Capital City Seeking Order Amid Rapid Demographic Growth Few African capitals have grown as quickly and as unevenly as Brazzaville. The World Bank estimates that the city’s population has doubled since the early 2000s, stretching waste-collection systems and road networks beyond their intended capacity. In that context, the Ministry of Urban Sanitation, Local Development and Road Maintenance has inaugurated a standing programme that requires every first Saturday of the month to be devoted to clearing illegal parking, informal stalls and solid waste from public spaces. Minister Juste Desiré Mondelé’s road tour through the city’s nine arrondissements last weekend gave…

Strategic Imperatives behind the Recent Shortages The sudden queues that snaked around filling stations in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire earlier this year were the visible symptom of a structural imbalance long acknowledged by policymakers. Congo’s national refinery, Coraf, meets barely sixty percent of domestic demand, leaving the remainder to volatile international markets. Rising post-pandemic mobility, increased industrial activity and the redirection of some regional flows toward Europe after the Ukrainian crisis aggravated this supply-demand gap, officials explained during a strenuous question-and-answer session at the National Assembly on 4 July. In diplomatic circles the episode was viewed less as an isolated crisis…

A geographic fulcrum between Gulf of Guinea and Great Lakes Straddling the equator and sharing borders with five neighbours, the Republic of the Congo commands a strategic corridor linking Atlantic trade routes to the heart of Central Africa. Brazzaville’s proximity to Kinshasa across the Congo River cements the urban area as the world’s most compact binational capital cluster, a fact that continues to influence transboundary infrastructure planning and security coordination. With 64 percent forest cover and a coastline that hosts the vital oil‐export terminal of Pointe-Noire, the country balances ecological assets with maritime imperatives, a duality rarely matched in the…

A New Legal Architecture for Congolese Sport With the publication of Decrees 2025-128 and 2025-129, the Ministry of Youth and Sports seeks to translate the ambitions of the July 2023 Sports Code into enforceable practice. Speaking to the press in Brazzaville, Director-General Jean Robert Bindelé framed the initiative as a decisive shift from an implicit, personality-driven culture to a written, rights-based order consistent with the Kazan Action Plan of UNESCO and the African Union’s revised Sports Charter. The move situates the Republic of Congo among a growing cohort of African states codifying sport to attract sponsorship, protect athletes and leverage…