Author: Congo Times

Student Activism Meets Institutional Support The restless hum of preparatory meetings is already palpable in Brazzaville’s academic corridors. At the centre stands the Association Zéro Violence en Milieu Scolaire et Universitaire (Azvmsu), founded in 2022 and operational since March 2025, whose chair, Joséline Mansounga Moumossi, has set her sights on an ambitious objective: transforming the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, observed each 25 November, into a watershed moment for Congo-Brazzaville’s campuses. Mansounga Moumossi recently held extended talks with Clara Mathurine Osseté Mberi Moukietou, Executive Secretary of the Council Consultative of Women. The encounter, described by both…

Youthful energies set for the Sony Labou Tansi stage A quiet but palpable effervescence is building in Brazzaville’s artistic circles. On 7 December, the first notes of the Vision 2010 competition will resonate within the wood-panelled auditorium of the Sony Labou Tansi Cultural Circle, ushering in four consecutive Sundays devoted to discovering the country’s next wave of vocal talent. Coordinated by the producer and cultural entrepreneur Damase Bouozock, the programme gathers fifteen performers whose average age barely surpasses twenty-three, yet whose ambition is already anchored in a wider national conversation about the creative economy. Rallying the creative economy around a…

Historic solidarity shapes contemporary diplomacy When Ambassador Mziwamadoda Uppington Kalako took his seat in the ochre-walled office of Senate President Pierre Ngolo on 11 November, the meeting was more than a routine courtesy call. It resurrected a political fraternity forged during the struggle against apartheid, a chapter in which the Republic of the Congo provided refuge and diplomatic cover to South African liberation leaders. That legacy, underscored by the ambassador’s public gratitude, now underpins a forward-looking agenda that places parliamentary cooperation at the heart of bilateral relations. A conversation focused on legislative learning According to both interlocutors, the immediate objective…

Strategic Gatherings in Kintélé Reinforce Unity From 31 October to 4 November 2025, the riverside conference centre of Kintélé became the diplomatic heart of Africa’s oil industry. The twenty-fifth statutory session of the APPO Executive Council and the forty-eighth Council of Ministers assembled delegates from the organisation’s eighteen member states, a constellation that together accounts for almost half of the continent’s proven crude reserves (APPO communiqué, 1 Nov. 2025). Presiding over the proceedings, Congolese Minister of Hydrocarbons Bruno Jean-Richard Itoua opened the deliberations by commending the “spirit of unity and professionalism” that has allowed the once-understated institution to gain strategic…

A ceremonial launch under high institutional auspices From 30 to 31 October 2025 the marble halls of the Palais des Congrès in Brazzaville hosted the inaugural and first ordinary sessions of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, marking the formal beginning of the 2025-2029 mandate. The newly appointed councillors – invested by presidential decree n° 2025-173 of 13 May 2025 – took their seats under the gavel of Madam Émilienne Raoul, whose renewed presidency symbolises institutional continuity. Prime Minister Anatole Collinet Makosso, representing President Denis Sassou Nguesso, delivered the opening address before an audience that included cabinet members, parliamentarians and…

Angola marks 50 years of sovereignty Luanda awoke on 11 November to ceremonial cannon fire and a tricolour sky, as the Republic of Angola commemorated the proclamation of independence issued at the same hour in 1975. The fiftieth anniversary, framed by the motto “Preserve national gains”, attracted citizens from all eighteen provinces and a sizeable diaspora contingent that flowed toward the imposing António Agostinho Neto Memorial esplanade, now firmly inscribed in the urban iconography of the capital. Government sources estimated the attendance at over 40 000 participants, in addition to foreign delegations representing regional organisations and traditional partners (ANGOP, 12…

A strategic appointment for national literacy The modest but solemn ceremony held in Brazzaville on 7 November 2025 placed the question of literacy at the very centre of the government’s educational agenda. By installing Remy Alain Blaise Boumba as Director-General for Literacy and Non-Formal Education (DGAENF), the Minister of Pre-School, Primary, Secondary Education and Literacy, Jean-Luc Mouthou, reaffirmed the executive’s resolve to accelerate the reduction of illiteracy across the Republic of Congo. The presidential decree of 3 November had already signalled the Head of State’s confidence in the 61-year-old pedagogue; the investiture brought that decree to life, underlining the strategic…

World Stroke Day: A Timely Reminder for Congo Every 29 October, the international community pauses to observe World Stroke Day, an initiative designed to sharpen public vigilance against a disease that has climbed to the second leading cause of death worldwide and remains the foremost cause of acquired disability in adults. In Brazzaville, the commemoration has grown in resonance: emergency physicians and community advocates deploy media campaigns, street screenings and hospital open days to impress upon citizens that a stroke is as much a race against time as it is against biology. The overarching message is unambiguous—recognise the warning signs…

SITEC forum places entrepreneurship at the centre of national strategy Few venues capture the pulse of Congo-Brazzaville’s evolving economic narrative better than the Salon de l’innovation, de la technologie et de l’entrepreneuriat (SITEC). Its second edition, convened on 11 November in Brazzaville, opened with an unambiguous message: the Republic’s demographic dividend will translate into prosperity only if the younger generation embraces entrepreneurship on an unprecedented scale. Throughout the day, policymakers, executives and scholars converged on one theme—unlocking youth potential so that tomorrow’s economy is not merely consumed but consciously built by Congolese hands. Statistical evidence of a gathering momentum Delivering…

A Strategic Compass for National Learning In a ceremony held on 11 November 2025 at Pefaco Hotel Maya-Maya in Brazzaville, Congolese authorities and their partners from UNESCO and the International Bureau of Education validated the country’s first Curriculum Orientation Framework, known by its French acronym COC. The manuscript, delivered to senior officials including Joseph Bizard, interim chief-of-staff to the Minister of Pre-school, Primary, Secondary Education and Literacy, crystallises years of collective reflection on how to anchor schooling in national values while opening pupils to global competencies. Mrs Marlène Omolongo, speaking on behalf of UNESCO’s representative in Congo, saluted “a shared…