Author: Congo Times

Brazzaville Amphitheatre Sets the Stage A warm July current floated across the Congo River as the Jean-Baptiste Tati-Loutard amphitheatre filled with academics, ministers and foreign envoys. Under the patronage of Professor Delphine Edith Emmanuel Adouki, Minister of Higher Education, the Société congolaise de psychologie opened its maiden congress, an event expressly dedicated to the late Dr. André Bouya, the country’s first psychology PhD holder. The symbolism was unmistakable: national memory intertwined with an earnest search for evidence-based responses to contemporary challenges. Bouya’s Legacy and National Academic Identity Dr. Bouya’s intellectual journey mirrors Congo-Brazzaville’s broader aspiration to craft indigenous social sciences…

A Fragile Delta Confronts an Age-Old Pathogen When health agents stationed along the braided channels of the Congo River began reporting clusters of acute watery diarrhoea in early July, memories of previous regional epidemics resurfaced instantly. Within days, the national laboratory confirmed Vibrio cholerae O1, serotype Ogawa, in two of three specimens collected on Mbamou Island, a densely populated riparian district that sits administratively within Brazzaville yet remains physically separated by water from the capital’s main banks. The Ministry of Health and Population, led by Dr Jean-Rosaire Ibara, accordingly declared an epidemic on 26 July, in line with International Health…

Early Thunder of Support in Talangaï The esplanade of Talangaï’s city hall, normally a quiet administrative enclave, reverberated last week with chants favouring a renewed mandate for President Denis Sassou Nguesso. The Association for the Development of the Liboka Axis (ADAL) gathered representatives from more than sixty villages to request, in unambiguous terms, that the head of state file his candidacy for the March 2026 election. Its chairman, engineer-turned-political-organiser Maixent Raoul Ominga, coupled the appeal with a symbolic public fund-raising drive that reportedly collected several million CFA francs in a matter of hours (Agence Congolaise d’Information). A Crescendo of Civic…

Geostrategic Location at Africa’s Equator To the seasoned diplomat, the Republic of the Congo offers a textbook reminder that geography still conditions power. Straddling the Equator, the country’s borders touch Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Angolan enclave of Cabinda, creating a geopolitical junction that is arguably disproportionate to its population of just over five million (UN DESA 2022). Brazzaville sits directly opposite Kinshasa, rendering the Congo River simultaneously a barrier and a potential economic umbilical cord between two capitals separated by barely a kilometre of water. Thanks to this singular position,…

Equatorial Crossroads and Rainforest Shield Perched astride the Equator, the Republic of the Congo occupies a geographic hinge between the Gulf of Guinea and the heart of the Congo Basin. Over two-thirds of national territory remains cloaked in primary forest, granting the country one of the planet’s most significant carbon sinks, a status acknowledged by recent United Nations Environment Programme briefings (UNEP 2023). Far from being a passive backdrop, this emerald shield offers Brazzaville diplomatic currency in global climate negotiations, allowing it to champion conservation while safeguarding sovereign developmental prerogatives. From Coastal Plain to Central Plateaus: A Mosaic of Terrains…

Equatorial Geography and Strategic Frontiers Straddling the Equator, the Republic of the Congo occupies a pivotal corridor between the Gulf of Guinea and the vast Congo Basin, bordered by six neighbours whose own security and economic fortunes are intimately intertwined with those of Brazzaville. From the littoral plain facing Atlantic trade winds to the forest-cloaked Chaillu and Mayombé massifs, relief patterns foster both connective passages and natural ramparts. Diplomats in the sub-region quietly acknowledge that this varied topography, coupled with 160 kilometres of coastline, grants the country a maritime outlook that complements its continental vocation, reinforcing its long-standing role as…

Festival Premiere Affirms Presidential Patronage On a humid July evening in Brazzaville, the velvet curtains of the National Auditorium parted to reveal more than a film: they unveiled a carefully calibrated gesture of cultural statecraft. Before an audience led by President Denis Sassou Nguesso, French-Algerian director Yamina Benguigui presented her seventy-minute documentary “Rumba congolaise, les héroïnes”. The screening served as a linchpin of the twelfth Pan-African Music Festival, a forum that, since 1996, has acted as the Republic of the Congo’s most visible instrument of soft power. Applause broke across the hall not merely for celluloid craft but for the…

Entrepreneurship as Social Cohesion At the heart of Brazzaville’s scientific city, forty Congolese citizens living with disabilities have embarked on a rigorous enterprise-management course led by the Italian NGO Comunità Sviluppo e Promozione and its local partner, the Groupement des Intellectuels et Ouvriers Handicapés du Congo. The launch, held on 24 July, was less a ceremonial ribbon-cutting than a strategic signal: economic resilience and social cohesion can advance in tandem when marginalised populations are granted the tools of self-reliance. The programme operates under the wider project “An Inclusive Approach to Disability”, co-financed by the European Union and the Episcopal Conference…

A Subtle Wake-Up Call from Brazzaville Speaking at the 1185th virtual meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council, Denis Sassou Nguesso delivered a carefully calibrated statement that blended concern with resolve. His words, “our collective patience is tested by the cyclical return of violence,” echoed the private assessments of AU diplomats who fear that the Libyan dossier could again slide down the international agenda. The Congolese leader, who has chaired the AU High-Level Committee on Libya since 2014, framed the current flare-ups in Tripoli not as isolated outbursts but as symptoms of an unfinished political transition (African Union…

Brazzaville Ceremony Elevates Intellectual Prestige Under the gilded ceilings of the Palais du Peuple, a venue historically reserved for major diplomatic overtures, President Denis Sassou Nguesso affixed the violet sash and star of the Grand-Croix to Professor Théophile Obenga. The 25 July investiture, recorded by the Agence Congolaise d’Information and relayed by regional broadcasters, reflected a carefully choreographed republican rite: military fanfare, academic robes and a presidential address that wove national unity with intellectual pursuit. By choosing a living scholar—rather than a statesman or posthumous candidate—the Head of State signalled a deliberate recalibration of the national order of merit. The…