Author: Congo Times

Equatorial Geography and Strategic Borders Threaded by the equator and buffered by five neighbours, the Republic of the Congo occupies 342 000 km² that link the Atlantic to the vast interior of Central Africa. A coastline of barely 150 kilometres gives the state an indispensable maritime window, allowing Pointe-Noire to serve as both an export valve for hydrocarbons and a regional trans-shipment hub. To the east and south, the Congo River-Ubangi complex functions as a natural highway toward Kinshasa and beyond, while the northern grasslands open corridors to the Central African Republic and Cameroon. This cartographic setting amplifies Brazzaville’s relevance…

Seville’s Forum and the Echoes of Missed SDG Deadlines The Andalusian heat could not distract delegates in Seville from the growing chill surrounding progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. Addressing the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, Congo’s Minister of International Cooperation and Public-Private Partnership, Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso, warned that the world is five years away from 2030 yet many targets remain stubbornly elusive. His remarks echoed recent United Nations data showing that only 15 percent of SDG indicators are on track (UN DESA 2024). For the minister, the culprit is less political will than an international financial…

A gift of stone and symbolism in Sibiti Sibiti, a modest yet strategically situated town in the forested department of Lékoumou, rarely commands the national spotlight. The recent ribbon-cutting ceremony, however, changed that equation. Senator Bita Madzou’s decision to finance a two-storey, F3-type headquarters for the Congolese Labour Party (PCT) has converted an architectural gesture into a political marker. At 291.84 m² on the ground floor and 333.10 m² on the upper level, the building surpasses standard provincial offices, offering a 200-plus-seat conference hall, modern archives facilities and fully furnished offices. Local newspapers described the edifice as “a new epicentre…

A Ritual of Courtesies with Geostrategic Resonance The marble corridors of the Congolese Upper House rarely host diplomatic novelties, yet the arrival of Ambassador An Qing on 3 July felt palpably different. Barely four days after presenting her letters of credence, she stepped into Senate President Pierre Ngolo’s office accompanied by a carefully curated delegation. The conversation, officially centred on “institutional and legislative cooperation”, unfolded against a broader tableau: Brazzaville’s search for reliable partners in a shifting international order and Beijing’s quest to consolidate its African partnerships (Xinhua, 2 July 2024). Speaking to the press, the ambassador underlined an intention…

A choreographed return to civic order When Minister of Sanitation, Local Development and Road Maintenance Juste Désiré Mondélé declared that “there will be no excuses” after 5 July, he encapsulated the spirit of a campaign that has become almost cyclical in Brazzaville’s recent history. Authorities argue that the capital’s arteries, many of them laid out in colonial grids never intended for a metropolis of two million inhabitants, can no longer accommodate the mushrooming of informal stalls, improvised sheds and stranded vehicles that impede traffic and compromise public health. The forthcoming operation mobilises police units, municipal agents and market committees in…

A ceremonious call for contributions in Brazzaville Under the gilded ceilings of Brazzaville’s Palais des Congrès, the Congolese Party of Labour staged a symbol-laden gathering on 9 July. Secretary-General Pierre Moussa issued a formal invitation to cadres, militants and sympathisers to subscribe to a “special contribution” destined for the party’s sixth ordinary congress. The crowd, made up of veteran revolutionaries and youthful adherents, represented the broad ideological continuum forged since the party’s creation by the late Marien Ngouabi in 1968. Senior officials explain that such early mobilisation responds to a proverb dear to Congolese political culture: one who rides far…

Urban Vibrancy Meets Acoustic Fatigue The Congolese capital rarely sleeps. From the neon-lit corridors of Poto-Poto and Moungali to informal gatherings along the Congo River, amplified music, automobile horns and late-night prayer sessions weave an auditory tapestry that many residents view as an emblem of post-pandemic revival. Yet the same soundtrack, delivered through industrial speakers often pushed beyond 90 decibels, leaves families in adjacent compounds struggling to hold conversations or find restorative sleep. Anecdotal testimonies gathered in Talangaï, Makélékélé and Bacongo reveal a growing perception that the city’s celebrated conviviality risks morphing into an everyday assault on cognitive quiet. Public…

Continental Ambitions Meet Pragmatic Realities Forecasts released by the International Monetary Fund and Afreximbank suggest that Africa’s combined merchandise trade could scale an unprecedented US$1.5 trillion next year, translating into an average expansion of 5 percent annually until 2026. The African Continental Free Trade Area, formally launched in 2021, is widely credited for providing the institutional backbone of this momentum. By lowering tariff ceilings, simplifying rules-of-origin and instilling a degree of legal predictability, the accord has already lured fresh investment into automotive assembly corridors in Morocco and Ghana as well as pharmaceutical clusters in Kenya. Yet diplomats posted to Addis…

Continental ambition meets political will In the polished conference rooms of Addis Ababa, the African Single Electricity Market moved from concept note to construction blueprint. African Union energy officials, buoyed by Ethiopia’s successful synchronisation with Sudan and Djibouti, declared that a continental grid no longer belongs to the vocabulary of pledges but of procurement. The language of megawatts, interconnectors and tariff alignment dominated the summit, yet behind the technical minutiae lurked a recognisably geopolitical narrative: electricity as a signature instrument of African integration. For the first time, delegates spoke not simply of filling generation deficits but of crafting a common…

Regulatory Milestone in Abuja Boosts Investor Sentiment The announcement in Abuja on 3 July 2025 that the National Insurance Commission had granted separate life and general licences to SanlamAllianz was more than a procedural formality. For the regulators, it represented conclusive evidence that Nigeria’s recent recalibration of solvency thresholds and prudential guidelines is paying diplomatic dividends, attracting heavyweight capital even as global risk appetite remains cautious (NAICOM press briefing, 3 July 2025). A Pan-African Pact Finds Local Expression The licences anchor the strategic alliance unveiled by South Africa’s Sanlam and Germany’s Allianz in 2022, a union spanning twenty-seven African jurisdictions.…