Author: Congo Times

Brazzaville’s Agricultural Crossroads and Import Dilemma From the corn stalls of Oyo to the plantain depots of Pointe-Noire, the Republic of Congo’s food story has long been one of paradox. Vast tracts of fertile soil and dependable equatorial rainfall coexist with a structural dependence on imports that, by some estimates, covers close to seventy per cent of the country’s food basket (FAO, 2023). Rising freight costs and global supply-chain volatility have sharpened policy attention in Brazzaville, highlighting the strategic nature of agriculture not merely as a rural vocation but as a pillar of national sovereignty. The government’s most recent National…

An international commemoration resonates in Brazzaville The streets of Moungali, a district better known for its bustling markets than for solemn gatherings, momentarily fell silent on 26 June as the Centre for Action and Development (CAD) convened diplomats, students and magistrates for a conference marking the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. CAD’s executive director Trésor Nzila Kendet framed the event as a measured homage rather than an accusatory rally, insisting that “remembering the wounded does not contradict supporting the institutions charged with their protection.” The nuance mattered. In attendance were officials from the Ministry of…

Equatorial Geography and the Weight of Natural Endowments Stretching astride the Equator, the Republic of the Congo presents a striking duality: 170 kilometres of Atlantic frontage anchoring commercial expectations, and an interior carpeted by an estimated 22 million hectares of tropical rainforest (FAO 2022). The Congo River basin, still among the least industrially disturbed on the continent, retains a pivotal hydrological role for at least five neighbouring states, enhancing Brazzaville’s bargaining position in regional climate negotiations. Western lowland gorillas, forest elephants and an array of endemic flora underline the country’s designation as a biodiversity hotspot, an aspect that successive administrations…

Brazzaville stages Francophone business diplomacy The 2025 Rencontre des Entrepreneurs Francophones, convened under the patronage of President Denis Sassou Nguesso, gathered more than three thousand executives and policy-makers in Brazzaville. The forum’s purpose—nurturing South-South commercial partnerships within a French-speaking space exceeding 320 million consumers—accorded Congo-Brazzaville an opportunity to position itself as a logistical gateway between the Gulf of Guinea and the continental hinterland. In that setting, Africa Global Logistics, a subsidiary of the MSC Group operating in forty-seven African states, unveiled an aggregated investment envelope approaching one billion euros for the port of Pointe-Noire for the 2009–2027 period, thereby sealing…

A strategic announcement amid Brazzaville’s business diplomacy Three thousand entrepreneurs, financiers and policymakers converged on Brazzaville for the fifth edition of the Rencontre des entrepreneurs francophones at the end of June, an event that increasingly doubles as a stage for economic statecraft. Within this setting, Africa Global Logistics, the rebranded successor of Bolloré Africa Logistics, revealed that its cumulative outlay at the port of Pointe-Noire will approach one billion euros by 2027 (Africa Global Logistics press release, 28 June 2024). The timing was not incidental: the Congolese authorities are keen to translate diplomatic visibility into concrete capital flows to diversify…

Contextualising Congo’s Human Capital Challenge In the geopolitical conversation on Central Africa, Congo-Brazzaville is often framed through the prism of hydrocarbons. Yet the leadership in Brazzaville has, for several years, placed equal rhetorical and financial weight on a less visible asset: the demographic dividend represented by the country’s 4.5 million inhabitants, sixty per cent of whom are under thirty (World Bank, 2023). The National Development Plan 2022-2026 explicitly calls for a “knowledge-based diversification” designed to buttress macro-economic resilience as global demand for oil enters uncertain terrain. Within that plan, the university system is identified as a strategic hinge between social…

A leadership transition with continental resonance The annual general meeting of Afreximbank shareholders in Abuja closed with an announcement that reverberated far beyond the conference hall. Dr George Elombi, the Cameroonian jurist who joined the institution nearly three decades ago, was confirmed as the Bank’s fourth President, succeeding Professor Benedict Oramah in September. Delegates from 51 member states broke into sustained applause, acknowledging both Elombi’s long service and the symbolism of seeing a Central African figure at the helm of an organisation whose early leadership was dominated by West and North African technocrats (Afreximbank communiqué, 28 June 2025). Cameroon’s carefully…

Brazzaville’s Development Workshop Takes Stock On a humid afternoon in late June, the conference hall of the Cadre de concertation des organisations non gouvernementales de développement (CCOD) resonated less with rhetoric than with spreadsheets and performance indicators. The closing ceremony of the EU-financed Programme de renforcement des capacités (Precap-CCOD) marked the end of forty-two months of methodical training that touched five urban centres—Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire, Dolisie, Djambala and Ouesso. In the measured words of CCOD board chair Dominique Matondo, “tangible progress is now visible on the ground,” an assessment echoed by the EU Delegation in Kinshasa, which called the project “a…

Brazzaville’s Continuity in Blue Helmets Deployment On the broad esplanade of the Kintélé Concord Stadium, a measured choreography of salutes and flag exchanges formalised the hand-over of the Republic of Congo’s eleventh Formed Police Unit to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic. The ceremony, presided over by Minister of National Defence Charles Richard Mondjo, completed an operation that reinforces Brazzaville’s reputation as a predictable provider of security public goods in Central Africa. Over the past decade the Congolese flag has become a familiar sight in Bangui, Berbérati and Bouar. According to UN Peacekeeping statistics…

Ceremonial accreditation signals durable multilateral engagement In a measured but symbolically resonant ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 27 June, Foreign Minister Jean-Claude Gakosso accepted the letters of credence of Dr Vincent Dossou Sodjinou, the newly appointed resident representative of the World Health Organization in the Republic of Congo. The protocol moment echoed Brazzaville’s historic status as African headquarters of the WHO and confirmed the Sassou Nguesso administration’s stated preference for pragmatic, multilateral solutions to health challenges (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Congo, 2024). “The Republic of Congo remains fully committed to the WHO as…