Author: Emmanuel Mbala

Field command in the 7th district On 12 September 2025, well before the tropical dusk settled over Brazzaville, the Commander of the Congolese Police, General André Fils Obami Itou, arrived unannounced in the streets of Mfilou, the capital’s populous seventh arrondissement. Flanked by the district’s mayor, Bibiane Kouloumbou, he crossed the dusty esplanade where block leaders and quartier chiefs had gathered after a summons issued barely twenty-four hours earlier. According to a communiqué from the Ministry of the Interior released the same evening, the visit formed part of a broader series of “citizen encounters” launched in early September to recalibrate…

Ocean-side mobilisation for December’s Congress A carefully choreographed gathering at the Port Autonome de Pointe-Noire drew a dense crowd of militants and sympathisers as Political Commissioner Firmin Ayessa formally opened the sixth Conference of Committee Presidents for the city’s federation of the Congolese Party of Labour. The event, held on 14 September, served a dual purpose: consolidating ideological training and launching the special contribution destined to underwrite the party’s sixth Ordinary Congress scheduled for December. Ayessa’s opening address set the tone. “Each of you will leave this political school armed with the qualitative surplus required to invigorate the party’s structures,”…

Presidential Envoy Reaches Out to Paris-Based Expatriates The marbled hall of an association venue in northern Paris briefly echoed Brazzaville’s cadenced French on 13 September. Rodrigue Malanda-Samba, political adviser to President Denis Sassou Nguesso, convened a second “rencontre citoyenne” with the Congolese diaspora. The emissary’s message was unequivocal: “The authorities only wish to see you come home, and no one will be jailed for doing so.” His declaration, delivered in measured yet confident tones, sought to dispel lingering apprehensions among expatriates who fear judicial or political reprisals upon return. A Measured Response to Security Concerns Several interlocutors raised the spectre…

Parliamentary Voice Marks International Democracy Day The marble-floored hemicycle in Brazzaville resonated with a unanimous declaration as the National Assembly joined the global observance of International Democracy Day, instituted by the United Nations in 2008. Reading the statement on behalf of the bureau, Second Secretary Alain Pascal Leyinda emphasised that democracy, in the Congolese understanding, reaches far beyond electoral choreography and constitutes “a daily ethic of dignity, participation, transparency and justice”. By anchoring its message to this year’s United Nations theme—“Achieving gender equality, action by action”—the lower chamber asserted that the aspiration to inclusive governance is not rhetorical ornament but…

Dialogue in the French Capital Reignites National Cohesion The gilded hall of the Palais des Glaces rarely resonates with such fervent patriotism. Yet on 13 September it became the epicentre of a carefully curated “citizen encounter” bringing together several hundred Congolese expatriates, senior embassy staff and, above all, Rodrigue Malanda-Samba, head of the Presidential Political Department. Flanked by Minister-Counsellor Armand Rémy Balloud-Tabawe and diaspora adviser Larissa Ondzie Ongogni, he unfolded a discourse whose leitmotif—union—echoed throughout the proceedings, setting a tone of dialogue rather than diatribe. Historical Memory Anchors the Search for Unity In his opening remarks, the adviser recalled that…

Opposition unity takes shape before the 2026 vote Forty delegates gathered on 14 September, some physically in Brazzaville and others connected by videoconference, to give institutional flesh to the Rassemblement des forces du changement (RFC). Three months after an interim steering committee was announced, the coalition has opted for a durable hierarchy intended to survive the intense pre-electoral season stretching to March 2026. The atmosphere inside the hall was described as studious rather than euphoric, a sign, participants argued, of the gravity of the task. Several speakers recalled that the country’s next presidential election will take place under the 2015…

UNESCO leadership showdown grips two hemispheres Few elections at a UN agency have so vividly dramatised the global rebalancing of influence as the campaign for UNESCO’s next Director-General. On one side stands Firmin Edouard Matoko, a Congolese national who has spent thirty-five years within the organisation; on the other, Egypt’s Khaled El-Enany, archaeologist and former minister of antiquities. What might appear as a simple bureaucratic succession has become, in the words of Le Continent Magazine, “an opposition of substance between reformist universalism and organised regional diplomacy”. Chronology of a contested nomination Contrary to insinuations that Brazzaville hesitated, the Congolese dossier…

High-Level Mission Courts Latin America The Republic of Congo has entered a decisive phase in its campaign to steer Firmin Édouard Matoko toward the helm of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. After a constructive stop in Santiago, Minister of State Pierre Mabiala—who also oversees Land Affairs and relations with Parliament—led a delegation to Asunción, the Paraguayan capital, on 10 September. By deploying a ministerial envoy rather than a purely diplomatic team, Brazzaville signalled that the race for UNESCO is not a routine posting but a priority dossier under the direct guidance of President Denis Sassou Nguesso. The…

A local initiative with nationwide resonance The narrow, sun-drenched streets of Djiri, Brazzaville’s ninth arrondissement, have found a new rhythm since the Ministry of Territorial Administration officially launched the revision of the national electoral wp-signup.php. At the heart of this effervescence stands the “Dynamique Jeunesse de Djiri”, a civic platform steered by Samarange Gordani Poukouo, whose volunteers weave through courtyards and kiosks urging neighbours to seize what they describe as a “historic window” for influence. “We invite every young person to enrol so that the next ballot will echo their aspirations,” Poukouo told our newsroom during an evening debrief on…

Momentum builds around the Majority Elephant platform Less than half a year separates the Republic of Congo from its next presidential election and, in Brazzaville, the mood is unmistakably pre-electoral. Party headquarters have resumed late-night meetings, itinerant caravans and the finely tuned choreography of candidate positioning. Within the ruling majority, preparations crystallise around an organism whose very name evokes mass and steadiness: the Elephant platform. On 27 May, leaders of the parties allied to President Denis Sassou Nguesso adopted core texts—statutes and internal regulations—while renewing their pledge to work for his re-election. Their decision to retain the Elephant as logo…