Author: Emmanuel Mbala

Brazzaville ceremony underscores national cohesion The New Year greetings offered by the constitutional bodies and the nation’s “forces vives” to the presidential couple, held on 7 January at the Palais des Congrès, unfolded as a carefully choreographed moment of civic communion. Across the successive interventions, a shared vocabulary prevailed: peace, stability and development. The setting and tone were consistent with a long-standing republican tradition in which institutions and representative components of society publicly reaffirm their attachment to the state, the continuity of public action and the primacy of social harmony. In a political calendar that already looks toward the presidential…

Congo-Brazzaville 2026 election: a majority line reaffirmed The curtain has fallen on the sixth ordinary congress of the Congolese Labour Party (Parti Congolais du Travail, PCT), a political gathering that served not merely as an internal party milestone but as a platform for the broader presidential majority to restate its shared orientation ahead of the March 2026 presidential election. Among the congress’s various resolutions, one dominated the political horizon: the call for President Denis Sassou N’Guesso to present his candidacy for 2026, a position described in the proceedings as unanimous among the PCT and its allied parties. In the language…

Brazzaville New Year ceremony at the Palais du Peuple On Tuesday 6 January 2026, President Denis Sassou-N’Guesso, accompanied by Mrs Antoinette Sassou-N’Guesso, received at the Palais du Peuple in Brazzaville the members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Republic of the Congo for the customary New Year wishes ceremony. The event, held in a solemn setting, remains one of the most codified moments of the diplomatic calendar and a visible marker of institutional continuity. In the Congolese protocol tradition, the ceremony brings together heads of diplomatic and consular missions and representatives of international organisations. It provides a formal space…

Strategic Planning for a Peaceful 2026 Ballot Security for the forthcoming presidential election, scheduled for March 2026, has been elevated to a national priority by the Congolese public forces. According to the Chief of the General Staff, General Guy Blanchard Okoï, an initial conference devoted to operational planning has already delineated the tactical framework and logistical support to be extended to all institutions steering the electoral process. Pending further guidance from President Denis Sassou Nguesso, the constitutionally designated supreme commander, the armed forces are rehearsing scenarios designed to guarantee a serene, law-abiding and transparently organised ballot. Recruitment Drives Anchor Operational…

From Oil Boardrooms to Party Diplomacy The promotion of Katia Mounthault-Tatu to Secretary for External Relations and Cooperation within the Congolese Labour Party (PCT) crowns a trajectory that began far from the corridors of partisan life. For close to a decade she directed institutional and public affairs for the American major Chevron in the Republic of Congo, orchestrating stakeholder dialogue in the complex energy sector. Colleagues recall a negotiator able to “translate corporate imperatives into language intelligible for regulators and communities”, a skill now prized in party diplomacy. Her passage from multinational boardrooms to the Permanent Secretariat suggests a deliberate…

Presidential Charge to the Nation’s Guardians Against the festive backdrop of the traditional New Year’s “réveillon d’armes” in Brazzaville, President Denis Sassou Nguesso, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, delivered a charge that will set the tone of public life for the next fifteen months. The head of state instructed the Force Publique to “invest fully” in securing the presidential election scheduled for March 2026, ensuring that the poll unfolds “in peace, transparency and national unity”. His words, broadcast live on public television and relayed by the national press agency, framed security not as a routine assignment but as the…

Dawn Announcement Ends Brazzaville Suspense The first hours of 1 January 2026 witnessed a discreet yet consequential proclamation at the Ben’tsi Gardens, where delegates of the Congolese Party of Labour (PCT) concluded the extended sessions of their sixth ordinary congress. After an all-night vigil that eclipsed traditional New Year revelries, the 2 000 congress participants endorsed Pierre Moussa for a second five-year tenure as Secretary-General, effective until 31 December 2030. The decision, communicated shortly after daybreak, resolved weeks of conjecture surrounding the renewal of the party’s highest executive organs. According to organisers, the unexpected prolongation of proceedings—initially scheduled to end…

A Congress Stage Set for Continuity Brazzaville’s Palais des Congrès, draped in the red of the Congolese Party of Labour, provided the setting for a carefully choreographed moment of political theatre. Delegates closing the sixth ordinary congress on the thirty-first rose in unison to acclaim President Denis Sassou Nguesso, answering the call issued at the opening session for him to stand once more in the presidential race scheduled for March 2026. The endorsement was subsequently formalised through an investiture motion, transforming collective acclaim into an official party mandate. “We Still Need His Experience” Explaining the decision, PCT Secretary-General Pierre Moussa…

A Voice from Europe Resonates in Brazzaville The cavernous Palais des Congrès of Brazzaville seldom falls silent, yet on 29 December a particular hush preceded the intervention of Guy Anatole Elenga. The Central Committee member, who also presides over the Congolese Labour Party’s European Federation (PCT-Europe), took the podium during the Sixth Ordinary Congress and addressed roughly 3,000 delegates from every department of the Republic of the Congo. His mission, he said, was to ‘translate the pulse of our compatriots abroad into an actionable agenda at home’. According to media outlets covering the event, his twenty-minute speech was met with…

A Workshop of Consensus in Brazzaville Over three intensive days in late December, jurists, traditional leaders, private-sector actors and international partners convened in Brazzaville under the aegis of the Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Promotion of Indigenous Peoples. Their task was both technical and symbolic: to validate the draft decree setting out special measures for securing Indigenous customary land rights. By the closing session, consensus had formed around a text that aims to translate the spirit of Law 5-2011 into enforceable property titles. From Constitutional Principle to Enforceable Title Articles 31 and 32 of the 2011 statute recognise the…