Author: Emmanuel Mbemba

Diaspora Talent as Soft Power Asset In many contemporary capitals, sports are no longer perceived merely as entertainment but as an extension of foreign policy. Brazzaville is no exception. The Republic of Congo has seen a growing cohort of Europe-based footballers transform weekend scorelines into subtle instruments of national influence. By wearing club jerseys across the continent while remaining proudly Congolese, these athletes weave a narrative of resilience and aspiration that reflects positively on their homeland, a vision discreetly encouraged by the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education. The policy architecture became clearer in late 2022 when the cabinet adopted…

Record BEPC 2025 Pass Rate Marks Historic Milestone The Republic of Congo has released the results of the 2025 Brevet d’Études du Premier Cycle, and the figures are arresting: 84 111 successful candidates out of 123 515, translating into a national pass rate of 68.1 %. The announcement, delivered by Minister of Pre-School, Primary, Secondary Education and Literacy Jean Luc Mouthou on the eve of the 15 August Independence Day festivities, positions the examination session as the most successful of the past ten years, according to ministry records. In a region where secondary transition rates have hovered around 56 %…

A Regulatory Imperative Under Strain Article 58 of the 2001 Congolese Highway Code obliges every motor vehicle to display a clearly readable registration plate. The rule echoes international norms endorsed by the Economic Community of Central African States and is designed to facilitate taxation, insurance and crime prevention. In practice, however, urban arteries in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire increasingly host cars, SUVs and even official pick-ups with missing or blurred plates, a phenomenon corroborated by recent roadside controls reported in the daily Les Dépêches de Brazzaville (March 2024). Security Concerns and Public Sentiment Residents interviewed by community radio station Radio Mucodec…

A Timely Milestone in Congo Presidential Politics On 28–29 June 2025 the Parti pour l’Action de la République, better known by its acronym P.A.R, closed its first extraordinary congress in Brazzaville with a unanimous resolution: the formation of a structured primary to designate its single standard-bearer for the March 2026 presidential poll. Party leader Anguios Nganguia Engambé, whose organisation constitutes a legal opposition force, described the decision as “an act of responsible pluralism within the constitutional order” (Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 30 June 2025). Since the adoption of the 2015 Constitution, presidential elections in the Republic of Congo follow a…

Youth Employment Stakes in Congo’s Waste Ecosystem Across the Republic of Congo, the demographic surge of citizens under thirty forms a reservoir of talent and energy that, if insufficiently channelled, risks becoming a source of socio-economic strain. The World Bank estimates youth unemployment in the country at around 42 per cent, a figure that underscores the urgency of creating labour-intensive niches compatible with limited start-up capital (World Bank, 2022). Household waste, paradoxically abundant in Brazzaville where roughly a thousand tonnes are generated each day, is emerging as such a niche. By transforming rubbish into revenue, young Congolese are asserting economic…

Government-backed fair spotlights artisanal excellence The vast courtyard of the Palais des Congrès has taken on the air of a bustling craft village as more than one hundred stalls display hand-carved beds, polished mahogany armchairs and woven raphia handbags. The fourth edition of the Salon des Métiers du Bois, running from 11 to 25 August, was opened by the Minister of Industrial Development and the Promotion of the Private Sector, who described the exhibition as “a living laboratory of Congolese know-how”. Official figures indicate that some 70 percent of the exhibitors come from the nation’s interior departments, suggesting a deliberate…

Historical Foundations Shaping Contemporary Governance Long before the modern state emerged, the lands that now form the Republic of the Congo were knitted together by vigorous Bantu-speaking polities whose riverine commerce connected the Atlantic coast to the heart of Central Africa. French annexation in the late nineteenth century eventually folded the territory into French Equatorial Africa, and the proclamation of the republic in 1958 initiated a constitutional trajectory distinct from neighbouring former colonies. Independence came on 15 August 1960, yet the ideological inflection that followed—most conspicuously the Marxist-Leninist interlude of 1969-1992—imprinted a lasting state-centric vision of development. The 1997 civil…

Brazzaville as Pilot Site for the Mattei Blueprint When Italian Ambassador Enrico Nunziata stood beside Minister Léon Juste Ibombo in Brazzaville on 22 July, the symbolism was deliberate. By confirming that the Republic of the Congo would serve as the inaugural laboratory for the Mattei Plan’s start-up window, Rome placed a diplomatic wager on one of Central Africa’s most stable political environments. Signed in Rome on 19 June, the bilateral memorandum anticipates a roll-out capable of accompanying up to half a million African ventures over the next decade, with Congo’s experience expected to shape subsequent deployments across the continent (Italian…

Strategic Lifeline for Pool Region By launching the 86-kilometre Mpiem–Kindamba rehabilitation on 8 August 2025, Minister of Urban Sanitation, Local Development and Road Maintenance Juste Désiré Mondelé signalled Brazzaville’s intent to address one of the Pool Department’s most persistent logistical bottlenecks (Ministry press release, 8 Aug 2025). The earthen strip linking the small trading post of Mpiem to Kindamba, and from there to Kimba and Vinza, has long been the only artery through which cassava, peanuts and charcoal reach urban centres. Seasonal deterioration frequently isolates entire communities for weeks, inflating transport costs and eroding household incomes. Local administrators interviewed by…

Strategic Geography and Demography In the cartography of Central Africa, the Republic of the Congo occupies a linchpin position between the Gulf of Guinea and the Congo River basin, providing Brazzaville with a natural vantage point over both Atlantic maritime routes and deep continental hinterlands. Stretching from mangrove-lined littorals to equatorial rainforests, the territory offers an exceptional range of ecological assets. Satellite data released by the Central African Forest Initiative in 2023 indicate that more than 60 percent of Congo’s 342,000 km² remain under primary forest cover, a carbon sink that places the country at the forefront of global climate…