Author: Merveille Ilunga

A Double Bereavement for the African Red Cross The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies confirmed that two eminent statesmen of African humanitarianism passed away in 2025. Dr François-Xavier Buyoya, emeritus president of the Burundi Red Cross, succumbed on 9 September after three years of illness, while his Nigerien counterpart, President Ali Bandiare, died on 28 February at eighty-three. News of their departure has reverberated throughout the continent, stirring tributes that underscore both men’s stature as architects of a more assertive, continent-wide Red Cross engagement. From Manila to Brazzaville: Forging an Ambitious Agenda Their shared ascent began…

Diaspora Spark, Local Echo Under the noon heat that crowns the Moukoundzi Ngouaka School of Fine Arts, Alioty shoulders his canvas bag and recalls a not-so-distant era dominated by lightened faces. “It began with those coming back from the diaspora,” he reflects, underscoring how returning Congolese once displayed chemically brightened complexions that soon became aspirational for younger residents in Brazzaville and the hinterland. The practice, which initially trickled in as a symbol of cosmopolitan mobility, rapidly fashioned its own local following, turning cosmetic shops into discreet apothecaries of depigmenting lotions. Colonial Shadows on the Mirror Sociologist Eric Aimé Kouizoulou locates…

A Sunday Journey That Ended in Tragedy Dawn had barely broken on 21 September when the Stelimac inter-city bus left Brazzaville for the Atlantic hub of Pointe-Noire. Somewhere along the winding section of National 1 bordering the village of Ngamandzambala, the driver lost control and the vehicle plunged into a roadside drainage ditch. Emergency services dispatched from Kinkala confirmed two fatalities at the scene and evacuated several wounded passengers to district medical facilities, according to an initial communiqué from the Ministry of Transports. While the human toll remains provisional, the emotional shock is already tangible among families and fellow travellers.…

A commemorative act of solidarity On 19 September, the discreet courtyard of the Marien-Ngouabi Integrated Health Centre in Talangaï briefly resembled a logistics hub. Cartons sealed with the blue crest of the Julia-Bouya Foundation were unloaded one after another before being dispatched to neighbouring Moukondo, in Moungali. The operation, led by Dorel Eyobelé—personal representative of foundation president Débora Nyanguila—coincided with the fourth anniversary of Julia Bouya’s death, an occasion the organisation prefers to mark through concrete action rather than solemn speeches. “Madame Bouya believed in practical compassion,” Eyobelé recalled, adding that the donation sought “to strengthen front-line facilities where the…

A strategic handshake between health and security Few capitals illustrate the contemporary fusion between public health and national security as vividly as Brazzaville. The courtesy call of Dr Vincent Sodjinou, freshly accredited World Health Organization Representative to the Republic of Congo, on Defence Minister Charles Richard Mondjo rapidly evolved into a strategic conversation about containing the current cholera episode. What began as a formal presentation of credentials became a working session on how military lift capacity, field hospitals and disciplined manpower can reinforce epidemiological surveillance and rapid response teams already deployed by the Ministry of Health. The swift pivot from…

Cholera Response in Congo-Brazzaville: Current Data When the Ministry of Health and Population formally declared a cholera outbreak on 26 July 2025, epidemiologists were already witnessing a worrying acceleration on Île Mbamou. By 4 August, official tallies recorded 335 suspected cases, 29 fatalities and 234 recoveries, numbers that have since stabilised according to the latest situation report (Ministry of Health, 2025). The government’s incident-management framework, refined after previous water-borne emergencies, immediately activated surveillance cells, deployed mobile laboratories and issued stringent hygiene advisories. “The window for containment was narrow, but decisive action prevented exponential spread,” observed Dr Vincent Sossou Soudjinou, WHO…

Humanitarian Diplomacy at the Heart of Congo’s Business Capital In a city better known for its bustling deep-sea port and hydrocarbon terminals, a quieter operation has been gathering momentum. On 21 June, at the Centre Polio of Pointe-Noire, more than one hundred elderly and economically fragile residents filed patiently to receive parcels of rice, cooking oil and salted fish. The distribution, orchestrated by Caritas Pointe-Noire under the pastoral guidance of Archbishop Abel Liluala, marked the launch of a quarterly food-aid cycle that speaks volumes about the evolving architecture of social protection in the Republic of Congo. While Caritas has long…

A Civic Initiative Aligned with National Health Objectives When the Association Saint François de Sales for Action and Solidarity, better known by its French acronym ASSAB, opens the doors of its mobile clinics on 27 August, the gesture will echo far beyond the immediate gift of vision. wp-signup.phped in France in 2005 and formally recognised in Congo-Brazzaville in 2017, ASSAB has built a reputation for discreet yet effective interventions in education and health. Its latest venture—a week-long campaign of free ophthalmic consultations and the distribution of prescription glasses—speaks to a broader alignment with the government’s ambition to bring essential primary…

A Firm Reminder from the Prefect of Likouala Under the humid dawn light of Impfondo’s main square, Prefect Jean Pascal Koumba raised the tricolour and, in measured tones, invited his departmental directors to remain physically and morally present at their desks. His admonition, delivered during the weekly flag-hoisting ceremony, was more than a ritual lecture. It was a carefully timed reminder that the credibility of local governance often rests on simple assiduity. According to dispatches from the Agence Congolaise d’Information, a non-negligible number of senior civil servants have decamped to Brazzaville or Pointe-Noire, leaving junior staff to navigate budgets, payrolls…

A Transcontinental Midwife in Pointe-Noire When Marion Daron arrived in Congo-Brazzaville ten years ago as the spouse of a petroleum engineer, she carried in her luggage a French midwifery diploma and experience gathered in London’s National Health Service and a mission hospital in the Philippines. Five births on three continents later, the idea of structuring that itinerant expertise into a service for other families in motion took shape. In September 2023 she wp-signup.phped Naissances Nomades in Pointe-Noire, the country’s economic capital, with the stated purpose of “making every posting a safe place to give life.” The company deploys prenatal classes…