Author: Merveille Ilunga

A Strategic Signature in Brazzaville The signing ceremony of 5 August in the marble-lined hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs drew a modest but symbolically dense audience of diplomats and senior civil servants. Minister of International Cooperation and Public-Private Partnerships Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso and Japanese Ambassador Hidetoshi Ogawa affixed their signatures to a document that had been negotiated for close to two years with the Japan International Cooperation Agency. The accord, described by the Congolese minister as “an engineering manual for shared prosperity”, frames future missions, the legal status of Japanese experts, and the financial channels through which…

A National Imperative in a Regional Context Malaria remains the first cause of outpatient consultation in many Central African states, yet Congo-Brazzaville has wp-signup.phped a gradual decline in incidence since 2015, a trend corroborated by the World Health Organization’s 2023 World Malaria Report. Sustaining that momentum has become a cornerstone of President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s social agenda, evidenced by the recent decision of the Council of Ministers to accelerate universal coverage with long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs). The department of Pool, bordering the capital and intersecting vital transport corridors, was selected as an early beneficiary of the 2023-2024 distribution because population…

An Unexpected Comeback on Brussels Stage When Ley de Mamad’u stepped onto a modest Belgian stage in April 2025 to preview “Taxi-moto”, few anticipated the ripple that a three-minute rumba track could send through Congo-Brazzaville’s sizeable diaspora community. Better known at home as “Sugar Daddy” for his velvety baritone, the artist had receded from the spotlight since his 2020 ballad “La Paix” became an unofficial soundtrack to post-election reconciliation rallies. His current re-emergence, strategically unveiled in Europe before reaching the Congolese airwaves, reflects an increasingly common pattern among Central African musicians who test new material on the diaspora circuit, then…

A Timely Infusion of Medical Resources The arrival in early August of pharmaceuticals and surgical equipment worth 27.51 million FCFA at the Sino-Congolese Friendship Hospital of Mfilou has generated measured optimism among practitioners in Brazzaville. Handed over by Dr Wang Zhitao, head of the 28th Chinese medical mission, to senior health-ministry official Donatien Moukassa, the consignment comprises anti-inflammatories, antimalarials and broad-spectrum antibiotics, alongside sterilisation sets and portable monitors (Xinhua dispatch, 05 Aug 2025). Although modest in absolute monetary terms—roughly 44 000 USD—the package plugs recurrent supply gaps at a facility that receives close to 400 outpatient visits daily. Health Diplomacy…

A coastal seminar that echoed beyond belle-lettres The sea breeze that drifts through Pointe-Noire’s storied Cercle Africain carried, on 19 July, an unmistakable whiff of diplomacy. Beneath the art-deco arches of the former colonial club, Café Prud’homme convened a seminar that was ostensibly literary but palpably political in its subtext. The protagonist of the afternoon, Bernard Moussoki, presented three recent works—“Dieu nous parle” volumes I and II, and “Le devoir de s’asseoir : construire l’unité du couple”. The event attracted theologians, diplomats stationed on the coast and an attentive local public, all of whom probed the author’s scriptural hermeneutics and…

Contextualising Rabat’s Gesture The 30 July directive issued by King Mohammed VI, in his capacity as Chairman of the Al-Qods Committee, constitutes more than an emergency relief order; it is the latest articulation of Morocco’s consistent alignment with Palestinian aspirations. Since the 1975 creation of the Committee within the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, successive Moroccan monarchs have sought to frame the Jerusalem dossier as both a moral imperative and a diplomatic lever. Against a backdrop of recurrent escalations in and around Gaza, the decision to mobilise an estimated 180 tonnes of life-saving goods demonstrates the Palace’s willingness to convert political…

Setting the diplomatic stage for child welfare When the Ministry of Social Affairs convened policy-makers and foreign partners in Brazzaville on 31 July, the atmosphere bore the formal gravitas of a board of review rather than the celebratory tone often attached to development milestones. Eight years after the Republic of Congo and UNICEF jointly launched the Integrated Child Protection System, or Sipe, the pilot phase in Sibiti and Brazzaville’s Moungali district finally underwent a comprehensive assessment. The event, conducted under the discreet gaze of ambassadors and technical counsellors, placed Congo’s child-protection credentials squarely under the analytical lens of international standards…

Rapid Response Medicine in the Cuvette Heartland At dawn on 23 July the central courtyard of the 31 July 1968 General Hospital in Owando filled with families from the Cuvette department and beyond, each carrying the hope that a long-delayed consultation might finally be within reach. Branded “Operation Health Punch”, the ten-day campaign was conceived by the parliamentary platform Dynamique Owando Pluriel and executed in concert with the Ministry of Health and Population. By day’s end cardiologists, nephrologists and surgeons had screened more than three hundred patients for conditions ranging from under-treated malaria to complicated hernias, all at no cost…

A Fragile Delta Confronts an Age-Old Pathogen When health agents stationed along the braided channels of the Congo River began reporting clusters of acute watery diarrhoea in early July, memories of previous regional epidemics resurfaced instantly. Within days, the national laboratory confirmed Vibrio cholerae O1, serotype Ogawa, in two of three specimens collected on Mbamou Island, a densely populated riparian district that sits administratively within Brazzaville yet remains physically separated by water from the capital’s main banks. The Ministry of Health and Population, led by Dr Jean-Rosaire Ibara, accordingly declared an epidemic on 26 July, in line with International Health…

A Convergence of Health Narratives in Dakar The signing in Dakar of a two-year renewable cooperation accord between the Association Galien Africa and the Réseau des Médias Africains pour la Promotion de la Santé et de l’Environnement constitutes more than a formal alignment of intentions; it heralds a deliberate attempt to restructure the very architecture of health communication on the continent. By pledging to harmonise media coverage, research dissemination and capacity-building, the agreement positions public discourse as a decisive instrument of health governance, a premise increasingly advanced by the World Health Organization in its advocacy for ‘infodemic management’ (WHO, 2022).…