Author: Patrick Kasongo

Kigali hosts the 46th Francophonie Ministerial Under a gentle November sun the Rwandan capital offered a resonant stage for the 46th Ministerial Conference of La Francophonie, held on 19 and 20 November. Foreign ministers and senior envoys from the organisation’s 88 members gathered to ponder an agenda framed by the theme “Thirty Years after Beijing: Women’s Contribution in the Francophone Space”. Far from a routine diplomatic exercise, the debates produced a shared conviction that the initial promises of the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women must now translate into binding political commitments inside each francophone state. Opening statements from the…

All Saints’ Day in Brazzaville: a gesture of state empathy Shortly after ten o’clock on the morning of 1 November, the stillness of the Mokondzi-Ngouaka cemetery in Makélékélé was pierced by the solemn cadences of the hymn to the dead. Flanked by local officials and a discreet guard of honour, the Minister of Urban Sanitation, Local Development and Road Maintenance, Juste Désiré Mondélé, advanced between weather-worn headstones and placed a wreath of fresh flowers before a stone cross. The offering, modest in form yet potent in symbolism, embodied what the minister later called “a moment of remembrance, but also an…

Brazzaville and UNICEF at a Diplomatic Crossroads When Foreign Minister Jean-Claude Gakosso welcomed Mariavittoria Ballotta, the newly appointed UNICEF Representative to the Republic of Congo, the encounter carried significance extending well beyond the courtesies of protocol. In a region where demographic dynamics are rapidly reshaping economic and social agendas, the alignment between the Congolese administration and the United Nations Children’s Fund arrives at a pivotal juncture. According to the official communiqués released in Brazzaville, both interlocutors emphasised the need to translate the government’s Vision 2025 and the National Development Plan into tangible improvements in child welfare, in consonance with the…

A Symbol Born of Nation-Building Since its formalisation by Decree n° 85-1410 in December 1985, the Coupe du Congo has operated as more than an annual sporting fixture; it has been a civic ritual entwined with the 15 August independence celebrations. Successive finals, traditionally presided over by the Head of State or his envoy, have reinforced the event’s role as a unifier, portraying football as a soft-power instrument capable of melding regional identities into a single national narrative (UNESCO report on Sport and Peace, 2023). The competition’s post-civil-war relaunch in 2000 symbolised societal renewal. Classics between AC Léopards, Diables Noirs,…