Republic of the Congo

The painter Simplice Somi Nzuayaya, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is exhibiting his works from 2 to 25 February at the French Institute of Congo in Brazzaville, with the theme of the exhibition being "The Clock"

The government has decided to end timber exports, with forestry companies now having to process all their production locally in order to create more jobs; many NGOs question the problems with this decision

The WHO office launched a 3-days workshop ending today in the city of Brazzaville that focused on the community complaints mechanism as part of the prevention of and response to sexual abuse and exploitation

The president of the High Authority for the Fight against Corruption and the director of the French Anti-Corruption Agency, signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen their cooperation in the country

The guitarist Passy Mermans, alias Mermans 1st, died on Wednesday 28 December in Brazzaville aged 80; he was part of The Bantous de la Capitale, the first Congolese orchestra, created in 1959

New agents from the Ministry of Social Affairs, Solidarity and Humanitarian Action attended a workshop in Brazzaville to learn about their missions on the ground in favour of vulnerable people

The economy is recovering, with an estimated growth rate of 2,6 % in 2022; growth is linked to higher oil prices on international market, reforms undertaken as part of programme with IMF and reforms in Central African Union

The construction of a fishing bridge was considered during an exchange between Minister of the River Economy and Waterways, Guy Georges Mbacka, and Maltese Ambassador for the two Congo, Henri Nsika

The country has 16,3% of premature babies - continent average is around 10%

The President will take part in the fifth edition of the Paris Peace Forum to be held from 11 to 12 November

The start of the soccer national championship has been postponed to 25 October; it was originally scheduled for 22 October 2022

52.000.000.000 CFA francs (€80 million) is the Marien-Ngouabi University's budget for the year 2023; this is an increase of 5,65% compared to 2022 and takes into account factors such as the additional hours of civil servants and contract lecturers

Apart from large shops and other establishments that comply with public health regulations, in markets, neighbourhood shops or on street corners, baby nappies, which should be part of the body care assortment, do not appear to meet hygiene standards