Peace as the First Ingredient of Memory
From the amphitheatre bearing the name of President Denis Sassou Nguesso inside the Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza Memorial, scholars and dignitaries gathered for a high-profile colloquium entitled “On the Road of History” to commemorate the 145th anniversary of the Makoko–De Brazza Treaty.
The highlight of the day was a video message broadcast from Mbé, the royal capital of the Téké people, in which the eighteenth Makoko, His Majesty Michel Ganari, congratulated the head of state for safeguarding an atmosphere of peace that allows academic debate to flourish.
Strikingly, the sovereign framed tranquillity not merely as a political achievement but as a precondition for rigorous historical inquiry, echoing the presidential maxim that peace is the unavoidable path of the Republic.
Observers noted the political resonance of these remarks at a moment when the sub-region continues to grapple with security challenges. By acknowledging that scholars could convene “in a hall suffused with peace,” the Makoko implicitly linked the intellectual vitality of the Republic of Congo to the stability nurtured by its leadership.
Participants later noted that this vision of peace mirrors Brazzaville’s doctrine within ECCAS, where the Republic advocates consensual solutions to regional crises. The royal address therefore reinforced, rather than merely complemented, official narratives.
The Makoko–De Brazza Pact: A Cornerstone Revisited
Signed on 10 September 1880, the Makoko–De Brazza Treaty established a French protectorate over the Téké realm and laid the legal groundwork for the founding of Brazzaville. Although historians continue to debate nuances of sovereignty embedded in the text, the colloquium chose to examine its legacy through a multidisciplinary lens, blending anthropology, law and political science.
The Makoko urged delegates to “interrogate the past without shame,” recalling that faults and acts of generosity mingle in every era. His image of a basket washed by the waters of Mbaon Falls conveyed a wish to purge polemics and write “with several inks yet one pen.”
Scholarship and Royal Protocol Intertwined
Ritual gestures accompanied the academic proceedings. Members of the Mbé royal court presented the royal raffia to both Princess Ayessa and a delegate representing the erstwhile Kingdom of Dahomey, today part of Benin. The raffia, symbol of continuity, functioned as a tactile reminder that the treaty originated not in European chancelleries but in African diplomatic culture.
Speakers alternated between French and Téké, creating a polyphonic atmosphere that mirrored the bilateral nature of the 1880 agreement. According to organisers, the recordings of each panel will be archived at the Memorial to enrich future exhibitions and pedagogical programmes aimed at secondary schools throughout the country.
At the Heart of Heritage Management
Princess Ayessa, interviewed briefly on the sidelines, emphasised that safeguarding tangible artefacts is only half the mission; the other half lies in cultivating a civic mindset that values dialogue over recrimination. She cited the Makoko’s exhortation as moral encouragement for the Memorial to extend partnerships both domestic and international with universities across Central Africa.
Conservation experts attending the event pointed to the Memorial’s latest digitisation drive, which has already scanned over ten thousand pages of colonial-era correspondence. While the figures remain preliminary, they suggest an acceleration that could place Brazzaville among the leading capitals for digital heritage and multimedia storytelling in Sub-Saharan Africa.
À retenir
The royal message, the scholarly debate and the symbolic offering of raffia converged to reaffirm a singular idea: national cohesion grows stronger when history is treated as a shared resource rather than a field of contention. The 145th anniversary thus became both commemoration and forward-looking platform.
Le point juridique/éco
Legal scholars at the colloquium revisited the treaty’s clauses through the prism of contemporary international law, noting that its bilateral character prefigured the modern notion of free consent among sovereign entities. Economists meanwhile argued that cultural diplomacy, exemplified by events such as this, can translate into meaningful, long-term, substantial tourism revenue and job creation in conservation, research and hospitality.
Keeping the Narrative Alive for Tomorrow
As the final panel closed, attendees passed beneath portraits of Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza and Iloo I, posting images on social media and thus extending the colloquium beyond the Memorial into the digital sphere where young Congolese shape identity.
Should the project attain the ambitions articulated by both the President and the Makoko, the next jubilee, only five years away, may find a public even more conversant with the nuanced episodes that have shaped the Republic’s trajectory. For now, the royal capital and the national capital are united in the affirmation that peace remains the bedrock of remembrance.
