Congo-Brazzaville: When a State Becomes a Hub for Terror Networks – The Responsibility of the Sassou Nguesso Regime
By Modeste Boukadia, President of the CDRC – July 14, 2025 – 1:23 PM

On June 5, 2025, under President Donald Trump’s administration, Congo-Brazzaville was placed on the United States’ blacklist for its « dangerous connections with terrorist groups. »

Among these groups are Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis of Yemen, all identified as unofficial partners of Denis Sassou Nguesso’s regime through financial channels and diplomatic complicities.

Congolese Diplomatic Passports for Terror Networks

According to multiple diplomatic sources and Western intelligence reports, Denis Sassou Nguesso has facilitated the distribution of Congolese diplomatic passports to individuals linked to Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, allowing them to travel freely across Central and West Africa and certain Gulf states. It should be specified that this actually concerns all types of passports—ordinary, service, and diplomatic—that are being made available to these groups classified as terrorist organizations.

As early as 2015, a French Minister of Defense (later Minister of Foreign Affairs) personally warned Denis Sassou Nguesso about this drift, denouncing “the excessive ease with which Congolese diplomatic passports were being distributed to disreputable entities,” according to confidential diplomatic notes confirmed by several sources.

U.S. Federal Sanctions: The Expanded Rio Treaty and the Patriot Act

The U.S. sanctions against Congo fall within the framework of the Expanded Rio Treaty post-9/11 and the Patriot Act, which allow the United States to sanction states suspected of supporting terrorist groups or facilitating their logistics.
By blacklisting Congo, the United States has frozen certain Congolese assets and banned several companies tied to Sassou Nguesso from accessing international financial markets.

Meanwhile, Congolese Citizens Have No Identity Documents

In a paradox that borders on cynicism, while diplomatic passports are handed out to foreign militants, Congolese citizens, political opponents, and even leaders of recognized political parties have no access to passports, national ID cards, or voter registration cards.
This was highlighted by the President of the CDRC, Modeste Boukadia, during his interview on Ebaka Show (watch here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1FonsmTKyZ/).

For Denis Sassou Nguesso, only Hezbollah, Hamas, and Houthi operatives are worthy of Congolese passports—because these groups help guarantee his survival in power in exchange for a share of Congo’s looted resources.

The Cobras’ Involvement in the October 7 Massacre

Footage broadcast by i24News, an Israeli news outlet, showed fighters from the PCT’s Cobra militias, trained and armed in the 1990s under Sassou Nguesso’s leadership, among the groups involved in the October 7, 2023 massacres in Israel.
These reports, still under verification by international intelligence agencies, raise serious concerns about the export of violence sponsored by the Congolese regime far beyond its borders.

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Conclusion: The Urgent Need for a Peaceful, Structural Political Transition (TOPESA)

Faced with this intolerable situation, where the Congolese state has become a platform for criminal and terrorist interests, there is an urgent need to establish a Peaceful, Structural Political Transition (TPSA), known by its acronym in Lingala as TOPESA.

Congo must stop being the weak link in regional and international security.
The hijacking of the state by a clan serving foreign and illicit interests threatens not only the Congo but the stability of all of Central Africa.

Now is the time for a national awakening to restore sovereignty, rebuild the rule of law, and return to the Congolese people their fundamental rights to identity, citizenship, and security.

If we don’t do it now, who will do it for us? And if we wait until tomorrow, won’t it be too late?

Modeste Boukadia
President of the CDRC – « A Nation for All »
Brazzaville / Paris, July 14, 2025