Congolese dinosaur will remain despite age debate after decades in power

Brazzaville, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – May 2, 2024) Denis Sassou Nguesso’s 40-year rule in Congo-Brazzaville has sparked a debate over the appropriate age for a president, and the ‘dinosaur’ is already expected ‘African wins the presidency. upcoming elections that will not be held until 2026.

The former paratrooper was president of Congo-Brazzaville from 1979 to 1992 under a single-party regime, then returned to power in 1997 after a civil war and has dominated politics ever since.

Nicknamed the “emperor”, Sassou Nguesso, who is officially 80 years old and still fit, is expected to run for a fifth term in 2026.

“He doesn’t hide it,” a diplomat told AFP.

Last September, a rumor of a possible coup spread on social media following a series of coups that have shaken the Sahel since 2020, including in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Gabon. But all remained calm in the oil-producing country.

After successive elections in 2002 and 2009, Sassou Nguesso took the presidential reins in 2016 and 2021 by making a constitutional change in 2015 that circumvented the original age limit, 70, and increased the number of terms from five years to three.