In the Congolese landscape, the oldest charitable Foundation relating to health is the Congo Assistance Foundation, created and directed by the First Lady, Antoinette Tchibota Sassou Nguesso.
This Foundation would have been created in 1979 or 1984. It is impossible to decide on the year because there is no trace of its creation in the archives of the Official Journal of the Republic of Congo.
Is it a foundation under Congolese law? The question is valid.
There is a trace of the registration of a representation in France of Congo Assistance in 1998 with head office at Ms. Moranga Clémentine in Argenteuil.
The European representation of Congo Assistance has long been domiciled at 153 rue de l’Université, 75007 Paris, but it is not sure if this office still exists.
The board of directors in 2017 comprised PCT apparatchiks, the First Lady’s family, and personalities from Congolese oil and business.
We, therefore, find the oligarchs of the Congolese regime: Hubert Pendino, advisor to President Sassou, President of Socofran and the Banque La Congolaise des Banques; Aurelia Mendes, representative of TRAFIGURA in Congo; Maxime Gandzion of the GUNVOR scandal; Georgette Okemba, the wife of the boss of the Congolese secret services, etc.
In the Foundation board, we found Martin ITOUA, late President of the coordination of associations and networks of civil society in Congo (CARESCO) and the African Federation of Parents and Students (FAPE), as well as President of the Association of Parents of pupils and students of Congo (APEEC). Paul Obambi, head of the Brazzaville Chamber of Commerce, Dominique Picard, honorary consul of the United Kingdom in Congo Brazzaville, and several «Powerful Women,» mainly members of the PCT, were also present. Among them was Mrs. Charlotte Georgette MACKANDA OVOUNDA, identified as Lady of Nguesso’s company, the head of the association of Femmes Normaliennes de Mouyondzi, and African mother (aunt) of Bruno Itoua, the first president of the SNPC (National Society of Congo Oil), familiar with tax havens.
One of the Foundation’s main administrators is Blandine MALILA LUMANDE, the daughter of Antoinette Tchibota Sassou Nguesso.
It is to this Foundation that ENI, as part of the new contracts awarded to its Congolese branch, mentions in its report having donated €8.5 million in 2007.
In 2013, the Foundation financed €15 million to create the Brazzaville Cardiological Institute, run by Professor Alain Deloche, President of the French NGO La Chaîne de l’Espoir.
That is an investment equivalent to 2% of the 2015 health budget. We have found no trace of this Institute being put into operation.
By Decree No. 2013-147 of April 19, 2013, the Foundation was recognized as a public utility association.
The Foundation claims to be a partner of RENCO, PUMA ENERGY, and BUROTOP IRIS. Respectively, the oil subcontractor of ENI, an oil company involved in the DIRTY DIESEL scandal, and a Congolese company whose charitable Foundation is headed by Diana Rihan Attye.
Collectif Sassoufit 