Congolese press agency

The ACP was established on 12 August 1960 by a decree signed by Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, only six weeks after the Congo gained independence. The agency took over the work and facilities of Belga, the Belgian news agency that had operated in the Belgian Congo.

In 1967, the ACP was granted legal status and became a public institution responsible for technical, administrative, and commercial activities. After the country was renamed Zaire in 1971, the agency was renamed the Zaire Press Agency (French: Agence Zaïre Presse; AZAP). Its new status was officially set by Ordinance-Law No. 73-038 of 19 September 1973.

During the 1970s, the agency had offices in different parts of the country. According to the Centre d'Étude en Communication de Masse (CECOM), it also had liaison offices in Beijing, Brussels, and Paris. AZAP also exchanged information with major international news agencies such as Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and Belga, as well as African news agencies.

In 1981, a new ordinance placed AZAP within the public-enterprise framework established by Law No. 78-002 of 6 January 1978. The agency was managed by a nine-member board of directors, a management committee, and a board of auditors. It operated under the supervision of the presidency.

After Mobutu Sese Seko's government fell in 1997 and the country returned to the name Democratic Republic of the Congo, the agency also returned to its former name, Agence Congolaise de Presse (ACP). In June 2006, part of the parking area at ACP's headquarters was fenced off and trees on the site were removed. ACP employees denounced the occupation as an unlawful appropriation of the agency's property and called for the work to be halted. In May 2008, a National Assembly commission investigating the unlawful appropriation of state-owned land and buildings concluded that ACP property had been illegally acquired. The commission also criticized a Lebanese national Hassan Dakhlallah for refusing to provide technical documents relating to the case. The National Assembly adopted the commission's report and recommended canceling contracts involving illegally acquired state property and prosecuting those responsible.

Later, Decree No. 09/50 of 3 December 2009 defined its main governing bodies as the board of directors, the directorate-general, and the board of auditors. The agency was subsequently placed under the Ministry of Communication and Media.