Congo-Brazzaville's 82-year-old President Denis Sassou Nguesso said Thursday he would run for a new term in elections next March, seeking to extend his more than four decades in power.
"I will stand as a candidate in the presidential election," the oil-rich central African country's leader said in a statement issued by his staff.
He made the announcement before a crowd of several thousand people in the southern district of Ignie, the statement added.
The elections are scheduled for March 15.
Sassou Nguesso first ruled the country under a single-party system from 1979 to 1992, before losing the first multi-party elections to former prime minister Pascal Lissouba.
Sassou Nguesso overthrew Lissouba in a civil war to return to power in 1997, and has remained in office since, introducing a constitutional amendment in 2015 that eliminated the limit of two presidential terms.
The president's party, the Congolese Labour Party (PCT), named him its candidate in December, calling him the "natural" choice.
Three opposition parties have joined forces in an alliance in a bid to defeat Sassou Nguesso in this year's elections.