Kinshasa rejects Louise Mushikiwabo’s candidacy for the Francophonie
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Le Pays (Burkina Faso)
Kinshasa rejects a third term for Louise Mushikiwabo, the outgoing Rwandan, and accuses Kigali of backing armed groups. With Juliana Lumumba having withdrawn her candidacy, DR Congo now backs Romanian Dacian Cioloș in a vote due to name the secretary-general today, according to Le Pays.
Kinshasa is rejecting the renewal of Rwandan Louise Mushikiwabo’s mandate as secretary-general of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), and she is seeking a third term, according to Le Pays. The secretary-general is due to be chosen at the 20th Francophonie Summit, which opened on 15 November 2026 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Coumba Ba, a Mauritanian national, and Dacian Cioloș, a Romanian, complete the trio still standing alongside Louise Mushikiwabo.
Juliana Lumumba, a Congolese national, has withdrawn her candidacy, so Kinshasa has since shifted its backing to Dacian Cioloș, citing the search for consensus to explain the choice. DR Congo accuses Rwanda of backing armed groups active in Kivu, including M23, an accusation that reports by UN experts corroborate.
Kinshasa also considers that the OIF has shown too much caution, and it threatens to withdraw if Mushikiwabo is renewed. These positions extend the confrontation between Rwanda and DR Congo over the secretariat general of 14 November. That same day, Kinshasa had contested this third term.
