Tshisekedi defends Congo’s water sovereignty in Luanda
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Financialafrik
At the Luanda Biennale, DR Congo President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi defended his country’s sovereignty over its water resources, while calling for their management to be reconciled with regional cooperation and environmental protection. The meeting on water governance is being held on 22 and 23 October 2026 under the auspices of UNESCO and the African Union, Financialafrik reports.
The President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, defended his country’s sovereignty over the waters of the Congo River and its transboundary basins in Luanda on Thursday. He demanded that no project to transfer water to another basin be undertaken without a referendum among the Congolese population and scientific guarantees on ecological balances, Financialafrik reports.
The Congolese head of state was speaking at the opening of the fourth Luanda Biennale, devoted on 22 and 23 October to water governance as a tool for preventing and resolving conflicts. He called for agreements between states, the sharing of hydrological data and coordinated investment in shared basins, according to Financialafrik.
Kinshasa’s position concerns, in particular, recurring discussions about a possible transfer of water from the Congo Basin to the Lake Chad Basin. The Congo River, the world’s second largest by volume after the Amazon, provides the DRC with resources used for hydroelectric power, agriculture, river transport, fishing and drinking water. Félix Tshisekedi had already called for a referendum before any transfer of water from the Congo.
