Francophone summit opens with DR Congo, Rwandan clash

Résumé détaillé

A summit of French-speaking nations opened Sunday in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, with leaders including France’s President Emmanuel Macron ...

PHNOM PENH: A summit of French-speaking nations opened Sunday in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, with leaders including France’s President Emmanuel Macron seeking to avoid a walkout by the group’s biggest African member.

The Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), a post-colonial entity resembling the Commonwealth, gathers around 90 states and nations including 53 full members, from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Canada.

But the two-day talks are being overshadowed by tensions between two men, DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, and a row over the organization’s new head. Rwanda’s Louise Mushikiwabo has led the OIF for eight years and is running for a third term, but the DR Congo is strongly opposed—and has threatened to quit the organization if she is re-elected on Monday.

Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 armed group’s activities inside DR Congo, which Kigali denies. Last year Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso withdrew from the OIF after successive coups that saw Paris-friendly governments replaced by pro-Russian juntas.

The departure of DR Congo—the second most Francophone country after France with 57.3 million speakers, according to the OIF—would be a major blow. In his opening speech to an audience that included Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Manet, Macron called for unity.

The enlargement of the OIF, which promotes economic and cultural cooperation, “requires us to build consensus in order to preserve the union”, the French president said. Warning against “internal fractures” in the organization, he said: “We must ensure that we preserve what constitutes its strength—namely, its unity.” The row has revived debate over the influence of France, the former colonial ruler of many member states and the Francophonie organization’s biggest donor.

The news raised eyebrows. “With that intervention we’re going backwards, to the idea that France decides,” one member of a non-African delegation said…

Début de l'article, extrait de Kuwait Times. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.