Louise Mushikiwabo a Rwandan national currently serving her second term at the La Francophonie organisation is seeking a third term and may most likely grab it.
L’Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) is scheduled to hold elections for it’s new leader On November 16, in Phnom Penh.
Candidates include; Rwandan Louise Mushikiwabo, Congolese Juliana Amato Lumumba, Mauritanian Coumba Bâ, and Romanian Dacian Cioloș, however the wrestle for the seat has sucked in the rivalry between Rwanda and DRC.
Ever since Mushikiwabo won the OIF seat in 2018, Kinshasa has never taken it lightly and subsequently refused Mushikiwabo on their soil even when DRC hosted La Francophonie games in August 2023.
Despite the ongoing military campaign in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo between the government troops and the FRN rebels movement Kinshasa continues to accuse Kigali of aiding the rebels an accusation vehemently rejected by Kigali.
Kigali has in response accused the Kinshasa regime of providing cover to FDLR rebels designated by Washington as a terrorist organisation.
Most members of the FDLR are perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda which claimed a million lives.
Kinshasa believes that by fielding a candidate in the challenge for OIF’s new leader it is a war against Rwanda.
Mushikiwabo Outshines
Mushikiwabo has the advantage of incumbency since her election in 2018 and reelected in 2022.
She has mastered decision-making mechanisms, and the internal balances of the organization.
She can defend the continuity of her actions based on a record that members have observed over two terms.
The precedent of Abdou Diouf, who led the Francophonie for three terms, shows that another reelection is possible.
After eight years at the helm of the OIF, that same record may lead some members to favor stability, and others to seek new priorities.
“Mushikiwabo has all the skills for the job– so I will back her,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in 2018.
“There is a tremendous converge of economic and geopolitical interests behind Mushikiwabo’s candidacy,” Pascal Airault, a journalist at French weekly “L’Opinion” and co-author of “Françafrique.
Rwandan leader Paul Kagame has actively lobbied African leaders and OIF member states to secure Mushikiwabo’s election.
How does Congolese candidate fare?
Kinshasa has fielded Juliana Amato Lumumba as candidate for OIF top job .
The Tshisekedi camp seeks to convert the demographic weight of the DRC into institutional influence.
Amato Lumumba’s candidacy raises a question: what place does the Francophonie give, in its leadership and programs, to one of its main demographic and cultural hubs?
This argument can give her a hearing beyond Kinshasa’s partners.
Her challenge will be to convince delegations favorable to alternation but reluctant to see the next leadership dominated by tensions between the two capitals.
The more her candidacy is seen as a way to rebuke Kigali, the harder it will be for her to rally support around her own project.
