The Democratic Republic of Congo said on Saturday that it was ready to withdraw Juliana Lumumba’s candidacy for the La Francophonie Secretary General position.
This latest development follows President Félix Tshisekedi arrival in Cambodia ahead of the 20th La Francophonie summit.
The summit will notably be marked by the selection of the organization’s next Secretary-General, expected on Monday, November 16.
The DRC is urging the other candidates to do the same and warns: “If Rwanda does not do so, it will have to face the consequences,” said Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner DRC’s Foreign Affairs Minister.
Earlier, the DRC’s information Minister Patrick Muyaya threatened to leave the OIF to denounce a third term that its own rules nevertheless allow.
Rwanda says it will stick to its candidate Louis Mushikiwabo.
“This is a good thing that—I hope—will foster consensus around the frontrunner, Mushikiwabo, especially since this announced withdrawal undermines the narrative that the Francophonie must not be ‘held hostage’ to a confrontation between the DRC and Rwanda through their respective candidates,” Rwanda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Oliveir Nduhungirehe said in response to Kinshasa withdrawal plans.
