Mauritania said on Sunday that it has no intentions of pulling out of the La Francophonie race for Secretary General Job.
The North African nation said it will maintain its candidate 56-year-old Coumba Ba. She is the surprise candidate. Less high-profile than her African rivals.
Coumba Ba’s stay in the race puts her to contest against Rwandan Louise Mushikiwabo , vying for a third term at the head of the institution.
The Democratic Republic of Congo which fielded it’s former minister Juliana Amato Lumumba has been calling for unifying along with one consensus candidate preferably Dacian Cioloș a former Romanian Prime Minister.
Rwanda rejected any of such maneuvers by Kinshasa attempting to get Mushikiwabo out of the race.
“If Rwanda does not do so, it will have to face the consequences,” said Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner DRC’s Foreign Affairs Minister.
Rwanda responded in kind saying that DRC’s Withdrawal from the race was a good move since it would consolidate Mushikiwabo’s support.
“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.
