Francophone Summit Becomes Proxy Arena for DRC-Rwanda War as Leadership Fight Threatens OIF Integrity

A leadership election at the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie has become a proxy battlefield for the DRC-Rwanda conflict, with Kinshasa threatening to walk — following Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso out the door.

The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie is holding its three-day summit in Phnom Penh through Monday, but the real drama is a leadership contest that has become a proxy fight for the war in eastern Congo. Rwanda's Louise Mushikiwabo, OIF secretary-general since 2018, is seeking a third term. The DRC, which accuses Rwanda of backing the M23 armed group in its mineral-rich east — accusations supported by the United States and UN experts — has threatened to leave the organization entirely if she is re-elected.

The DRC withdrew its own candidate, Juliana Lumumba, daughter of independence hero Patrice Lumumba, and threw its weight behind Romanian former Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos in what it called a "consensus around a unifying candidacy." Rwanda's foreign minister, Olivier Nduhungirehe, said Mushikiwabo would stay in the race. Mauritania's Coumba Ba, a former minister, is also running. France is trying to broker a solution, but its leverage is complicated. Paris is the OIF's largest funder, contributing to a 2026 budget of 71.7 million euros ($79 million). Macron's office said most members agreed on the need for consensus, but Rwanda has said Macron asked Kagame to withdraw Mushikiwabo and that Kigali refused. France is caught between its largest financial commitment to the organization and the reality that the DRC — with 110 million people, roughly 40 million more than France — is the world's most populous country where French is an official language. The OIF is already bleeding members. Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso announced their withdrawals in March 2025 following suspensions over military coups. Losing the DRC would strip the organization of its demographic anchor and raise existential questions about whether the Francophonie is a meaningful multilateral institution or a post-colonial formality hemorrhaging its African base. About 20 leaders are attending, including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Vietnamese President To Lam, Kagame, and Tshisekedi. The summit's slogan — "Reinvest in Peace for Shared Prosperity and Lasting Stability" — lands awkwardly against both the DRC-Rwanda rift and the host country's own record. Cambodia is a de facto one-party state, and UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews urged delegates to press for the release of detained activists. Macron arrived as France faces widespread protests at home, underscoring the irony of a French president chairing a peace-themed summit while managing domestic unrest. He is due to visit the Angkor World Heritage Site on Monday before leaving for Malaysia. The structural question is whether the Francophonie can survive the loss of its African demographic core. The organization was built on the premise that shared language creates shared institutional gravity. If the countries where French is actually a living language — rather than an administrative inheritance — keep leaving, what remains is a European donor club with an increasingly hollow mandate.