The race to lead the International Organisation of La Francophonie took a new turn on Saturday, 14 November. The Democratic Republic of Congo officially announced from Phnom Penh that it was withdrawing Juliana Amato Lumumba’s candidacy for secretary general of the OIF. Kinshasa made the announcement on the sidelines of the 48th Ministerial Conference, which takes place just before the summit. After talks with Bucharest, the Congolese government is now backing former Romanian prime minister Dacian Cioloș jointly with Romania.
The Congolese foreign ministry’s statement was careful with the candidate it was dropping. Juliana Lumumba is the daughter of Patrice Lumumba and a former culture minister. According to Kinshasa, her campaign carried a strong ambition to renew the OIF. The statement also made clear that the move was not a gift. The DRC expects something in return from the other camps and is urging them to be flexible for the sake of the organisation’s unity.
The message was aimed mainly at Kigali. The DRC accuses Rwanda of backing the AFC/M23 armed group in its eastern provinces, and in recent weeks it has threatened to leave the OIF if Louise Mushikiwabo is reappointed. The threat carries real weight. With more than 110 million people, over 40 million more than France, Congo is the most populous nation where French is the official language, AP noted. Its departure would be a serious blow to the organisation.
The incumbent shows no sign of stepping aside. Mushikiwabo was first elected in Yerevan in 2018 and re-elected in Djerba in 2022. She is still running for a third term, and Kigali is still backing her despite mediation efforts attributed to Paris. Emmanuel Macron is expected in Cambodia.
Kinshasa and Kigali are fighting through other candidates, but there is a third option. On 17 April, Mauritania put forward Coumba Bâ, 56, a dental surgeon by training who has served as minister of youth and then minister of labour and employment. She now advises President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani as a minister-counsellor and has been his special envoy to the OIF since 2024. From the start, Nouakchott has pitched her as a compromise between the two major African blocs. Her pitch is simple. She wants a Francophonie that is more useful, more focused on results and on young people. With the DRC out, the incumbent is her only African rival. That could bring her support from states that want neither another Mushikiwabo term nor a European secretary general.
The way the vote works is also new. Secretaries general have always been chosen by consensus. This time, the election fully applies, for the first time, the single set of rules for OIF bodies adopted in March 2022. If no consensus emerges, the heads of state and government of the 53 full members could decide by vote, behind closed doors, on Monday, 16 November.
The 20th summit opens on Sunday in the Cambodian capital, with peace and shared prosperity as its theme. The OIF has 90 member states and governments: 53 full members, 5 associate members and 32 observers. The outcome of the vote will also decide whether the DRC stays in La Francophonie.