France’s double game in the oif: what is at stake for dr Congo?

The International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) is set to elect its Secretary General on 15 and 16 November 2026 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for a four-year term.

It has now come to light that France under President Macron is secretly preparing former Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Julien Ciolos to replace Rwanda’s Louise Mushikiwabo at the helm of the OIF.

While Paris shows a diplomatic smile toward the candidate of the Democratic Republic of Congo — former Minister of Culture and Arts Juliana Amato Lumumba — it is working behind the scenes to push Ciolos’s candidacy within France’s traditional African sphere and beyond.

According to various sources, France finds itself in an uncomfortable position trying to arbitrate between Rwanda’s Mushikiwabo, who has served two terms, and Congo’s Lumumba. The French strategy appears to be introducing a third candidate to break the deadlock.

How can France put the candidacy of the Democratic Republic of Congo on the same level as that of Rwanda — a country that has just completed two mandates and shows little attachment to the French language or Francophone values?

Objectively, the Democratic Republic of Congo should not have been balanced against Rwanda, a nation that has questioned the use of French and, moreover, already held the OIF leadership for two consecutive terms.

Furthermore, with its 100 million French speakers, numerous Francophone universities, and many French-language media outlets, the Democratic Republic of Congo is the beating heart of the Francophone world.

If France fails to recognise these assets and instead pursues a course that ridicules the Democratic Republic of Congo, going so far as to block it from leading this cultural, political and civilisational space, then the time has come for Kinshasa to draw all necessary conclusions and give Paris a taste of its own medicine.

If Juliana Lumumba is not elected Secretary General of the Francophonie because of French duplicity, the Democratic Republic of Congo must take strong decisions vis-à-vis France.

As the world’s largest Francophone country, the Democratic Republic of Congo is entitled to expect fair treatment from France.

With 90 member states, the leadership of the OIF is not merely a protocol position. The person who leads the OIF significantly influences, albeit subtly, the diplomatic balance among Francophone countries in Africa, Europe and the Americas.

That is why the position requires an experienced, unifying and highly motivated personality. Juliana Amato Lumumba meets all these criteria.