Could the Democratic Republic of Congo leave the Organization Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF)?
“We will evaluate our membership in the Francophonie, and at the end of the evaluations, decisions will be taken
,” declared Tuesday, March 19, Congolese government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya, according to the Politico media.
“The option of leaving the Francophonie for many Congolese cannot be excluded,”
he continued.
The DRC is today the most populous French-speaking country, and the demographic explosion means it will occupy an increasingly important place in the French-speaking world.
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The day before, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had announced on its X account its decision not to celebrate the International Day of La Francophonie scheduled for March 20.
“The heart is not in celebration
,” he wrote, emphasizing
“the opportunity to take a critical look at the DRC's membership in the French-speaking community”
in a context of explosive relations with Rwanda, member of the OIF and country of origin of the organization's Secretary General, Louise Mushikiwabo.
Since the beginning of 2022, Kinshasa has accused Kigali of supporting the
“March 23 Movement”
(M23), a former predominantly Tutsi rebellion which conquered numerous territories in the east of the DRC.
Christophe Lutundula, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and La Francophonie, spoke on March 20 in a long press release intended to
“express the position of the government of the DRC both in relation to the French language and with regard to 'OIF'
.
He insisted that the Francophonie, in addition to being a linguistic space, was
“a community of values such as those of peace, democracy, the rule of law, solidarity, equality between men and women and cultural diversity. »
.
The minister thus denounced
“the silence and indifference of the institutional Francophonie in the face of the aggression of the DRC by Rwanda, one of the members of the OIF, and the tragedies that it has caused for three decades”
, qualifying an
“admissible and contradictory”
attitude on the part of an organization which must
“defend the values of the Francophonie”
.
A burst of pressure
Could the DRC really leave the OIF, of which it has been a member since 1977?
It seems to be more of a pressure move to make the organization react.
The government is well aware, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs recalled in his press release, that
“the future of the Francophonie, by 2050, is at stake in the DRC”
.
Henri Leridon, emeritus research director at the National Institute of Demographic Studies in Paris, explained to Le
Figaro
that
“the DRC will probably have more than a hundred million inhabitants by 2030”
, recalling that French remains the language elites.
“50% of the population speaks French fluently.
The poorly educated Congolese in fact, for the most part, only speak Lingala or Swahili.”
It therefore seems that this threat to leave the OIF is just a red rag.
“We do not intend to renounce our destiny of greatness within this community
,” insisted the minister, recalling the success of the 9th Games of the Francophonie,
“if not the best, at least among the most successful since they existed
.
In July 2023, this sporting competition which brings together French-speaking countries had already been preceded by a controversy surrounding the presence of the Rwandan secretary general of the OIF.
She ultimately didn't come.
The incomprehension of the OIF
“I don’t know if it’s because of the nationality of our secretary general, or because Rwanda is also a member country of our organization,”
OIF spokesperson Oria Vande immediately replied on RFI. Weghe.
“Personally, I am not sure I see the link between the celebration of March 20 and any form of political reproach”
she declared with irony, recalling that the International Day of La Francophonie
“is not a political celebration but a citizen.
Asked about the silence of the OIF, the spokesperson attacked Kinshasa, which does not understand the role of the Secretary General.
“I remind you that we are the secretariat of the States, and that any political action is in fact motivated, or in any case dictated by a consultation of the States which ask the OIF to act in one direction or another”
a- she explained.
If there is an initiative, it must come from the States themselves and not from the OIF.