lBody language can be deceptive. But the one used by Emmanuel Macron, on Friday, October 4, on the red carpet of the Renaissance-style castle of Villers-Cotterêts (Aisne), at the inauguration of the 19thmy Francophonie Summit, expressed very clearly the lukewarm relations between Paris and Kinshasa.
Félix Tshisekedi, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the most populous country in the French-speaking world, with almost 100 million inhabitants, was entitled to receive courteous greetings; where the French Head of State and his wife warmly received the Rwandan presidential couple with friendly hugs. Sworn enemy of the Congolese neighbor, on whose soil, east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Rwandan army has participated directly for three years alongside the rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23).
The day after this mixed reception, Félix Tshisekedi boycotted the closed-door session reserved for members of the Organization Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF). He left the summit prematurely and France “very bad impression”direction Kinshasa, “angry with Emmanuel Macron”confided a member of the Congolese delegation. “We cannot pretend to play a mediating role in the crisis. [au Nord-Kivu] and thus take sides”he added.
This accusation of bias arises from what Congolese perceived as “a culpable omission”confesses a minister from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In this case, the non-evocation “volunteer”according to this official, in Emmanuel Macron’s opening speech “the biggest African crisis in the French-speaking world”. In other words, the war in North Kivu, which, beyond the security chaos involving dozens of armed groups, is causing an acute humanitarian situation, with more than a million people displaced in three years and hundreds dead.
red line
However, confesses a Congolese official, “Villers-Cotterêts almost satisfied us”. Félix Tshisekedi was met face to face by his French counterpart for an hour and a half on Friday, as was Paul Kagame the following day. At a press conference, Emmanuel Macron repeated almost word for word the passage from the final declaration of support for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This article, which Rwanda has also refused to validate, condemns “any unauthorized and requested foreign military intervention[e] “the immediate withdrawal of military forces not authorized by the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from its territory”.
But, before journalists, Emmanuel Macron went a little further. A little too much, according to Kinshasa, calling “to the resumption of a political process with the M23.” There he crossed a red line, until now intangible, drawn by the Congolese. “We are in talks with the State of Rwanda, not with the M23 terrorists to whom we will not grant any special status”explains Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya firmly.
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