{"id":2000112007,"date":"2026-05-15T10:59:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T08:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000112007"},"modified":"2026-05-15T11:01:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T09:01:29","slug":"how-tshisekedis-bid-to-use-africa-france-summit-in-nairobi-against-rwanda-fell-flat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/how-tshisekedis-bid-to-use-africa-france-summit-in-nairobi-against-rwanda-fell-flat\/","title":{"rendered":"How Tshisekedi\u2019s bid to use Africa-France summit in Nairobi against Rwanda fell flat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Congolese leader had been in Uganda for the inauguration ceremony of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. Many expected him, like other visiting heads of state, to return directly to Kinshasa after the event. Instead, he unexpectedly headed to Nairobi before the summit concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon after his arrival, Tshisekedi\u2019s spokesperson, Tina Salama, said the Congolese president had not gone to Nairobi to \u201ccomplain,\u201d but to urge the international community to stop remaining silent over what she described as three decades of killings in the DRC allegedly caused by \u201cRwandan aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two days after the summit, another spokesperson from the Congolese presidency, Farah Muamba Kayowa, claimed that the DRC had used the Africa-France summit to call on participants not to ignore the violence that Congo blames on Rwanda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Rwanda\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ambassador Olivier Nduhungirehe, dismissed the claims, saying the DRC never actually took part in the summit discussions where such concerns could have been raised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amb. Nduhungirehe, who attended the summit in Nairobi, explained that the meeting featured three high-level sessions chaired by Kenyan President William Ruto and French President Emmanuel Macron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discussions focused on green industrialisation and energy transition, reform of international financial institutions, and peace and security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the minister, heads of state and official representatives actively participated in the exchanges \u2014 except the DRC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring all three sessions, the DRC\u2019s seat remained conspicuously empty. As a result, Kinshasa was unable to \u2018demand\u2019 anything or accuse anyone in Nairobi, limiting itself to a merely symbolic presidential appearance at the close of the summit,\u201d Amb. Nduhungirehe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rwandan government has consistently rejected accusations from Tshisekedi\u2019s administration linking Kigali to the insecurity in eastern Congo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rwanda argues that the prolonged instability in the DRC is rooted in decades of poor governance and failed state policies that created conditions for armed groups to flourish across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kigali has also repeatedly pointed to the presence of the FDLR terrorist group in eastern Congo, a group formed by remnants of the former Rwandan army (Ex-FAR) and Interahamwe militias responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group continues to operate freely in eastern DRC with the objective of destabilising Rwanda. The Congolese government is also accused of collaborating and supporting the group in its fight against the AFC\/M23 coalition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Before the inauguration ceremony in Uganda had ended, President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi traveled to Kenya as the Africa-France summit neared its conclusion.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi arrived in Nairobi after the main discussions had concluded and only attended the summit\u2019s closing ceremony<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
On May 12, 2026, President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi attended the swearing-in ceremony of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
French President Emmanuel Macron and Kenyan President William Ruto officially closed the Africa-France summit in Nairobi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo made a last-minute trip from Uganda to Kenya during the Africa-France Summit in Nairobi on May 11-12, 2026, in what appeared to be another attempt to rally international pressure against Rwanda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000112010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[151,70],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000112007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-editors-choice","tag-main-home-ighlight","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000112010,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/tsh-17-bcaf2.jpg","alt":"","caption":"President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi arrived in Nairobi after the main discussions had concluded and only attended the summit\u2019s closing ceremony","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1000,"height":666,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/tsh-17-bcaf2.jpg","width":150,"height":100},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/tsh-17-bcaf2.jpg","width":300,"height":200},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/tsh-17-bcaf2.jpg","width":768,"height":511},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/tsh-17-bcaf2.jpg","width":1000,"height":666},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/tsh-17-bcaf2.jpg","width":1000,"height":666}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000112007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000112007"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000112007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000112012,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000112007\/revisions\/2000112012"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000112010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000112007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000112007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000112007"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000112007"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000112007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}