{"id":56820,"date":"2026-01-12T17:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T17:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/rwanda-puts-forward-louise-mushikiwabo-for-third-term-as-oif-secretary-general\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T15:39:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T15:39:17","slug":"rwanda-puts-forward-louise-mushikiwabo-for-third-term-as-oif-secretary-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/rwanda-puts-forward-louise-mushikiwabo-for-third-term-as-oif-secretary-general\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda puts forward Louise Mushikiwabo for third term as OIF secretary general"},"content":{"rendered":"

The decision was announced by Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe, during an exclusive interview with Jeune Afrique.<\/p>\n

The deadline for submitting candidacies closes at the end of April. Mushikiwabo\u2019s current term is due to expire later this year.<\/p>\n

If re-elected, Mushikiwabo, who has steered the international Francophone network advancing language, culture, and cooperation since 2019, would join former Senegalese president Abdou Diouf as the only Secretary General to have served three terms. <\/p>\n

According to Nduhungirehe, Rwanda\u2019s decision to put forward Mushikiwabo for a third term follows consultations with her and reflects what Kigali sees as a strong and widely recognised record of leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the last OIF ministerial conference, held in November in Kigali, several member states expressed their wish to see Louise Mushikiwabo run for a third term,\u201d Nduhungirehe said. \u201cThis recognition represents a strong political signal, which Rwanda has taken into account.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Since 2019, under her leadership, the OIF has embarked on a deep, structured, and coherent transformation that has strengthened its political credibility, institutional clarity, and operational effectiveness. We are therefore fully confident in the success of this proposal,” he added.<\/p>\n

\"Louise<\/figure>\n

Rwanda hosted the 46th Conference of Ministers of La Francophonie (CMF) for the first time in November 2025, bringing together more than 400 delegates from 65 member states and governments. <\/p>\n

Held under the theme \u201cThirty Years After Beijing: The Role of Women in the Francophone World,\u201d the meeting coincided with the 30th anniversary of the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women and underscored the OIF\u2019s renewed focus on gender equality and women\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

Since taking office, Mushikiwabo has overseen a deep institutional transformation of the OIF, aimed at strengthening its political credibility, institutional clarity and operational effectiveness. <\/p>\n

Reviewing progress since the 2024 CMF in Paris during the summit, Mushikiwabo highlighted the organisation\u2019s electoral assistance missions and high-impact campaigns against disinformation in countries including Lebanon, Moldova and the Central African Republic.<\/p>\n

Under her leadership, the OIF has also stepped up efforts to support Francophone candidates seeking leadership roles in major international institutions such as the African Union, the African Development Bank and UNESCO. <\/p>\n

Programmatic initiatives have included a mobility scheme for French-language teachers, which recently brought a third cohort of 50 educators from 15 countries to Kigali to exchange expertise with Rwandan counterparts. Similar deployments have taken place in Ghana and Seychelles, with Cambodia next on the list.<\/p>\n

Mushikiwabo also emphasised the growing role of the Francophonie \u00e9conomique, citing successful economic missions, including one to Benin that resulted in several commercial contracts, one valued at \u20ac30 million. <\/p>\n

On gender issues, she called for increased support to the \u201cFrancophonie With Women\u201d fund and invited member states to join a new initiative aimed at training and integrating girls and women into emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

Rwanda\u2019s announcement comes against a backdrop of regional tensions in the Great Lakes area, a subject also addressed by Nduhungirehe in his Jeune Afrique interview. <\/p>\n

He defended the Washington and Doha agreements aimed at resolving the crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), arguing that they provide an adequate framework for lasting peace if implemented in good faith. He also rejected the need for additional mediation efforts, following recent diplomatic initiatives led by Angola.<\/p>\n

Asked whether strained relations between Rwanda, the DRC and Burundi could affect Mushikiwabo\u2019s candidacy, Nduhungirehe pointed to the right of every OIF member state to support or nominate a candidate of its choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe principles of the OIF are clear: every member state has the right to present a candidate for the post of Secretary General, and Rwanda is not opposed to an open, healthy and respectful competition,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He added that Rwanda\u2019s position rests on Mushikiwabo\u2019s \u201cdocumented and measurable\u201d record, which he noted had been unanimously praised at the OIF summits in Djerba and Villers-Cotter\u00eats.<\/p>\n

\"Rwanda<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rwanda has decided to nominate Louise Mushikiwabo for a third term as Secretary General of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), ahead of the 20th Francophonie Summit, scheduled to take place in November in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000100504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-56820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","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":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","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":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000100504,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/g-dmmfdxuaafk9m.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/g-dmmfdxuaafk9m.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/g-dmmfdxuaafk9m.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/g-dmmfdxuaafk9m.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/g-dmmfdxuaafk9m.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/g-dmmfdxuaafk9m.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56820","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\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000100504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56820"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=56820"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=56820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}