The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and East African Community Affairs, Louise Mushikiwabo is campaigning for the leadership of the international organization that brings together French speaking countries, La Francophonie (OIF), whose elections will take place in Yerevan, Armenia in October 11th and 12th 2018.
She is up against Incumbent Canadian Michaëlle Jean who is campaigning for a second mandate.
Four months ago, when President Paul Kagame and his France Counterpart Emmanuel Macron met at Palais de l’Elysée, the latter revealed that he fully supported the Candidacy of Louise Mushikiwabo to OIF Secretary General position.
In an article posted on LeMonde, former French Ministers in charge of La Francophonie; Charles Josselin, Pierre-André Wiltzer, Hélène Conway-Mouret and André Vallini, said that supporting Mushikiwabo’s candidacy would affect their country’s Image.
They showed that before making his move, Macron did not consult OIF’s most influential countries.
“The decision was taken without consulting important stakeholders in the organization. OIF is not France’s property so it is not logical that one would decide for others.” reads the article.
They added that France should have let Africa decide which candidate they wanted to represent them.
“If France thinks it should be led by Africa, then it should be Africans to decide on a candidate.”
“We did not take the trouble to talk to our closest French-speaking partners, starting with the Canadians, one of OIF’s major donors, France is today forced to wage a useless fight with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau while she needed Ottawa more than ever,” reads the article.
The former ministers showed that siding with Canada was more beneficial for France than supporting an African
Via his twitter handle, Amb Nduhungirehe replied to the French, saying “I would like to remind these Ministers of the old Francafrique, including nonagenarians, that the neo-colonial Francophonie is over! The 29 African states have chosen their candidate, a French-speaking woman of experience, and you have nothing to say against it!” Amb. Nduhugirehe said.
Mushikiwabo is currently on a campaign trail across various OIF member countries, most of which support her candidacy.
Among her ideals, she seeks to prioritize peace, security and promotion of the youth among others.
The organization, to which Rwanda subscribes, brings together French-speaking countries across the world.
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