The stage in DRC is sensitive. Civil society actors blame France for its ambiguous position in the conflict in the east of the DRC. Kinshasa accuses his Rwandan neighbour of supporting the M23, an active rebellion in the eastern Congo. Rwanda’s involvement has been corroborated by UN experts but strongly denied by Kigali. Unequivocally, the former French president who had exposed his African strategy in Paris for the coming years had affirmed, concerning the DRC and the conflict between him and Rwanda, that the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity “are not being discussed”. But Emmanuel Macron is expected on a “clear commitment”.
Paris must “condemn” Kigali and “take steps to stop Rwanda’s aggression against the DRC,” Patrick Muyaya, spokesman for the DRC’s government, told a news briefing. He added: “There is no room for ambiguity, evil is known, it must be named.”
The final stage of Emmanuel Macron’s journey to Central Africa is an important international sequence for the President of the French Republic, eager to write the lines of a new partnership with African countries.
M&B
A publication of the Corneille and Sima Group
