The 20th summit of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie opened in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Friday, with proceedings overshadowed by a sharp dispute between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda over who should assume the organisation's rotating leadership. The rift centres on the secretary-general post, which the DRC argues is due to its region under the OIF's rotational convention, while Rwanda has advanced its own candidate. Delegates from more than 80 member states gathered for the summit, which is held every two years and is formally focused on cultural and linguistic cooperation, digital affairs and sustainable development.
The leadership clash has revived tensions rooted in the long-running conflict in eastern DRC, where Kinshasa accuses Kigali of backing M23 rebels, allegations Rwanda denies. Diplomatic sources said the impasse risks complicating consensus on the summit's final declaration and could delay the appointment of a new secretary-general to succeed Louise Mushikiwabo, whose tenure has drawn scrutiny from Kinshasa. Cambodian hosts have sought to keep the agenda centred on multilateral cooperation, but the dispute has dominated corridor discussions and underscored the difficulty of insulating the bloc's institutional processes from bilateral grievances. The summit is scheduled to conclude on Saturday with a closing statement.
Independent reporting synthesized from primary wires and global correspondents.