That line has won over member states in the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie  whose secretary-general and former foreign minister of Rwanda  Louise Mushikiwabo explained that fellow member states opted not to suspend Gabon because  soon after the August 2023 coup  the new Libreville regime came to make its case...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Third  Kagame has mostly secured silence from critics in France through Rwanda's return to la Francophonie – its former Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo now heads the organisation's secretariat in Paris – at a time when French influence in Africa has been slipping...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     The exception is Rwanda  formerly a Francophone state which is now a member both of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) based in Paris  which is headed by Rwanda's former foreign minister Louise Mushikiwabo  and the Anglophone Commonwealth  headquartered in London...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
            Vol 61 No 15 | 
            - FRANCE
 - SAHEL
 - G5
 
        
        
		
        
        
    
        
	
	     German Chancellor Angela Merkel  Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and European Council President Charles Michel joined the talks by video-link  as did African Union commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat  UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Secretary General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie Louise Mushikiwabo...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
            Vol 59 No 16 | 
            - CONGO-KINSHASA
 
        
        
		
        
        
    
        
	
	     He received Rwandan foreign minister Louise Mushikiwabo  accompanied by former African Development Bank president Donald Kaberuka  in Kinshasa on 25 July  and promised to support her bid to become president of the Organisation International de la Francophonie (AC Vol 59 No 14  Shaky start for Sahel force)...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	      Macron is also backing Kagame's lobbying for Africa's Free Trade Area and the candidacy of his Foreign Minister  Louise Mushikiwabo  for the secretary generalship of the International Organisation of La Francophonie...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Protests came thick and fast  not only from foreign diplomats  including the United States Ambassador  Erica Barks-Ruggles  but from within the RPF  including Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo...
	 
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	     Rwanda's Foreign Minister  Louise Mushikiwabo  has expressed her concern about alleged links between the Imbonerakure militia associated with Nkurunziza and the anti-Kagame Forces démocratiques pour la libération du Rwanda  which are based in Congo-Kinshasa (AC Vol 55 No 14  Puzzle of FDLR intentions)...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Candidates frequently cited as possible contenders include the Secretary General of the East African Community  Richard Sezibera; Donald Kaberuka  whose second and final term as President of the African Development Bank ends this year; and the shrewd Foreign Minister  Louise Mushikiwabo...
	 
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	     Both the head of the UN peacekeeping mission  Martin Kobler  and Israel's foreign secretary  Avigdor Lieberman  were in Kigali  and Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo flew to London just two days later...