In 2009, it was as president that Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Kinshasa. As required by the codes specific to these official visits, he had taken advantage of the crowds, was followed by clouds of cameras and had multiplied the handshakes. Fourteen years later, Wednesday March 22, when he arrives on the tarmac at N’Djili airport, the former French head of state would have done without any publicity.
Revealed by the news site Africa Intelligence, this new two-day visit was intended to be as discreet as possible. “We are not concerned. At the embassy level, we have no information to give and we have nothing to do with it,” says a diplomat laconically, while the former president was welcomed by Ambassador Bruno Aubert. “I don’t know if it was coordinated with the Elysée, unlike Jean-Pierre Raffarin’s mission the day before in Kinshasa”, added another diplomat. Jacques Chirac’s Prime Minister was indeed in the Congolese capital for two days as part of his NGO Leaders for Peace, a think tank which aims to reduce the risk of conflict.
At the Congolese presidency, we insist on the character ” private “ of this visit, but it is nevertheless at the City of the African Union, the opulent complex built by Mobutu Sese Seko where the Congolese president is staying, and not in one of the big hotels in Kinshasa, that Nicolas Sarkozy was accommodated . Smiling, with open arms, the Congolese head of state made a point of welcoming his guest himself, accompanied by the young Congolese Minister of Hydrocarbons. Didier Budimbu Ntubuanga, who has his habits and his networks in Paris, is one of those who organized the arrival of Nicolas Sarkozy. He had met him in the French capital seven months ago.
But what was Nicolas Sarkozy doing in Kinshasa? “Nicolas Sarkozy and Felix Tshisekedi talked about everything, including tensions with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, but that’s not the main topic. There is no rapprochement in sight with Kagame via Sarkozy,” insists an adviser to the Congolese head of state. Accustomed to traveling in Africa, in particular on behalf of Accor, of which he is one of the administrators, he uses his relations with Kigali to play the intermediary between the two neighbors, in crisis since the resumption of an offensive by M23, in November 2021, say several Congolese sources. Kinshasa accuses, supported by a report by the United Nations group of experts, Kigali of actively supporting the rebel movement, which now controls certain territories in eastern DRC.
Passion commune
At the Congolese presidency, it is just said that Félix Tshisekedi and Nicolas Sarkozy share a common passion, that of Paris-Saint-Germain – the first had even been invited a few months ago by the second at the Parc des Princes. A club linked by a partnership with Rwanda.
This visit takes place while Emmanuel Macron has himself invested in the Rwandan file. In September 2022, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, he had succeeded in bringing together around him Félix Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame, who no longer spoke to each other, without however the situation improving on the ground. At the beginning of March, during his tour in Central Africa, he went to Kinshasa, where his words were eagerly awaited. After the visit of Secretary of State Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, who in December declared that “France firmly supports the DRC in the face of the M23 supported by Rwanda », Félix Tshisekedi hoped for a clear condemnation of Kigali by Emmanuel Macron. She never came. During his press conference in Kinshasa on March 4, Emmanuel Macron, who needs to spare his Rwandan ally, contented himself with asserting that if, on March 8, the ceasefire and the withdrawal of the M23 recently conquered areas were not effective, sanctions would be considered, without this being followed by effect. A caution that did not fail to disappoint in the DRC.
It is rare for France to get involved on the front line in Congolese affairs, but Nicolas Sarkozy himself had already ventured there when he was president. In 2009, the one who had succeeded in calming relations with Rwanda, came to Kinshasa to defend “his peace plan”. But, above all, to calm the spirits after remarks made two months earlier in front of ambassadors. He then mentioned “a new approach” and one ” share “ of ” space “ and “wealth” of “the huge” Congo with the « petit » Rwanda. At the time, this caused an outcry in Kinshasa. This time, the former president refrained from making any public statement.