Continuation and end of Saturday October 5 of the 19th Francophonie Summit, in Paris. It will be about new members of the organization. The Lebanese Minister of Information, on site, affirmed that his country was counting on France, much more than on other countries, to defend the interests of Lebanon, which is facing an air and land offensive from Israel.
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With our special correspondents at the Grand Palais, Nicolas Rocca, Christophe Boisbouvier, Pierre Firtion and Igor Gauquelin
Under the glass roof of the Grand Palais in Paris, a grand diplomatic ballet, the day after the opening of the summit of the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF), at the Cité internationale de la langue française, in Villers-Cotterêts.
Friday October 4, in Picardy, the secretary general of the institution, the Rwandan Louise Mushikiwabo, assured in her speech that the OIF would soon have more than its 88 members at the end of this Saturday’s meeting. Among the candidates:AngolaTHE Chilethe Canadian province of Nova Scotia, the French Polynesiabut also the German state of Saarland.
If these newcomers are accepted during the closed session, they will become observer members. They will be able to be present, without the right to vote, at major bodies. CyprusTHE Ghanathere Kosovo and the Serbia ask for their part to become a full member.
Questioned by RFI, the Ghanaian president returned to the situation in his northern neighbor, Burkina Faso, and the withdrawal of Ouagadougou, Bamako and Niamey from ECOWAS at the start of the year. This is in addition to their suspension from the OIF. During this interview, Nana Akufo-Addo also pleads for the release of the former Nigerien president Mohamed Bazoum, still imprisoned in Niger after the putsch of July 2023.
Also readNana Akufo-Addo: “Ghana cannot turn its back on Burkina Faso”
In addition to today’s bilateral meetings, meetings planned around entrepreneurship and the employment of young people are also on the agenda.
The plenary session was scheduled for 12:45 UT. The key moment of debate and decision-making, which is a priori held behind closed doors. The restitution of the work was to take place at the end of the day.
While one of the organization’s member states, the Lebanonis under bombs and that the fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli army rages in the south of its territory, a press release or a joint declaration could be announced. But nothing is less certain. Because for this, members must agree on words and a position that allows countries with sometimes very distant positions to be brought together on the Middle East.
During his opening speech on Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron pleaded for a united French-speaking space in the face of crises.
Note that the Beninese diva Angélique Kidjo, who has just agreed to sponsor the next Découvertes RFI prize, is performing in the evening in Paris, as part of the Festival de la Francophonie. A concert broadcast on our antennas.
Also readAngélique Kidjo: “What thrills me is the authenticity and originality of the artist”
The day of Villers-Cotterêts in sounds
Presidents, Prime Ministers, the Prince of Monaco and even a king, that of Cambodia. Friday, the 29 heads of state and government present this year in France for the 19th Francophonie summit. For this first to take place in France for 33 years, they were welcomed by Emmanuel Macron and Louise Mushikiwabo in Villers-Cotterêts, in Picardy, for the opening ceremony of the event. Listen to our reports again.
No, the Francophonie is not Françafrique. It is not only French and/or African. It is global. (…) We would like these three countries to return to the French-speaking family.
Louise Mushikiwabo calls for the return of Niger, Mali and Burbina Faso “to the family”
The historic enclosure, equipped with 21st century digital tools, which welcomes us, symbolizes our desire to open up the French language to the rest of the world.
Twenty-nine heads of state and government in a greenhouse facing the castle of François I
Also readOIF Summit: “We all stand alongside the friendly Lebanese people”