“It was not normal that this part of La Francophonie did not have more visibility. The Secretary General of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), Louise Mushikiwabo, will be in Quebec on Tuesday to inaugurate the new Francophonie office. An office whose mission will not only be to represent the Francophonie of North America, but also to centralize the action of the OIF on everything concerning the evolution of French in the world.
As of this summer, the Observatory of the French language based in Paris, which follows the evolution of the French language and publishes a voluminous report every four years, will move to Quebec. “When in 2019, in Monaco, the ministers responsible for La Francophonie asked me to rethink the organization’s presence in the world, I immediately thought that it was not normal for La Francophonie is not politically and diplomatically represented in North America. To be honest, the Francophonie of the Americas is Quebec. But we also have a large community of Francophones and Francophiles in Canada and the United States,” explains Mushikiwabo, in an interview with The dutybefore leaving for Quebec.
This former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Rwanda, who succeeded in 2018 to former Governor General Michaëlle Jean in tumultuous circumstances, knows what she is talking about since she studied with our American neighbors. At the time, Louisiana had also just been admitted as an observer to the OIF.
“I know the Francophone potential in this part of the world,” she says. The Quebec City office will be responsible for reaching out to Francophones in America. I am for a Francophonie that goes out to meet people, beyond the routine of international organizations. This is her way, she says, of understanding what she calls this “new Francophonie”.
“Modernize” the OIF
Once is not custom, Louise Mushikiwabo is not the type to sink into grandiloquence. Her sober and restrained style contrasts with the often emphatic character of the one who had preceded her in this post and who had been criticized in particular for her excessive spending. During his interview with The duty, Ms. Mushikiwabo repeated on several occasions that the OIF was a “modest” organization and that “it cannot do everything”. Which does not mean that with its 54 member states and 27 observers, it has no influence in the world, she specifies.
“In 2018, I received the mandate to rethink and modernize this organization, which turned 50 in 2020. We were involved in everything: the French language, cooperation, support for women entrepreneurs, youth, expired drugs, etc It’s just if we were not in the nuclear! »
So choices had to be made. The 400 projects for which it took charge in 2018 were grouped into around twenty major missions. The Secretary General has chosen to focus the action of the OIF on the education of young girls, the empowerment of women, digital technology and youth, she said. Without forgetting of course the defense of the French language, which is at the source of everything.
What Louise Mushikiwabo describes as a simple “grooming” sometimes resembles a major cleaning. After an audit by KPMG, around twenty positions were eliminated. Not without causing friction. Without certain offices, says the secretary general, we still filled in handwritten forms for the budgets. A new financial regulation was put in place, and the contribution of States, some of which had several years of arrears, was improved by 20%.
The secretary general admits that the OIF has not been much talked about for two years. This did not prevent him, she specifies, from turning around quickly during the pandemic. We had to go digital. For example, the Institut de la Francophonie pour l’éducation et la formation (IFEF), based in Senegal, had to find tricks to reach young people who were confined, but who did not have access to the Internet.
“We have also advocated for equitable access to vaccines in collaboration with the WHO, the European Union and the African Union. We even tracked the delivery of vaccines to certain countries. On February 28, Louise Mushikiwabo was in Moldova with the President of the Council of Europe, Charles Michel, to encourage vaccination as part of Operation Covax.
“Not at war”
But, she does not hide it, in Africa where France does not have good press when it has just withdrawn from Mali under the jokes, it is not always easy to explain that the OIF n is not France and vice versa. “Yes, France has little problems in Africa, especially at the youth level. But at the same time, I have no problem saying it, there are a lot of difficulties that come from us, the Africans. France has its faults, as a Rwandan, I know. But France is not to blame for all of Africa’s woes. If we are honest with ourselves, we Africans also have a few things to change. »
Even if, since 2018, the number of French speakers has increased by 7% in Africa, according to the latest report from the French Language Observatory, the Secretary General does not claim victory. “We are not at war with English, says Louise Mushikiwabo, but we are concerned that the French language does not lose its place. The Francophone Initiative for the distance training of teachers, which trains hundreds of teachers, may be a real success even in countries which are not members of the OIF such as Ghana, it is necessary to “go to the ‘higher scale’, says the Secretary General.
This former translator also does not hide her frustration at seeing that English is still occupying more and more space in the European Union, even if the United Kingdom is no longer part of it. “I know that we are not going to stop the progress of the English language. But that’s no reason for those who speak French to capitulate. It is also up to the Member States to make an effort. »
Are you going to Djerba?
All these questions should be raised during the next summit, which is due to take place next November in Djerba, Tunisia. At least if all goes as planned. We know that if the summit was postponed last year, it was not only for logistical reasons and because of the epidemic. At the time, the Tunisian president, Kaïs Saïed, had just assumed full powers and suspended the Parliament dominated by the Islamist party Ennahdha. However, on 22nd April last, he also gave himself the right to appoint the director of the Electoral Authority who is to supervise the constitutional referendum which will be held next July as well as the legislative elections in December.
“For the moment, I have no worries, but I am following what is happening very closely,” said Louise Mushikiwabo. She won’t say more. What image would a Francophonie summit held in a country that does not respect its own constitutional rules give? Above all, this summit, which was to mark the 50th anniversary of the OIF, should not be postponed again. Especially since the Secretary General takes her mandate from the Assembly of Heads of State and Government. “I don’t want to become a permanent secretary like at the French Academy,” she jokes.
In the meantime, Louise Mushikiwabo does not want to say that she is “interested” in a future mandate. Weighing her words carefully, she simply says she is “available”. “The potential of this organization is enormous,” she concludes. While hastening to add “at our level and with the means that are ours”.