Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner: Congolese Diplomacy Muzalendo Heroine

The Minister of State Kayikwamba fulfils responsibilities bestowed upon her without skimping on means through unmatched intransigence and steadfastness. Wagner Kayikwamba Thérèse is the architect of political-diplomatic scaffolding shelves that her country, the DRC raises to make Rwanda bend. She does not hesitate to cross the highest and widest “Rubicons” to assert the weight of the DRC in the balance on the international spectrum. Her background as Political Assistant and Officer in charge of Political Affairs to the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary General in  the Great Lakes Region, Xia Huang, at the time, bears testimony to the volume of her cognitive extravagant repertoire of the warring environment fuelled by evil forces wrecking havoc therein. Her knowledge of the Great Lakes and Rwanda, having worked for the German International Development Cooperation Agency – GIZ in Rwanda, is a guarantee of security that renders her trustworthy given the level of betrayal that is routing the DRC political class.

Current General of the Congolese diplomatic army, Therese has littered the seats of regional, African and international decision-makers with thorns and nails to tickle their posteriors at any time they get to sit down. The pursued goal remains the eternal reminder to world leaders to linger a keen ear for atrocities and barbarities committed by M23 terrorists backed by Rwandan Defense Forces, in eastern DRC and especially during their deadly incursion on January 24, 2025.

Since taking office on June 13, 2024, the Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Francophonie has footed the forecourts of  halls where the world strong men and women lock themselves in as powerful international organizations, to make the DRC’s voice heard audibly.  Upstream, she had already made visible her desire to manage Congolese diplomacy differently, it was the attack on Goma by the murderous Rwandan terrorists that triggered her ardour. Over the years, the DRC has struggled to appoint shrewd Ministers in this position who are as insightful and fiery as Kayikwamba, except for his predecessor Lutundala in the opposite hypothesis, who displayed direct confrontations. With Mrs Wagner, diplomacy is conducted with parsimony. Her stubbornness and convincing oratorical acumen make her the most desired darling of television and radio stations all over the world. Her inexhaustible loquacity, her excellently rich vocabulary and her assured “goliathistic” appearance, do make her a refuge and a support, an ever-present help when the DRC is in distress, especially at this time.

Undaunted during press briefings or conferences and breakaway sessions, Mrs Kayikwamba Wagner had lowered Rwanda haughty attitudes during her robust performance in English at the United Nations Security Council on January 28, 2025, part of which is quoted verbatim as follows (translation):

 « …first of all I would like to note that for the first time in our meetings Rwanda did extend condolences for the fallen peacekeepers.  However I would like to rectify something, the peacekeepers did not just die in the process, the peacekeepers were killed. Second of all, SADC forces or SAMI-DRC were not deployed unilaterally by the DRC but rather with the mandate from AU  , an organisation Rwanda is part of, even if its behaviour in the DRC clearly flaunts its principles.  Third, the M 23 excluded itself from the Nairobi process by renewing attacks on FADC, the government of the DRC has nonetheless expressed the willingness to re-include M23 in the Nairobi process. We reject Rwanda’s obsession and attempts to elevate M23 to the level of interlocutor deemed fit to sit up at the same table as the legitimate government.  30 years down the line, we have never stooped to the level of expecting and demanding from Rwanda to talk its brothers and sisters -the FDLR who are still in our country, we have not stooped to that level. Fourth, on regime change, we will remind the Rwandan delegation that the M24 and AFC have repeatedly expressed their intent to march on Kinshasa, the very M23 Rwanda forces are backing right now. There is a subtlety that should not go amiss between words and actions. Rwanda’s actions side by side with the M23 are actions seeking to overthrow a legitimately established government  …”

An eloquently revealing and reinforcing testimony of her temerity; Madam the Minister of Foreign Affairs never backs down in the face of vagaries in the history of nations that have made Rwanda to act as their proxy. The Minister has taken the initiative to address football leaders to scrap “Visit Rwanda” on their teams’ jerseys. The clubs of Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain received official letters from the Minister Kayikwamba. She complains about their continued support to Rwanda  while Rwanda massacres innocent people in the DRC. Also, she reveals this trilogy Killing-Pillaging-Money that Rwanda practices to honour its sponsorships. From now on “Visit Rwanda” should be abandoned and the sponsorship cancelled. On the other hand “Visit Congo Blood in Rwanda” would be better fit to express DRC discontentment. Kayikwamba is on all fronts to obtain the condemnation of Rwanda and sanctions against the latter.

Regional Program Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa with Meta, her last job appointment before the call by the Prime Minister, Mrs Suminwa Tuluka to join the government, she is moving the foundations of geopolitics and shakes them. She seems to hover on the wings of the wind by the expertise she exudes when she is involved in efforts to find solutions to crises in order to stop the fighting and halt populations’ mass displacement. Her rich UN experience for having worked within MONUSCO in the DRC and MINUSCA in the Central African Republic serves as uncompromising support in the accomplishment of her duties.

In her forties and a little more, the Minister of State and Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Francophonie’s young age, does not render vulnerable to swallow vexatious inclinations from whomever, starting with Rwanda. The latter’s denials regarding its involvement in this war and its usual to snub major rendezvous such as the Luanda process have given rise to a disgust  which was later described by Thérèse Kayikwamba as a lack of diplomatic elegance on the part of Kagame. Age being only a number, it is to well-born souls that value does not wait for the number of years. She breaks the grumblings with an iron rod despite the dissensions that border on perversity each time the Congolese cause is referred to. An art with the essence of singular traits drawn from the pedagogy the Minister of  State majored in at the University of Mainz in Germany

Helped by her globetrotting, the Minister of State enjoys an overbearing rhetorical polyglot attributes as she transcends linguistic barriers so easily that she is always on the lookout so that speeches semantics are not twisted during meetings and exchanges. Fluent in French, German and English, Madam the Minister commands these languages ​​with competence and professional diligence. Since her appointment, pleas in favour of the DRC undertaken at the United Nations, the European Union, Human Rights, before the various Parliaments, etc. are performed in the language dictated by the environment. This is where her qualities as an anthropologist serve as tools for political navigation.

Her educational background includes significant academic qualifications following her successful university studies at Louvain la Neuve, Kennedy Harvard School, Fordham University, Harvard Law School; not to mention accolades achieved from Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, United Nations OCHA, FBA (Folke Bernadotte Academy), Geneva Centre for Security Policy and Swisspeace. In spite of this rich academic background, Thérèse remains remorseful for having failed to register at the prestigious Columbia University in the USA, following a hesitation that made her lack self-confidence a little.

Holder of a Master degree, her international performances day in day out in favour of the DRC do make anyone applauding her mastery of issues relating to peace efforts to spare human lives. Columbia University remains a distant unpleasant memory while duty for the nation calls her repeatedly. Two months ago, she took the floor at the United Nations (translation) to voice the DRC cause: “Madam the Chair, thank you for giving me the floor again. I will be brief but I must respond with the greatest clarity and firmness to arguments put forward by the permanent representative of Rwanda. From the onset, let us be clear: I do not blame Rwanda for all bad situations in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I blame Rwanda for the illegal presence of its troops in our country. The Kishishi massacre, the bombing of the Mugunga displaced persons camp, the systematic pillaging of our natural resources and the attacks on United Nations and SADC peacekeepers. I therefore blame Rwanda for violations of the United Nations Charter. These acts are all crimes that are therefore not the result of a misunderstanding or bilateral disputes. These facts, Madam the Chair, are not speculations; they have been documented, corroborated and recorded in United Nations reports. I first take note of Rwanda’s position, to doubting the objectivity of United Nations experts. Rwanda claims that the Democratic Republic of Congo is confronted with numerous armed groups. Oh yes! It is a fact. But this admission of the complexity of our security context cannot serve as a justification for its own violations of our sovereignty. It is not because other challenges exist that its support for M23 or the presence of its troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo becomes excusable. I say it strongly, Rwanda’s assessment of our internal challenges does not give it any right to intervene. Rwanda also raises the idea that M23 represents marginalized communities, allow me to ask this assembly a simple question: Since when are massacres, forced displacements and the demographic reorganization of territories legitimate means to respond to ethnic and social demands? M23 does not defend any cause, it executes a strategy dictated by Rwanda interests. The group of experts has demonstrated that it is not about defending minorities but it is about controlling resources and weakening the sovereignty of the Democratic Republic of Congo…”

What a massive contribution! A Diplomatic Army General who records such stellar performances, deserves to be named a Muzalendo Heroine forever!