French-speaking nations hold a summit in Cambodia but an African conflict threatens a rift

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Emmanuel Macron is set to attend a biennial meeting of French-speaking territories beginning Saturday in Cambodia , where the French president contending with public unrest at home will face international political challenges as an African conflict hangs over the proceedings.

The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie is holding the three-day meeting through Monday in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. Macron is expected to engage in bilateral discussions and join the summit meeting of the loose confederation of 90 member states and governments comprising 53 full members, five associate members and 32 observers where French is spoken.

Cambodia will take over the summit's chairmanship from Macron, who served as chair in 2024 when France was the host nation.

Before departing for Malaysia on Monday, Macron is scheduled to visit the Angkor World Heritage Site near the city of Siem Reap, where he and King Norodom Sihamoni will mark the completion of a French-supported restoration of the West Mebon temple.

The French leader's trip comes at a time of widespread domestic protests. France’s Interior Ministry said more than 600,000 people took to the streets earlier this month in a demonstration to demand higher wages and support the country’s student protest movement , which has resulted in thousands of arrests, hundreds of injuries and schools set on fire.

The summit's sticky diplomacy for Macron and other leaders will take place when participants decide on Monday who will serve for the next four years as the group’s leader and chief executive in the role of secretary-general.

The choices include candidates from two bitterly feuding African members, Rwanda's Louise Mushikiwabo, who is seeking reelection to a third four-year term, and the Democratic Republic of Congo's Juliana Lumumba, the 71-year-old daughter of the country’s martyred independence hero, Patrice Lumumba.

Congo, the United States and experts from the United Nations accuse Rwanda of backing the M23, one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo, along the border with Rwanda. Rwanda’s government consistently denies backing armed groups in Congo.

Congo has threatened to leave the OIF if Mushikiwabo is reelected. With a population exceeding 110 million people, over 40 million more than France, Congo is the most populous nation where French is the official language and its withdrawal would mark a significant blow to the Francophonie organization.

Two other candidates, from Romania and Mauritania, are poised to serve as compromise picks.

France is influential in the decision as the largest contributor to the OIF 2026 budget of €71.7 million ($79 million).

The outcome also could be delicate because the challenge comes on the heels of the withdrawals of Mali , Niger and Burkina Faso from the OIF announced in March 2025, following their membership suspensions over military coups.

Mali said the suspensions infringed on sovereignty, but the withdrawals also came in the context of Francophone African countries in recent decades shedding French political, military and cultural influence that they regarded as overbearing.

The summit's slogan, “Reinvest in Peace for Shared Prosperity and Lasting Stability,” is seen as a reflection of Cambodia’s recovery from years of war and unrest in the last quarter of the 20th century.

About 20 government leaders, including Canada’s Mark Carney, Vietnam’s To Lam, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Félix Tshisekedi, are expected to attend the summit and likely will meet with Cambodia's king as well as Prime Minister Hun Manet .

Most of the summit’s agenda is uncontroversial. Documents set to be approved concern political commitment to peaceful coexistence, social, cultural and economic cooperation, resolution of crisis situations and peace-building, and the protection of cultural heritage and the promotion of cultural diversity.

Host Cambodia, which has an opportunity to showcase tourism potential and business opportunities, is holding side events highlighting commercial partnerships, cultural exchanges, science and technology.

Local political activists see the meeting as an occasion to press for more democratic freedoms in a de facto one-party state. U.N. Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews issued a statement pleading with summit delegates to uphold OIF values and pressure the Cambodian government for the release of detained rights activists .

“No one should be detained for defending human rights, reporting on matters of public concern, or voicing critical opinions,” he said.

Cambodia can lay claim to helping birth the OIF, as its late king and mercurial independence leader, Norodom Sihanouk , was one of four founders in 1970 of the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation. Sihanouk was overthrown and his immediate successors did not join, as Cambodia subsequently endured civil war and the brutal rule of the communist Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979. Cambodia joined the Francophonie as an observer in 1991 and became a full member in 1993.

Peck reported from Bangkok.