Togo’s head of government and the African Union’s chief mediator for the DRC conflict, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, arrived in Kigali this morning for a working visit, Rwanda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed.
The visit, announced on X by @RwandaMFA, comes at a moment of acute diplomatic pressure and it marks at least his second working trip to Kigali since being tasked by the AU with brokering peace between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
No agenda was publicly disclosed, but the timing leaves little ambiguity about the purpose.
The Accords Are Under Strain
The Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity signed on December 4, 2025 at the US Institute of Peace in the presence of President Trump required Rwanda to withdraw its forces from eastern DRC within 90 days, and obligated Kinshasa to sever ties with the FDLR militia. That deadline has now passed.
The US responded with sanctions against four Rwandan generals in March 2026, which Kagame dismissed as “nothing more than insults thrown in my country’s face.”
Who Is Gnassingbé and Why Does He Keep Coming to Kigali
Gnassingbé was nominated by the African Union in April 2025 to serve as lead mediator for the DRC-Rwanda conflict, working alongside a panel of five former heads of state including Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo, Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta, and Ethiopia’s Sahle-Work Zewde.
The AU Commission credited him specifically for his role in making the Washington Accords possible, paying him “special tribute” for his ongoing facilitation at the time of signing.
His last confirmed visit to Kigali was in January 2026, when he first held a private meeting with President Kagame, followed by expanded talks with the AU Panel of Facilitators. Discussions focused on the security situation in eastern DRC and built on outcomes from a high-level meeting in Lomé on January 17, 2026, which called for a coordinated mediation approach.
That visit also produced a bilateral dividend: the two leaders agreed to synchronise diplomatic efforts by aligning the emerging Doha Framework with the Lomé-led mediation process, and welcomed the operationalisation of a visa-free travel agreement between Rwanda and Togo, framing it as a step toward a “Lomé–Kigali Corridor” linking the Port of Lomé with East Africa’s logistics networks.
Gnassingbé’s Kigali visit is almost certainly part of a broader regional tour. His previous shuttle in January also took him to Kinshasa, and the pattern has been consistent: consult Kigali, consult Kinshasa, return to the AU framework.
About the Author
