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Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner

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Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner
Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner in 2024
Minister of State
Foreign minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Incumbent
Assumed office
13 June 2024
PresidentFélix Tshisekedi
Prime MinisterJudith Suminwa
Preceded byChristophe Lutundula
Personal details
Born1983 (age 40–41)
Kinshasa (Congo)
EducationHarvard University
Fordham University
Global Campus of Human Rights
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner (born 1983) is a political scientist and politician who serves as the Foreign Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, effective of 13 June 2024. She replaced Christophe Lutundula.[1]

Background and education

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She was born in 1983 in the city of Kinshasa, the capital city of DR Congo. Her mother is Congolese and her father is of German descent. She spent her childhood in Germany, Ghana and Togo. She is reported to have academic degrees from Harvard Kennedy School, Fordham University, Global Campus of Human Rights and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.[2]

Business career

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She has a varied career in the public and private service. Between 2009 and 2011 she worked with the German International Development Cooperation Agency (GIZ), based in Kigali, Rwanda. She then relocated to Goma, DR Congo and took up employment with Oxfam. The following year she assumed leadership responsibility of Oxfam's program to protect civilians.[2]

In 2014, she joined the United Nations, working in peacekeeping missions, including MONUSCO (DR Congo) and MINUSCA (Central African Republic). In 2019, she relocated to Nairobi (Kenya), working there as the assistant to Huang Xia, the United Nations special envoy for the African Great Lakes Region. Her position before being appointed as cabinet minister was as the Regional Program Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa at the Meta Group.[2]

Political career

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On 29 May 2024, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Francophonie, in the DR Congo's new cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka. Kayikwamba replaced Christophe Lutundula, the previous foreign minister.[3][4]

She took up her new office on 13 June 2024. One of her immediate tasks is to attempt to work out a diplomatic settlement between the March 23 Movement, the government of Rwanda and the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The other immediate task is to oversee the gradual withdrawal of MONUSCO forces from the country.[1][5][6]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Actualite (29 May 2024). "DRC: succeeding Christophe Lutundula, Thérèse Kayikwamba faces the diplomatic challenge of Rwandan aggression and the management of the withdrawal of MONUSCO" (Translated from the original French language). Actualite.cd. Kinshasa, DRC. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Radio Okapi (29 May 2024). "Thérèse Kayikwamba, a political scientist with UN experience, at the head of Foreign Affairs" (Translated from the original French language). Radio Okapi. Kinshasa, DRC. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  3. ^ Patrick Ilunga (29 May 2024). "DR Congo Announces Long-Awaited Government". The East African. Nairobi, Kenya. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  4. ^ Badylon Kawanda Bakiman (5 June 2024). "DR Congo: New Government Of 55 Members Including 18 Women Formed". Pan African Visions. Washington, DC, United States. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  5. ^ Ange Adihe Kasongo (13 July 2024). "Congo says UN exit unlikely while Rwandan troops present". Reuters. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  6. ^ Huaxia (24 July 2024). "Uncertainty, humanitarian crisis loom in eastern DR Congo despite extended truce with M23". Xinhua News Agency. Beijing, China. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
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Political offices
Preceded by Foreign minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
2024–present 		Incumbent
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