In yet another global spectacle of Africa’s diplomatic dependency, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda signed a so-called Declaration of Principles — not in Kinshasa, Kigali, or even Addis Ababa — but in Doha, Qatar.
Under the auspices of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and witnessed by other American officials, this event should not be mistaken for a triumph of African diplomacy.
It is an indictment of the continent’s chronic inability to take charge of its own destiny.
Qatar, a wealthy Gulf nation with its own strategic ambitions, is now the stage where African futures are being negotiated.
Why? Because Africa despite its resources, despite its institutions, despite its repeated rhetoric about “African solutions for African problems” has failed once again to build strong mechanisms for peace and conflict resolution within its own borders.
America’s interest is not about Congolese peace or Rwandan dignity.
It is about securing access to eastern Congo’s vast mineral wealth and maintaining influence in one of the world’s most strategically important regions.
Qatar, eager to boost its global diplomatic reputation, gladly hosts the deal.
Meanwhile, Africa sits sidelined — grateful for crumbs, blind to the deeper humiliation.
Where was the African Union? Where were the regional bodies that claim to champion African unity and self-determination?
Their absence or irrelevance speaks volumes.
The real tragedy is not just that foreign powers are mediating Africa’s conflicts.
It is that Africa’s poor; the displaced farmers, the starving families, the countless war victims are once again invisible in the high-stakes theater of international diplomacy.
Their lives and futures are being decided in gilded halls thousands of miles away, by people with other agendas.
If Africa cannot solve African problems on African soil, then it must accept this bitter truth: others will solve them on their terms, for their benefit.
Today’s signing in Qatar is not a diplomatic milestone. It is a loud alarm bell. And Africa must wake up or risk remaining a pawn in other people’s games for generations to come.
Africa must rise, or be erased from the future being written without it.