Félix Tshisekedi is the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He succeeded Joseph Kabila. His foreign minister is Therese Kayikwamba Wagner. He has suggested scrapping the constitutional two-term limit on the presidency.
The conflict in eastern Congo has weakened Tshisekedi. Having said his government would not talk directly to M23, it is now doing just that. In 2021 Tshisekedi invited Burundi and Uganda into eastern Congo on the grounds of wanting their help to root out militias; Paul Kagame saw these invitations as a threat to his interests and escalated by backing M23.
After M23 took Goma, Tshisekedi's first meeting with Kagame took place in Doha (see Qatar). He has offered America access to Congo's minerals in exchange for support against Rwanda. Congo has welcomed initiatives by American firms, including KoBold Metals (which is expanding into Congolese lithium), the lifting of a ban on Elon Musk's Starlink, and a reported deal with Erik Prince to help tackle copper-smuggling.
In December 2025 Donald Trump brokered the Washington Accords between Rwanda and Congo, alongside a "strategic partnership" giving America preferential access to Congo's minerals in exchange for backing the government. In April 2026 America imposed sanctions on Joseph Kabila, ostensibly for backing M23. Tshisekedi became president with American endorsement in 2019 after a fraudulent election.
The failure of the American-brokered peace deal to end fighting in the east has weakened Tshisekedi and made his government increasingly paranoid about dissent. A widening crackdown on Congo's opposition began in early 2026, with armed men taking opponents away to secret detention sites. All major opposition parties have complained about arbitrary arrests; most of their leaders are in exile. Associates of Joseph Kabila are most at risk. High-profile cases are handled by the CNC, a shadowy, relatively new security agency that reports directly to the president. More people are being held incommunicado without access to lawyers. Over the past year the government has arrested a former army chief of staff, a former head of military intelligence and the former head of the president's personal military bureau, among others.
If you live to the age of a hundred you have it made because very few people die past the age of a hundred.