Congo’s vital water resources: a high-stakes dialogue in N’Djamena

Remarks that sent shockwaves through the parliamentary chamber. And since then… A parliamentarian passionately demanded that the Environment Minister immediately make public the aforementioned agreement. To this day, it has never been disclosed. Eve Bazaïba, who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Environment from mid-April 2021 to August 2025, and is now Minister of State for Social Affairs, recalled that following the uproar caused by the Kabila-Bozize accord, Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno declared, “If Congo does not want to give us water, we will be forced to take it one way or another!” Only divine providence knows where Chad might have ventured after its invasion of the Central African Republic under the guise of Seleka rebels. Idriss Deby Itno was reportedly killed in combat against a rebellion on April 20, 2021, according to the official account. His son, Mahamat Déby Itno, succeeded him and has maintained power since, notably through mediation led by Félix Tshisekedi, which earned him the renaming of a major thoroughfare in N’Djamena in his honor.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, seemingly to monitor Chad, a vigilance and monitoring unit for the management of DRC’s water resources was established within the National Assembly on April 16, 2014. At the time, it comprised about ten deputies, including Eve Bazaïba, who repeatedly decried “an international plot concocted against the country, with internal complicity!” Despite Eve Bazaïba later becoming Minister of Environment with the rank of Deputy Prime Minister, the unit never produced a single report. Twelve years and three months later, to the day, Mahamat Idriss Déby invited Félix Tshisekedi to the inaugural day of the “African Water Forum” in N’Djamena, according to the Congolese presidential press. In his address, the Congolese head of state proposed five strategic directions to tackle the challenges of water resource management, as reported by the presidential press. Firstly, he advocated for an integrated approach, ceasing to conceive of water, agriculture, energy, health, urban planning, environment, and infrastructure separately. Secondly, he called for strengthened governance through effective institutions, improved accountability, and transparent management of water infrastructure. Thirdly, he emphasized preparing technically sound and financially structured projects to attract greater investment. Fourthly, he suggested financing water infrastructure with public, private, and international partner resources. Fifthly, he proposed leveraging water as a driver for industrialization, advocating for the continent-wide development of production for pipes, pumps, meters, treatment equipment, irrigation systems, and digital solutions.

Emphasizing that “no state can alone guarantee its water security,” the head of state appealed for continental mobilization to “build cooperative water governance.” He thus launched a call for “a coalition among states, to elevate water to a first-order political priority.” Expert interpretations suggest that Tshisekedi’s nation might be open to the approach of transferring Congo River waters, albeit without using contentious terms. Is this an assumption of intent? Time will ultimately tell. So far, there has been no confirmation of this. Nevertheless, referencing the DRC’s immense hydric potential, the Congolese president outlined his country’s aspirations.

“By 2035, we aim to increase access to potable water to 60%, access to sanitation and hygiene services to 50%, and ensure adequate access to water, hygiene, and sanitation infrastructure in 80% of our schools and health facilities.” For Mahamat Idriss Déby, the N’Djamena forum represents a pivotal moment for Africa to reclaim control over its water destiny, striving for “shared prosperity.” Chad’s intentions are clear and devoid of diplomatic ambiguity. However, apart from Chad, no other member state of the Lake Chad Basin Commission attended the N’Djamena gathering. Neither Cameroon, nor Niger, nor Nigeria were present, despite the lake experiencing cyclical desiccation since 1964, shrinking from 25,000 to 20,000 km² in 1964 to merely 2,000 km² in 2024, though its surface area can rebound to nearly 4,500 km² during rare flood periods.

Only Mahamat Idriss Déby and Félix Tshisekedi were joined by Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema of Gabon, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani of Mauritania, and a representative from Benin. What lies behind the boycott by the Lake Chad Basin Commission members, including Niger? In 2019, former Foreign Minister Patrick Mayombe had warned the government that certain interest groups, staunchly committed to transferring Ubangi River waters to Lake Chad, had decided to bypass Congolese authorities. A certain Kalele, an NGO leader residing in Kisantu, Mayombe revealed, felt at liberty to sign documents pertaining to the transfer of Congo’s waters on behalf of the DRC. Amidst the chaotic ambitions of the CACH-FCC coalition, the DRC was reportedly manipulated globally. Even in Bologna, Italy, a series of meetings on Congo’s waters took place under the aegis of the Catholic movement Sant’Egidio, without officially involving Kinshasa.

Swiss politician, alter-globalist, and sociologist Professor Jean Ziegler, who served as a special rapporteur to the UN on the right to food during the height of the DRC’s second war of aggression, overheard a new concept about the Congo at the World Bank: “unprofitable people.”

According to Ziegler’s explanation, a population unable to adapt to new global dynamics would consequently be dispossessed of all resources that the new world order requires for global flourishing.

It appears that in the DRC, water is allowed to flow freely, from the foot of Mitwaba to the mouth of Banana, without concern. “If water is life and life is priceless, then those who govern us have not yet grasped the measure of the collective suicide that awaits us,” cautioned former Senator and Minister of Social Affairs, journalist Modeste Mutinga Mutuishayi, in his outspoken book, “The Republic of the Unconscious.”