Keypoints:
- DRC revives its 2023 Jerusalem pledge
- Israel ties broaden into security cooperation
- Eastern Congo conflict raises diplomatic stakes
THE Democratic Republic of Congo has revived consultations on moving its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, reopening a politically sensitive three-year-old pledge as President Félix Tshisekedi deepens ties with Israel amid continuing conflict in eastern DRC.
The move carries significance well beyond the location of a diplomatic mission. It would place Kinshasa among a small group of governments prepared to establish embassies in Jerusalem, while strengthening a relationship with Israel that encompasses security, defence, technology, investment and infrastructure.
A three-year pledge returns
The renewed push followed Tshisekedi’s September 1 talks in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog.
A joint declaration released afterwards said both countries intended to continue consultations towards opening a resident Israeli embassy in Kinshasa and relocating the DRC mission from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
No timetable has been announced.
The arrangement itself dates to September 2023, when Tshisekedi and Netanyahu met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
At that meeting, Israel pledged to open an embassy in Kinshasa. The DRC said that once the Israeli mission became operational, it would move its embassy to Jerusalem.
Neither side subsequently implemented that reciprocal arrangement.
Israel currently covers the DRC diplomatically through its embassy in Luanda, where Ambassador Leo Vinovezky serves as head of mission for Angola, the DRC, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe. The proposed resident Israeli embassy in Kinshasa has therefore yet to open.
Security moves to centre stage
The latest discussions underscore that relations extend far beyond conventional diplomacy.
According to the DRC Presidency, Tshisekedi and Netanyahu discussed security, defence, agriculture, infrastructure, energy and high technology.
Talks with Herzog also covered agriculture and food security, water, health, technology, innovation, training and investment.
That expanding agenda comes as Tshisekedi attempts to strengthen the DRC’s international partnerships while his government confronts continuing instability in the east.
The M23 rebellion has transformed the regional security landscape, with Kinshasa and United Nations experts repeatedly accusing Rwanda of supporting the armed group. Kigali denies those accusations and says its security concerns include armed groups operating in eastern Congo that threaten Rwanda.
Africa Briefing has reported how Kinshasa has widened pressure on Kigali by taking its allegations against Rwanda to the International Court of Justice.
Kinshasa widens diplomatic options
The timing of Tshisekedi’s Israel diplomacy therefore matters.
Israeli and Congolese officials have discussed regional peace efforts alongside bilateral cooperation, placing the relationship within Kinshasa’s wider search for diplomatic and security leverage.
That does not establish a bargain in which the DRC is offering an embassy move in return for Israeli or American support against Rwanda. No evidence made public supports such a quid pro quo.
Rather, the talks point to a broader effort by Tshisekedi to diversify relationships with countries capable of supplying investment, technology, security expertise and diplomatic influence.
Washington has simultaneously expanded its economic engagement with the DRC through critical minerals and infrastructure. In August, Kinshasa signed a $1.26bn, 30-year Lobito rail concession, advancing a strategic transport route through the country’s copper and cobalt heartland that could receive substantial US financing.
The security track is equally active. The DRC and M23 have pursued separate Qatar-mediated negotiations, with Africa Briefing reporting on the Doha framework aimed at ending fighting in eastern Congo.
Jerusalem raises the stakes
Moving the embassy would carry particular diplomatic weight because Jerusalem remains one of the most contested issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel regards Jerusalem as its capital and locates its parliament, prime minister’s office and major state institutions there.
Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and later annexed it, a move that has not received broad international recognition.
Most governments that maintain diplomatic relations with Israel therefore keep their embassies in or around Tel Aviv pending a negotiated settlement over Jerusalem’s final status.
US President Donald Trump broke with that longstanding approach during his first term when Washington moved the American embassy to Jerusalem in 2018. Only a relatively small number of countries have followed.
A DRC relocation would give Israel another African diplomatic endorsement of Jerusalem as an embassy location.
What happens next?
For now, the proposed transfer remains a diplomatic commitment rather than a completed relocation.
Officials say consultations will continue through diplomatic channels to determine how the reciprocal embassy arrangements would be implemented.
The wider rapprochement nevertheless shows Tshisekedi seeking to turn a long-standing relationship with Israel into a more practical partnership spanning security, technology, agriculture and investment.
Whether that relationship ultimately delivers tangible security, economic and diplomatic gains for Kinshasa will depend on whether the commitments being revived move from political declarations to implementation.
Related stories
