Tag: Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC)

DR Congo Strips Ex-Leader of Immunity Over Treason Charges

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s senate has stripped former President Joseph Kabila of his immunity, paving the way for his prosecution over his alleged backing of rebels in the east.

Authorities have accused him of treason and war crimes, saying there was a “substantial body of documents, testimony and material facts” linking Kabila to the M23 armed group, which has taken control of several towns in the mineral-rich east.

Kabila, 53, has not commented on the accusations but has in the past denied any connection with the insurgents.

Nearly 90 senators on Thursday voted in favour of his treason prosecution, while five opposed it.

“The senate authorises the prosecution and lifting of Joseph Kabila’s immunity,” declared senate Speaker Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde after Thursday’s vote.

The former president, who led the country between 2001 and 2019, did not appear before the senate to defend himself.

After stepping down, he was given the title of “senator for life”, which gives him legal immunity.

In order to pursue the charges against him, DR Congo’s military prosecutor had asked the senate to lift this privilege.

Kabila has been living outside the country, in South Africa, for the past two years. But at the beginning of last month he said he would be returning to help find a solution to the conflict in the east.

A few weeks later, there were reports that the former president had come back and was in Goma, one of the cities captured by the M23.

But these were denied by his political party, the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD).

Last month, the authorities banned the PPRD because of its “ambiguous attitude” to the occupation of Congolese territory by the M23.

Ordering the seizure of Kabila’s assets, Justice Minister Mutamba said the former president should return to the country and “face justice… and present his defence”.

Analysts say any trial of Kabila could further destabilise the country, which has been battling the M23 rebellion since 2012.

Kabila’s party termed his prosecution “pure theatre” aimed at distracting Congolese people from the main challenges facing the country, AFP news agency reported.

Kabila, a former military officer, took over leadership of the country in 2001 at the age of just 29, after his father Laurent Kabila, was assassinated.

While Kabila supported Tshisekedi’s rise to power, they later fell out and relations between their parties’ coalition formally ended in December 2020.

Kabila has retained significant power through his political party and his influence within the ruling coalition, potentially undermining Tshisekedi’s presidency.

Kabila left DR Congo in 2023, officially to study in South Africa.

Fighting between the M23 and the Congolese army and allied militia has continued in the east as the rebels attempt to expand their territory.

DR Congo and Rwanda, which denies accusations it backs the M23, may be edging towards a peace deal to end the fighting, which has seen hundreds of thousands of civilians forced from their homes in recent months.

The two countries signed a preliminary agreement in Washington last month and said they had agreed on a pathway to peace.

Last year, three M23 leaders were prosecuted in absentia by a military court and given death sentences for treason.

The government in March offered a reward of $5m (£4m) for help arresting the rebel leaders – Corneille Nangaa, Sultani Makenga and Bertrand Bisimwa.

(BBC)

May 24, 2025
DR Congo Orders Property Seizure, Legal Action Against Former President Kabila

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) government has “ordered” legal proceedings against former President Joseph Kabila and ordered the seizure of all his movable and immovable assets.

Authorities accuse Kabila of supporting and participating in armed conflict alongside M23 rebels.

In a communiqué released on Friday, April 18, the Congolese ministry of justice stated that it had directed the Auditor General of the DR Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) and the Prosecutor General at the Court of Cassation to begin legal action against Kabila for his alleged “direct participation” in the aggression carried out by the AFC/M23.

“Furthermore, movement restrictions have been imposed against all of his collaborators implicated in this case,” it went on.

Last week, Kabila’s wife, Olive Lembe, said she was facing persecution at the hands of the country’s security agencies.

Lembe, who married Kabila in 2006, continues to reside in DR Congo even though her husband has been in exile for over a year before his recent announcement that he is returning to the country.

“It is persecution that we are suffering from the security services and this regime,” Lembe said in an interview with local media.

Kabila said in early March that he had suspended his studies in South Africa to “deal with the worsening situation,” in eastern DR Congo, where a government coalition has been fighting the AFC/M23 rebels for over three years. The rebels now control the strategic cities of Goma and Bukavu.

On Friday, April 18, Kabila reportedly arrived in Goma, 10 days after he said he would return to the country after six years of silence and exile.

Since the beginning of 2025, the rebel alliance, which includes the M23 rebels, has gained more Congolese support, with a growing number of political leaders and businesspeople joining its cause.

Government soldiers and police forces, as well as a number of armed groups have joined the ranks of the rebels, who fight for the protection of Congolese Tutsi communities who have suffered decades of ethnic violence.

The AFC/M23 rebels also condemn widespread corruption and bad governance, which have rendered the mineral-rich country ungovernable.

The Congolese government and the rebels held direct talks in Doha, Qatar on April 10, the first of its kind since the M23 rebellion resurfaced in late 2021 after nearly a decade of hibernation.

April 20, 2025
DRC Conflict: Why Are M23 Rebels Fighting?

Democratic Republic of Congo’s M23 rebels are moving south towards Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, in what appears to be an attempt to expand their area of control in the country’s east after capturing the city of Goma.

The latest advances are part of a major escalation of a decades-old conflict over power, identity and resources that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced more than 1 million since its recent resurgence.

What is happening in Goma?

After entering Goma on Monday night, the rebels faced pockets of resistance, particularly around strategic areas including the airport. They took control of the airport by Tuesday evening, and hundreds of government troops and allied militia laid down their weapons.

By Wednesday morning, the rebels were in control of the devastated city, where some corpses could still be seen in the streets. Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance (AFC), which includes Democratic Republic of Congo’s M23 rebels, told Reuters on Tuesday that they plan to govern Goma.

M23 forces were later advancing south from the town of Minova, along the western side of Lake Kivu, towards Bukavu, five diplomatic and security sources said.

Who are M23?

M23, which refers to the March 23, 2009, accord that ended a previous Tutsi-led revolt in eastern Congo, is the latest group of ethnic Tutsi-led insurgents to take up arms against Congolese forces. It launched the current rebellion in 2022.

The group has accused the government of Congo of not living up to the peace deal and fully integrating Congolese Tutsis into the army and administration.

It also vows to defend Tutsi interests, particularly against ethnic Hutu militias such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), founded by Hutus who fled Rwanda after participating in the 1994 genocide of close to 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Since the start of 2025, the rebels have seized new territory and reached Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, prompting hundreds of thousands more people to flee their homes.

For more than a year, M23 has controlled Congo’s coltan-mining region of Rubaya, generating an estimated $800,000 per month through a production tax, according to the U.N. Coltan is used in the production of smartphones and other equipment.

The group’s spread into new territories in recent weeks gives it scope to acquire more mining revenue, analysts say.

Why is Rwanda involved?

The government of Congo, U.N. officials and Western powers including the United States have accused Congo’s neighbour Rwanda of fuelling the conflict by deploying thousands of its own troops and heavy weapons on Congolese soil in support of M23.

The accusations are based on a 2022 report by a U.N. Group of Experts that said it had “solid evidence” that Rwandan troops had been fighting alongside the M23 rebels.

Rwanda, which denies backing the rebels, says it has taken what it calls defensive measures and accuses Congo of fighting alongside the FDLR, which has attacked Tutsis in both countries.

Rwanda has a long history of military intervention inside Congo. It and Uganda invaded in 1996 and 1998, claiming they were defending themselves against local militia groups and going after the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

What are UN peacekeepers and other forces doing?

U.N. peacekeepers had been supporting the Congolese army’s efforts to curb the M23 as part of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (MONUSCO) years-old mandate to counter the many rebel groups active in eastern Congo.

An agreed withdrawal of the mission from Congo has been paused because of the deteriorating security situation. As of December, there were nearly 11,000 peacekeepers on the ground, mostly in the east.

Since the fall of Goma, the mission has evacuated some of its staff and families. Its base has received a large number of people seeking refuge, including government and army officials and various elements including the pro-government Wazalendo militia fighters who have surrendered their arms.

Private military contractors who were hired by the Congolese government to help in the fight against M23 and to train troops have also surrendered.

Rwanda’s defence force said 280 of them had surrendered to M23. Reuters reporters saw dozens of Romanian mercenaries who had been hired by Congo crossing into Rwanda — the start of their journey home, one said

The 16-member Southern African Development Community (SADC), which extended its military mission in Congo late last year to help the Congolese army fight the rebels, remains in place.

Both forces have suffered losses since the start of 2025.

(Reuters)

January 30, 2025