Former Congolese president Joseph Kabila has formally joined forces with armed rebel groups, a move that has heightened concern about the conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). That fighting has already killed thousands of people. On Monday, Kabila launched a new political-military coalition intended to replace the M23-AFC alliance, which is battling government forces and controls large areas of territory.
The coalition’s spokesperson, Claude Ibalanky, said the movement would “put an end to tyranny by any means necessary, including the use of force”. His remarks were widely read as a stark warning to the government in Kinshasa. The launch came exactly one year after a military court sentenced Kabila to death over alleged links to the rebel groups.
Kabila unveils the FRN coalition from Goma
Kabila introduced the new alliance, called the Front pour la Refondation de la Nation (FRN), from his residence in Goma. His announcement effectively confirmed the accusations the DRC government has made against him for some time. The former president said he would lead the alliance personally.
The leadership structure includes several figures from the M23 movement and its political wing:
- Corneille Nangaa, a Kabila ally and former elections commissioner who later left government to found the Congo River Alliance (AFC), will serve as deputy.
- Bertrand Bisimwa, an M23 spokesman, will also serve as deputy.
- Freddy Kaniki, a medical doctor and senior M23 health official, will be secretary-general.
- Sultani Makenga of the M23 will act as army chief of the alliance.
Kabila, 55, is the son of former president Laurent Kabila. He took office in 2001 at the age of 29, after his father was assassinated. Earlier, he had served as army chief and fought in the two Congo civil wars, when Rwanda backed rebel groups against the long-serving Congolese leader Mobutu Sese Seko.
Sentence, sanctions and a rift with Tshisekedi
Kabila’s time in office, which officially ended in 2016, was marked by rights violations and corruption, according to the reporting. He delayed elections until 2018, citing voter registration problems, and left office in 2019. Before stepping down, he is believed to have signed a power-sharing deal with opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi, who won the election and is now president.
Kabila’s allies were initially placed throughout the cabinet under that deal. In 2020, however, Tshisekedi began removing them, and the truce collapsed bitterly. Tshisekedi’s government then opened corruption investigations against Kabila, which led him into self-imposed exile in South Africa in 2023.
Last October, a military court in Kinshasa sentenced Kabila to death on charges including treason and war crimes, along with other serious offences. Prosecutors alleged he had collaborated with Rwanda and the M23-AFC. In April, Washington imposed sanctions on Kabila, alleging that he had funded rebel groups. Kinshasa has long claimed he has ties to the M23-AFC, so the latest move has not come as a surprise.
Last year, as M23-AFC offensives intensified, Kabila published a sharply critical opinion piece in South Africa’s Sunday Times. In it, he accused Tshisekedi of mishandling the conflict and proposed a “12-point plan” to restore peace. Reports also surfaced of sightings of Kabila in Goma, the rebel-held eastern city where he owns homes.
Eastern Congo conflict and fears for peace talks
The M23 crisis has torn through the mineral-rich eastern DRC for nearly 15 years, according to the United Nations, which says more than 7.8 million people have been displaced and 28 million face food shortages. The number of dead is unknown. The United States and the UN accuse Rwanda of backing M23, an allegation that Kigali denies.
The roots of the violence stretch back more than 30 years and include the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda, the alleged harbouring of Hutu fighter groups in the DRC afterwards, and Kigali’s determination to confront them. M23 emerged in 2012 from the remnants of Congolese Tutsi fighter groups that fought in the Second Congo War. The group says it defends the rights of minority Congolese Tutsis and wants to unseat the government in Kinshasa.
In early 2024, the AFC-M23 launched fast offensives that took large parts of the east. Goma fell to the group again in January 2025, after heavy battles that killed nearly 3,000 civilians, according to the reporting. The rebels, who have been accused of massacres of civilians, now hold North and South Kivu, including the capitals Goma and Bukavu, as well as border crossings with Rwanda and Uganda. Kampala has also been accused of supporting M23.
A correspondent said Congolese people fear the fighting could flare again and that some soldiers could defect to serve their former leader. Peace efforts are also at risk. In June 2025, the DRC and Rwanda signed a US-led peace agreement, and in a separate process mediated by Qatar, the DRC and M23-AFC signed the Doha Framework last November, with a meeting due this month.
Bram Verelst of the Institute for Security Studies said the changes may not end the agreements between the DRC and Rwanda, since Kigali will likely want to keep the US-led talks going. He warned that the greater danger lies in the Doha process. “We are likely to see a hardening of Kinshasa’s position toward the rebel movement and Kabila, including efforts to isolate Kabila and FRN regionally,” Verelst said. He added: “What this means for the conflict on the ground will depend on the capacity of Kabila to take control over the rebellion and to build and expand alliances beyond North and South Kivu.”
