Kabila Takes Command of a New Congo Rebel Coalition
Joseph Kabila, who ruled the Democratic Republic of Congo for eighteen years, has launched the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation at his residence in Goma, the eastern city held by M23 since January 2025. He will lead it, with the rebels’ political chief among his deputies.
He had previously denied having links to M23 at all, which is what makes the announcement a rupture rather than a development. An adviser, Claude Ibalanky, says the aim is to unite resistance forces “to put an end to tyranny by any means necessary, including the use of force”. The rebels already hold Goma and Bukavu, both airports and the crossings into Rwanda and Uganda, and a correspondent in Goma reports no sign of the government being able to dislodge them — with the added worry that soldiers may defect to a man who once commanded them. Yvon Muya of the University of Ottawa reads the timing as deliberate: “You don’t make an announcement like this without having prepared the actions that follow. We will likely witness an escalation on the military front.” Kabila took office at twenty-nine after his father’s assassination, was sentenced to death in absentia last year for treason and war crimes, which he calls political, and was sanctioned by Washington this year. Talks with M23 had been expected in Qatar next month.