Joseph Kabila accused by DR Congo of planning attack

DR Congo's government accused former president Joseph Kabila on Friday of planning a "general attack" after he joined forces with the M23 armed group in a new organisation involved in the conflict in the country's east.

Government spokesman Patrick Muyaya told AFP that Kabila had "decided to formalise his widespread attack against the Republic" and said choosing to take up arms meant killing Congolese people to try to conquer territory.

Kabila on Monday joined M23 to head the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation, or FRN. The group has been presented as a "politico-military" outfit that will pool strength, resources and means with the aim of ending what it called tyranny by any means, including force. M23 leaders are to serve as deputies.

Kabila, 55, ruled DR Congo from 2001 to 2019. He was condemned to death in absentia a year ago for "complicity" with M23. Congolese authorities have accused him of being an initiator of the Congo River Alliance, the now-dissolved political wing of M23. Kabila has denied the allegations.

After several years outside the country, Kabila reappeared in May 2025 in Goma, a major eastern city now controlled by M23, and has since made regular visits to rebel-held territory. Fighting continues in parts of eastern DR Congo, particularly in South Kivu province.

Kabila's return to the political scene comes as President Felix Tshisekedi, who succeeded him, is due to reach the end of his second and constitutionally final five-year term in 2028. Opposition rallies in June and September protested against a proposed constitutional amendment that could open the way for a third term.

The main opposition coalition has so far kept its distance from Kabila, though Kabila has expressed support for the opposition. In an online speech Friday, he criticised the government as being "motivated solely by its own perpetuation in power."