DR Congo president accuses ex-leader Kabila of being a Rwandan 'proxy'

The Democratic Republic of Congo's president has accused his predecessor Joseph Kabila, who recently took charge of the rebellion in the country's restive east, of being a Rwandan pawn.

Kabila this month joined forces with the Rwanda-backed M23 movement to take a direct role in the insurgency ravaging the DRC's mineral-rich east, returning to the fray at a febrile time for Congolese politics.

Taking aim at the government in Kinshasa, the new Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN) vowed to "pool their strengths, resources and means" with the intention of "putting an end to tyranny", with Kabila at its helm.

In a speech broadcast on X by the Congolese presidency on Tuesday, President Felix Tshisekedi branded his predecessor "a great coward".

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame "asked his proxy, who had been lurking in the shadows, to come out and take the reins of this offensive", Tshisekedi told lawmakers from his ruling coalition.

"This is the sign of a side that is on the ropes," Tshisekedi said.

Joseph Kabila's return comes at febrile time for the DRC. By Jospin Mwisha (AFP)

"It is quite simply because they were at a loss for solutions that they had to push my predecessor into the thick of it."

With the help of neighbouring Rwanda, the M23 movement has seized swathes of the eastern DRC -- aflush with vast veins of valuable critical minerals coveted by world powers -- since taking up arms again in 2021.

Despite a US-brokered truce in December, fighting has continued to rage on the ground, in a region that has been torn apart by conflict for three decades.

Contested third term

The new FRN is set to be headed by Kabila with M23 leaders serving as deputies.

Kabila, who ruled from 2001 to 2019, was sentenced to death in the DRC in absentia a year ago for treason on grounds that he colluded with the M23.

The 55-year-old is accused by the Congolese authorities of being behind the Congo River Alliance (AFC), the now-dissolved political wing of the M23.

Kabila, who is also under US sanctions for supporting the Rwanda-backed group, has denied the allegations.

After several years outside the country, Kabila reappeared in May 2025 in the major eastern city of Goma, under M23 control, and has since made regular visits to rebel-held territory.

In early 2025, a lightning offensive led by the M23 and the Rwandan army in the eastern DRC resulted in the capture of Goma and Bukavu, the regional capitals of North and South Kivu respectively.

Since then, the front line has stabilised, though South Kivu in particular has seen outbreaks of fierce clashes.

While United Nations experts have reported that Rwanda maintains thousands of troops on the ground to help the M23 and exerts de facto control over the group, the DRC's neighbour has long denied offering the M23 military support.

But Kigali insists that it faces an existential threat from the presence in the Congolese east of militias founded by ethnic Hutus involved in the 1994 genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda.

Kabila's return to the scene has come at a volatile moment for the DRC, with Tshisekedi facing protests over accusations that he hopes to extend his rule beyond the constitutional limits.

In recent months, the opposition has held rallies against a proposed constitutional amendment that could pave the way for a third term for the president.

The 63-year-old reaches the end of his second five-year mandate in 2028, which the constitution insists should be his last.