Ex-DR Congo president returns to the country, party says

Former Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila is back in the country for the first time in two years having arrived in the M23-held eastern city of Goma, two spokespeople from the rebel group as well as a youth leader from his party have said.

Kabila’s arrival comes after senators stripped him of his immunity over alleged support for the Rwanda-backed M23 which has been fighting the Congolese army.

Kabila, who has previously denied a link with the rebel group, recently decried the justice system for permitting itself to being “exploited for political end”.

The 53-year-old led DR Congo for 18 years, after succeeding his father Laurent, who was shot dead in 2001.

Speaking to the BBC, a Goma youth leader for Kabila’s People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), confirmed earlier reports from the M23 that Kabila had returned and stated that residents were “happy” about his arrival.

“Kabila should be allowed full access to the country. For us it is like a father has returned to his children,” Innocent Mirimo told BBC Swahili.

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

In a message on X, rebel spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka welcomed Kabila to Goma saying: “We wish him a pleasant stay in the liberated areas.”

A similar message was shared by another spokesperson, Willy Ngoma.

The Congolese authorities, who accuse Kabila of war crimes and treason, say there is a “substantial body of documents, testimony and material facts” that link the former leader to the M23.

In a now-deleted YouTube video released on Friday, Kabila called the Congolese government, led by President Félix Tshisekedi a “dictatorship”, and stated there was a “decline of democracy” in the country.

He also outlined his plan to end decades of instability in the country.

Congolese government spokesperson, Patrick Muyaya, has rejected Kabila’s remarks, telling Congolese TV channel RTNC TV that Kabila “has nothing to offer the country”.

Fighting between the Congolese army and the M23 first broke out in 2012 and ended in a peace deal the following year. But in 2021 the group took up arms again, saying the promises made in the deal had been broken.

Since the beginning of this year, the M23 has made major advances in the mineral-rich east, including taking the key city of Goma in January.

The group, which Rwanda has denied backing, says its goal is to protect the minority Tutsi-ethnic group.

However, the ongoing conflict has led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians who have been forced to flee their homes in the last few months.

Kabila, who stepped down as DR Congo’s president in 2019, was once an ally of President Tshisekedi. However the two men fell out, culminating in the termination of their parties’ coalition in December 2020.

The former president 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.