Congo-Kinshasa: DR Congo - Kabila Leads New Movement With AFC/M23 Leaders As Deputies

12 October 2026
The New Times (Kigali)
By Jesca Mutamba

Former DR Congo President Joseph Kabila was named as the leader of a new politico-military movement called the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN), launched in Goma on Monday, October 12.

The birth of the new movement sees the dissolution of the AFC/M23 alliance, with its leaders as named as vice-presidents: Bertrand Bisimwa, former election chief Corneille Nangaa and Maj Gen Sultani Makenga, who retained his position as chief of the general staff of the Congolese Revolutionary Army (ARC), which is fighting the Congolese government.

ALSO READ: Kabila faults Tshisekedi for 'choosing war' over peace in DR Congo

Kabila led DR Congo from 2001 to 2019, taking power after the assassination of his father, Laurent-Désiré Kabila.

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He was succeeded by incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi. They later fell out, with Kabila going into self-imposed exile in South Africa, where he said he spent six years doing PhD studies. He returned to DR Congo in May 2025, arriving in AFC/M23-controlled Goma.

Kinshasa accused Kabila of treason. A military court tried him in absentia and sentenced him to life imprisonment in September 2025.

The new movement was announced in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province controlled by the AFC/M23 rebels since January 2025. A statement announcing the formation of the FRN was read by Claude Ibalanky, a former adviser to President Tshisekedi.

ALSO READ: DR Congo crisis: Bisimwa criticises mediators for 'babysitting' Kinshasa

It comes less than a week after Kabila accused Tshisekedi of having "made the politically self-serving choice to pursue a war it seemingly has neither the will nor the means to win." He cited Kinshasa's failure to honour a ceasefire agreed with AFC/M23 in Doha, Qatar in October 2025.

In a national address on October 2, Kabila criticized Tshisekedi's government for "continued collaboration with the Mai-Mai, now rebranded as Wazalendo, the FDLR, and various other foreign armed groups, the ongoing supply of arms and ammunition to its proxy forces; persistent shelling of defenseless civilians, and a categorical refusal to engage in any truly inclusive national dialogue."

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