Joseph Kabila ran the Democratic Republic of the Congo for 18 years. A Congolese court sentenced him to death in absentia in 2025 for treason and war crimes. On Oct. 12 he was named leader of a new armed political movement in Goma, the eastern city rebels have held since January 2025.
The group is called the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN). It replaces the AFC/M23 alliance that has fought Congolese forces in the east, and its deputies are the rebel leaders themselves, including Corneille Nangaa, Bertrand Bisimwa and Sultani Makenga. For Congolese, the war in the east now has a former head of state at its front.
Kabila has denied any link to M23 or to Rwanda. He has called the case against him politically motivated. Congo’s government has dismissed his earlier appeals to the opposition: a spokesperson called one gathering a “non-event” of “fugitives and convicts”.
The FRN says its aim is to end tyranny in Kinshasa, and it has indicated it will use force if it must. Kabila has accused President Félix Tshisekedi’s government of corruption, poor governance and military setbacks in the east. He has also criticized its minerals agreement with the United States.
Belgium, Congo’s former colonial ruler, condemned the launch on Oct. 22. Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot called it “deplorable, incomprehensible and unacceptable” and said: “No one can claim to be acting in the interest of their people while using violence as a tool for political action and attacking the institutions of their own country.” He urged dialogue and respect for ceasefire agreements, and called for civilians to be protected.
Those civilians are the people who pay when the fighting widens. A coalition now fronted by a former president, who has a death sentence waiting in Kinshasa, leaves the government with a harder question about who it can negotiate with and on what terms.
The BBC published a profile of Kabila’s path from president to rebel leader on Saturday, as the movement’s first weeks drew scrutiny across the region.
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