Ex-DRC President Kabila’s alliance with M23 rebels: Why it matters

Kabila’s move confirms numerous accusations from the government in Kinshasa of his ties to armed rebels.

Former President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Joseph Kabila walks back into his house after posing for a group photo with religious leaders at one of his residences in Goma on May 29, 2025 [Jospin Mwisha/AFP]

Former President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has officially allied with armed rebel groups, raising fears of further escalation of an ongoing conflict in the country’s east that has already killed thousands.

Kabila on Monday launched a new political-military coalition to replace the M23-AFC alliance, which is fighting government forces and controls swaths of territory.

list 1 of 4 Former DR Congo President Kabila joins M23 rebels in a new coalition

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The new movement will “put an end to tyranny by any means necessary, including the use of force”, coalition spokesperson Claude Ibalanky said, in what appeared to be a chilling threat to the government in Kinshasa.

It comes precisely a year after Kabila was sentenced to death by a military court for alleged links to the rebel groups.

The M23 crisis has racked the mineral-rich eastern DRC for nearly 15 years. The United Nations says more than 7.8 million people are displaced while 28 million people face food shortages. An untold number have died.

The United States and UN accuse Rwanda of backing M23. Kigali denies it.

Here’s what we know:

M23 rebels escort government soldiers and police who surrendered to an undisclosed location in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, January 30, 2025 [Moses Sawasawa/AP]

What’s been announced?

Kabila introduced the new alliance, the Front pour la Refondation de la Nation (FRN), from his residence in Goma, confirming the DRC government’s accusations.

The former president said he will lead the alliance.

Corneille Nangaa, a Kabila ally who served as a former elections commissioner before leaving government to launch the Congo River Alliance (AFC), will serve as deputy, alongside Bertrand Bisimwa, an M23 spokesman.

Freddy Kaniki, a medical doctor and senior M23 health official, will serve as secretary-general, while Sultani Makenga of the M23 will be the army chief of the alliance.

Kabila, 55, is the son of former President Laurent Kabila.

He took office as a 29-year-old back in 2001 after his father was assassinated. He previously served as army chief and fought in the two Congo civil wars , when Rwanda backed rebel groups against longtime Congolese leader Mobutu Sese Seko.

Kabila’s term, which officially ended in 2016, was marked by rights violations and corruption. He illegally delayed elections until 2018, citing voter registration challenges, and left office in 2019.

Before he stepped down, Kabila is believed to have signed a power-sharing deal with opposition candidate and election winner, current President Felix Tshisekedi. Kabila’s allies were initially installed throughout the cabinet after the deal, but in 2020, Tshisekedi began removing them, as their truce collapsed on a bitter note.

Tshisekedi’s government also launched corruption investigations against Kabila, forcing him into self-imposed exile in South Africa in 2023.

Why has Kabila joined the rebel alliance?

The former president’s latest move is unsurprising; Kinshasa has long alleged his ties to the M23-AFC alliance.

Amid intensifying M23-AFC offensives last year, Kabila wrote a scathing opinion piece in South Africa’s Sunday Times, accusing Tshisekedi of mishandling the conflict and proposing a “12-point plan” to restore peace. Reports also emerged of Kabila’s sighting in the eastern rebel-held Goma, where he owns homes.

Last October, a military court in Kinshasa sentenced Kabila to death on charges of treason, war crimes, and other major offences for alleged collaboration with Rwanda and M23-AFC.

In April, Washington imposed sanctions on Kabila, alleging that he funded rebel groups.

What does M23-AFC want?

Eastern DRC has been engulfed in violence for more than 30 years, and multiple groups have been fighting to dominate the region. The roots of the crisis go back to the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda, the alleged harbouring of Hutu fighter groups in the DRC in its aftermath, Kigali’s determination to fight them, and deep-rooted tribalism.

The March 23 Movement (M23) emerged in 2012 from the remnants of Congolese Tutsi fighter groups that fought in the Second Congo War. It claims to be fighting for the rights of minority Congolese Tutsis and seeks to unseat the government in Kinshasa.

M23 first took Goma and other towns in the east in 2012 offensives; however, its fighters were pushed back by a special UN force fighting alongside the FARDC – the Congolese military.

In 2022, amid Tshisekedi’s fallout with Kabila, M23 resurfaced with renewed force, allegedly backed by more than 4,000 Rwandan soldiers. Kigali has long accused successive governments in Kinshasa of supporting the DRC-based Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) armed group, which includes Hutu genocidaires.

In 2023, as the M23 seized several towns and the Congolese army fell back, Nangaa, the then-elections commissioner, also fell out with Tshisekedi – reportedly over his move to run in elections. He then went into exile, formed the AFC, and allied with M23 as its political arm.

In early 2024, AFC-M23 launched lightning offensives that saw it sweep across vast swaths of the east, rapidly seizing territory. Goma fell again to the AFC-M23 in January 2025, following heavy battles that killed nearly 3,000 civilians.

The rebels, who have been accused of civilian massacres, currently hold North and South Kivu, where Kabila is from, including their capitals Goma and Bukavu, as well as border crossings with Rwanda and Uganda. Kampala has also been accused of supporting M23.

What does this mean for the conflict?

Al Jazeera’s Alain Uaykani reported that Congolese are worried the conflict could escalate again, and that a number of soldiers could defect to serve their former boss.

There are also fears that ongoing peace talks could collapse. In June 2025, DRC and Rwanda signed a US-led peace agreement.

In a separate process mediated by Qatar, the DRC and M23-AFC also signed the Doha Framework last November and were meant to meet this month.

But the changes may not end the agreements between the DRC and Rwanda, as Kigali will likely want to continue with the US-led talks, Bram Verelst of the Institute for Security Studies told Al Jazeera.

The real threat, he warned, lies to the Doha process.

“We are likely to see a hardening of Kinshasa’s position toward the rebel movement and Kabila, including efforts to isolate Kabila and FRN regionally,” Verelst noted.

“What this means for the conflict on the ground will depend on the capacity of Kabila to take control over the rebellion and to build and expand alliances beyond North and South Kivu,” he added.

卡比拉的举动证实了金沙萨政府此前对他与武装叛乱分子有联系的诸多指控。

2025年5月29日，刚果民主共和国前总统约瑟夫·卡比拉在戈马的一处住所与宗教领袖合影后返回家中。[Jospin Mwisha/AFP]

刚果民主共和国（刚果（金））前总统约瑟夫·卡比拉已正式与武装叛乱团体结盟，这引发了人们对该国东部持续冲突进一步升级的担忧，这场冲突已经造成数千人死亡。

卡比拉周一组建了一个新的政治军事联盟，以取代与政府军作战并控制大片领土的M23-AFC联盟。

列表 1/4：刚果民主共和国前总统卡比拉加入M23反叛武装，组建新联盟

卡比拉被判处死刑（共4条，此为第2条）：这对刚果民主共和国意味着什么，以及接下来会发生什么

列表 3/4 “我从未被统计过”：刚果民主共和国 42 年来首次人口普查

刚果民主共和国宪法之争（共4项）之四：围绕2028年大选的斗争

新运动将“不惜一切手段，包括使用武力，来结束暴政”，联盟发言人克劳德·伊巴兰基表示，这似乎是对金沙萨政府发出的令人不寒而栗的威胁。

就在一年前，卡比拉因涉嫌与叛乱组织有联系而被军事法庭判处死刑。

M23危机已使刚果民主共和国东部矿产资源丰富的地区遭受近15年的蹂躏。联合国称，超过780万人流离失所，2800万人面临粮食短缺。死亡人数更是难以估量。

美国和联合国指责卢旺达支持M23武装组织。基加利方面否认了这一指控。

我们目前掌握的情况如下：

2025年1月30日，刚果民主共和国戈马，M23叛军护送投降的政府军士兵和警察前往一处未公开地点。[Moses Sawasawa/AP]

宣布了什么？

卡比拉在戈马的住所宣布成立新的联盟——民族复兴阵线（FRN），证实了刚果民主共和国政府的指控。

这位前总统表示他将领导该联盟。

科内耶·南加是卡比拉的盟友，曾担任选举专员，之后离开政府创立了刚果河联盟（AFC）。他将与M23发言人贝特朗·比西姆瓦一起担任副手。

医学博士兼M23高级卫生官员弗雷迪·卡尼基将担任秘书长，而M23的苏尔塔尼·马肯加将担任联盟的军队首领。

现年 55 岁的卡比拉是前总统洛朗·卡比拉的儿子。

2001年，他的父亲遇刺身亡后，他以29岁的年纪就任总统。此前，他曾担任陆军总司令，并参加过两次刚果内战，当时卢旺达支持反叛组织对抗长期执政的刚果领导人蒙博托·塞塞·塞科。

卡比拉的任期于2016年正式结束，其期间充斥着侵犯人权和腐败行为。他以选民登记问题为由，非法推迟选举至2018年，并于2019年卸任。

据信，卡比拉在下台前与反对派候选人、现任总统费利克斯·齐塞克迪签署了一项权力分享协议。协议生效后，卡比拉的盟友最初被安插到内阁各级职位，但到了2020年，随着双方的休战协议最终破裂，齐塞克迪开始撤换他们。

齐塞克迪政府还对卡比拉展开了腐败调查，迫使他在 2023 年自我流放到南非。

卡比拉为何加入反叛联盟？

这位前总统的最新举动并不令人意外；金沙萨方面长期以来一直指责他与M23-AFC联盟有联系。

去年，随着M23-AFC攻势升级，卡比拉在南非《星期日泰晤士报》发表了一篇措辞严厉的评论文章，指责齐塞克迪处理冲突不力，并提出了一个旨在恢复和平的“十二点计划”。另有报道称，卡比拉出现在东部反叛武装控制的戈马，他在那里拥有房产。

去年十月，金沙萨一家军事法庭以叛国罪、战争罪和其他重大罪行判处卡比拉死刑，罪名是他涉嫌与卢旺达和M23-AFC合作。

今年4月，华盛顿对卡比拉实施制裁，指控他资助叛乱组织。

M23-AFC想要什么？

刚果（金）东部地区已深陷暴力冲突30余年，多个势力为争夺该地区的控制权而战。这场危机的根源可以追溯到1994年邻国卢旺达发生的种族灭绝事件，以及卢旺达种族灭绝后卢旺达涉嫌窝藏胡图族武装组织、基加利政府打击胡图族武装组织的决心，还有根深蒂固的部落主义。

3月23日运动（M23）于2012年由参加第二次刚果战争的刚果图西族武装团体的残余势力组成。该运动声称正在为刚果图西族少数族裔的权利而战，并寻求推翻金沙萨政府。

M23 在 2012 年的攻势中首次占领了戈马和东部的其他城镇；然而，其武装人员被一支与刚果（金）军队并肩作战的联合国特种部队击退。

2022年，在齐塞克迪与卡比拉决裂之际，M23武装组织卷土重来，据称得到了4000多名卢旺达士兵的支持。基加利长期以来一直指责金沙萨历届政府支持总部位于刚果民主共和国的卢旺达解放民主力量（FDLR）武装组织，该组织成员包括胡图族种族灭绝分子。

2023年，随着M23占领数个城镇，刚果（金）军队节节败退，时任选举委员会主席的南加也与齐塞克迪决裂——据报道，原因是南加决定参选。随后，南加流亡海外，组建了“变革联盟”（AFC），并与M23结盟，成为其政治分支。

2024年初，AFC-M23发动闪电攻势，横扫东部大片地区，迅速占领领土。2025年1月，戈马再次落入AFC-M23之手，经过激烈的战斗，近3000名平民丧生。

被指控犯有屠杀平民罪行的反叛分子目前控制着北基伍省和南基伍省（卡比拉的家乡），包括两省首府戈马和布卡武，以及与卢旺达和乌干达接壤的边境口岸。坎帕拉方面也被指控支持M23武装。

这对冲突意味着什么？

半岛电视台记者阿兰·乌艾卡尼报道称，刚果人担心冲突可能再次升级，一些士兵可能会叛逃，为他们以前的上司效力。

人们也担心正在进行的和平谈判可能会破裂。2025年6月，刚果民主共和国和卢旺达签署了由美国主导的和平协议。

在卡塔尔斡旋的另一项进程中，刚果民主共和国和M23-AFC也于去年11月签署了《多哈框架》，并计划于本月举行会晤。

但安全研究所的布拉姆·维雷斯特告诉半岛电视台，这些变化可能不会终结刚果民主共和国和卢旺达之间的协议，因为基加利可能希望继续进行美国主导的谈判。

他警告说，真正的威胁在于多哈进程。

“我们可能会看到金沙萨对反叛运动和卡比拉的立场日益强硬，包括在区域内孤立卡比拉和纳戈尔诺-卡拉巴赫联盟的努力，”维雷斯特指出。

“这对地面冲突意味着什么，将取决于卡比拉控制叛乱的能力，以及他能否在北基伍省和南基伍省之外建立和扩大联盟，”他补充道。