GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Former Congolese President Joseph Kabila has been named leader of a new political and military coalition that includes the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels and aims to oust the government in Kinshasa, BBC News and Al Jazeera reported Tuesday.
The Front for the Refoundation of the Nation, or FRN, was unveiled Monday at a news conference at Kabila’s residence in Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo, which M23 has held since January 2025. Coalition adviser Claude Ibalanky said the group would unite “resistance forces” to put an end to “tyranny” “by any means necessary, including the use of force,” according to Al Jazeera.
The BBC said M23 military leader Sultani Makenga is one of Kabila’s four deputies, all drawn from the AFC-M23 alliance, and Al Jazeera said Corneille Nangaa, who led the Congo River Alliance, is also among them. The unveiling is the clearest sign yet of Kabila’s direct involvement in an armed movement, a year after a military court sentenced him to death in absentia for treason; he had previously denied links to M23, the BBC reported. Kabila calls the case politically motivated.
There was no immediate response from the government of President Félix Tshisekedi. “You don’t make an announcement like this without having prepared the actions that follow,” Yvon Muya, a researcher at the University of Ottawa, told Al Jazeera. “We will likely witness an escalation on the military front.” Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Goma said there were fears government soldiers could defect to Kabila, a former army chief.
Kabila, 55, ruled Congo from 2001 until January 2019. Government and M23 representatives had been expected to meet in Qatar in November, and analysts warned the new coalition could undermine that process. The United Nations and Western governments accuse Rwanda of backing M23, which Rwanda denies. Tshisekedi’s second term ends in 2028, and parliament has passed a bill that could pave the way for a referendum on removing the constitution’s two-term limit, the BBC said.
Sources: BBC News, Al Jazeera
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