Joseph Kabila forms new Congo coalition with M23 rebel leaders

Former Democratic Republic of Congo president Joseph Kabila has become the leader of a new political-military coalition that includes senior figures from the M23 rebellion. The Front for the Refoundation of the Nation, or FRN, was announced in Goma, a major eastern city under M23 control, and brings together groups previously aligned through the Congo River Alliance.

Associated Press, Reuters and the Financial Times reported that former electoral commission chief Corneille Nangaa and other rebel leaders hold senior roles. A coalition adviser said the FRN would use political and military means to end what it calls President Félix Tshisekedi's tyranny. That is the group's stated objective, not an independent assessment of the government. Kinshasa had not issued a substantive response at publication.

Kabila governed Congo from 2001 to 2019 and was sentenced to death in absentia on treason and war-crimes charges that he rejects as political. His formal association with M23 gives a former head of state a direct role in an insurgency that controls large areas of mineral-rich eastern Congo.

The restructuring may complicate US-backed diplomacy and negotiations in Doha. Rwanda denies supporting M23, while UN experts and Western governments have repeatedly reported Rwandan military assistance to the group. The coalition's actual command structure and effect on talks remain uncertain.