The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo announced it has suspended the political party led by former president Joseph Kabila, following the recent raids on his properties by security forces.
“This action comes in response to Kabila’s apparent activism,” said the interior ministry in a release on Saturday. Kabila served as president for 18 years until 2019 and continues to lead the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD). The ministry’s statement indicated that PPRD activities are “halted throughout the entire national territory.” The party has not yet responded.
Current President Felix Tshisekedi has accused Kabila of plotting “an insurrection” and supporting a coalition that involves the M23 armed group, which is currently engaged in conflict with government troops in eastern DR Congo.
According to a family spokesman, Kabila, age 53, left the country before the last presidential election held in 2023. However, earlier in April, he indicated, through a message from his team, that he would return at an unspecified time due to the country’s “perilous” situation. Unverified reports are suggesting that he may have arrived in or is already in the eastern city of Goma.
On Thursday, the family spokesman reported that security services carried out raids on Kabila’s principal property, a farm located east of Kinshasa, as well as a family compound in the capital.
The statement from the interior ministry accused Kabila’s party of maintaining “an embarrassing, or even complicit, silence” concerning “the Rwandan war of aggression.”
Kinshasa, along with UN experts and various international powers, has stated that Rwanda supports M23, a claim that Rwanda denies. This armed group is central to a new escalation of conflict in eastern DR Congo, having seized the vital cities of Goma and Bukavu.
The ministry’s statement noted that Kabila has adopted an “ambiguous stance” regarding the M23 uprising, which he has “never denounced.” It criticised Kabila’s “deliberate decision” to re-enter the country through Goma, a city controlled by “the enemy.”
In a separate announcement, the country’s justice ministry reported that the chief prosecutor has been instructed to initiate legal proceedings against Kabila for his “direct involvement” with M23.
