PREVIEW
US sanctions on ex-President Joseph Kabila over claimed support for M23 add pressure on Kigali and hand Kinshasa’s Félix Tshisekedi a political weapon
Washington has sanctioned ex-president Joseph Kabila, accusing him of sustaining the armed networks in the Kivus. Coming after United States measures against the Rwandan Defence Force and senior commanders, it signals that officials see Kabila, Kigali and M23 as parts of the same de-stabilising equation.
The Trump administration accuses Rwanda of scuppering a peace deal signed in the White House last December by continuing its military campaign to capture territory in the Kivus (AC Vol 67 No 7, Tshisekedi purge ahead of term limit test).
In a statement on 30 April, Washington accused Kabila of ‘providing material support to armed groups destabilizing the eastern DRC. With financial and political support from Kabila, these groups are the principal drivers of violence and instability in the region.’
‘The United States stands with the Congolese people and calls on all regional leaders to reject those who perpetuate violence and instability,’ said the US Treasury. That is a public relations coup for Congo-K's President Félix Tshisekedi. Kabila’s public alignment with M23, and its civilian wing, the Alliance Fleuve Congo, led by Corneille Nangaa Yobeluo, the head of Congo-K's electoral commission during the last term of Kabila’s presidency, in the eastern Kivu provinces, became clear last year.
Nangaa has stated that his mission is to topple Tshisekedi. Kabila’s recruitment to the cause prompted the courts in Kinshasa to try Kabila for treason in absentia last year and hand down a death sentence (AC Vol 66 No 20, Peace talks falter as M23 tightens its grip on the Kivus). Kabila has dismissed the sanctions as ‘politically motivated’. In March, the US State Department sanctioned the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF) and four of its senior commanders, prompting accusations of bias from Kigali (AC Vol 67 No 5, More pressure on Kigali).
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