DRC- Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have asked the Parliament to lift the immunity of former President Joseph Kabila so he could face trial on charges of supporting a rebel uprising in the country’s Eastern region.
The Democratic Republic of Congo Minister for Justice Constant Mutamba told journalists in the capital city Kinshasa, that authorities have amassed clear evidence implicating the former President in war crimes, crimes against humanity and massacres of peaceful civilians and military personnel in the Eastern Region.
Minister Mutamba said the Attorney General of Democratic Republic of Congo’s army has asked the Parliament to revoke the lifetime immunity from prosecution that Kabila enjoys as a former president and senator.
This comes after his successor, President Felix Tshisekedi Thilombo last year alleged Joseph Kabila was supporting the M23 rebels and preparing an insurrection in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo with them, a claim Mr Kabila has denied.
Kabila led the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2001 to 2019, taking office at the age of 29 and extending his mandate by delaying elections for two years after his term ended in 2016.
His father, former President Laurent Kabila, who had fought a guerrilla war to overthrow the then President Mobutu Tsesekko, was later assassinated in 2001.
Kabila returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo last month after having left in 2023 in part due to deteriorating relations with the government of Tshisekedi and arrived in the rebel-held eastern city of Goma, where he planned to participate in peace efforts.
Fighting in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has surged once again since January, and the M23 have captured the key cities of Goma and Bukavu, leaving devastation in their wake and this fighting has killed about 3,000 people and worsened what was already one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises with about seven million people displaced.
According to UN experts, M23 is one of about 200 armed groups vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich Eastern Democratic Republic Congo near the border with Rwanda where the rebels are supported by about 4,000 soldiers from neighbouring Rwanda.
Despite the Democratic Republic of Congo’s government and M23 having agreed to work towards a dialogue this month, fighting continues in the Eastern province of South Kivu.
The Deputy Secretary-General of Joseph Kabila’s People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy, Ferdinand Kambere said the justice minister’s actions amount to relentless persecution.
Kambere said that those in power keep making false allegations against the former president, thinking they are humiliating or intimidating him, but actually show that the regime is nearing its end and they have nothing left to use against Kabila.
Additional Reporting from Associated Press
