Former Congolese president Joseph Kabila has announced a political-military coalition with the M23 rebels, the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation, which says it will end President Félix Tshisekedi’s government by any means, including force.
Former Democratic Republic of Congo president Joseph Kabila announced the formation of the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN) in a video recorded in Goma on 12 October 2026, according to Wikipedia, SABC News and Al Jazeera. The coalition brings together the March 23 Movement (M23), the Congo River Alliance and other groups, and replaces the earlier M23-AFC alliance, according to Al Jazeera.
Kabila will lead the coalition, according to the reports. Corneille Nangaa, the president of the Congo River Alliance, is his deputy, the M23’s Bertrand Bisimwa is a co-deputy, Freddy Kaniki of the M23 is secretary-general and Sultani Makenga, the M23’s chief of staff, is the army chief. A coalition spokesperson said the group would “put an end to tyranny by any means necessary, including the use of force”.
Kabila is 55 and became president in 2001 at the age of 29 after his father, Laurent Kabila, was assassinated, according to Al Jazeera. He remained in power until 2019 and illegally delayed the 2018 elections, according to the outlet. Tensions with his successor Tshisekedi, with whom he had a power-sharing arrangement, erupted in 2020, and Kabila went into self-imposed exile in South Africa in 2023, the report says.
Kabila faces serious legal action. A military court in Kinshasa sentenced him to death in absentia in October 2025 for treason, war crimes and collaboration with Rwanda and the M23-AFC, according to Al Jazeera, and the United States imposed sanctions on him in April 2026 for allegedly funding rebel groups. These are the report’s statements, and the sources reviewed do not carry Kabila’s response to them.
The M23-AFC controls North and South Kivu provinces, including Goma and Bukavu, which it seized in January 2025, as well as border crossings with Rwanda and Uganda, according to Al Jazeera. The group has been accused of massacres of civilians. The sources reviewed do not give figures for the territory held or the number of fighters.
The new coalition comes amid peace efforts. A US-led agreement between the DRC and Rwanda dates from June 2025, and the Doha Framework between the DRC and the M23-AFC, mediated by Qatar, dates from November 2025, with talks scheduled for October 2026, according to the report. The security analyst Bram Verelst is quoted as saying that the coalition threatens the Doha process and that he expects a hardening of Kinshasa’s position.
Domestic politics are also tense. The formation of the FRN follows the ruling coalition’s plans to change the constitution, which would let Tshisekedi stay in office beyond his final term in 2028, according to a search summary of the Wikipedia page on the coalition. The sources reviewed do not describe the status of the constitutional plan.
The sources reviewed do not report a response from the government in Kinshasa or from Rwanda, and Delima News will report them if they appear.
Image: Joseph Kabila, 2014 (file photo). Photo: Office of the White House (Amanda Lucidon) / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
