DR Congo seeks to take away ex-president’s immunity

The authorities within the Democratic Republic of Congo are searching for to raise former President Joseph Kabila’s immunity from prosecution after accusing him of backing rebels within the east.

There was a “substantial physique of paperwork, testimony and materials info” linking Kabila to the M23 armed group, Justice Minister Fixed Mutamba mentioned on Wednesday.

The M23 at the moment controls elements of the mineral-rich east of the nation after making important advances earlier this yr.

Kabila, 53, has not commented on the accusations however has prior to now denied any reference to the insurgents.

He led DR Congo for 18 years, after succeeding his father Laurent, who was shot useless in 2001. Joseph Kabila was simply 29 on the time.

After stepping down, he was given the title of “senator for all times”, which supplies him authorized immunity.

To be able to pursue a authorized case, DR Congo’s navy prosecutor has requested the senate to overturn this.

Kabila has been residing exterior the nation, in South Africa, for the previous two years. However in the beginning of final month he mentioned he could be returning to assist discover a resolution to the battle within the east.

Just a few weeks later, there have been reviews that the previous president had come again and was in Goma, one of many cities captured by the M23.

However these have been denied by his political social gathering, the Folks’s Social gathering for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD).

Final month, the authorities banned the PPRD due to its “ambiguous angle” to the occupation of Congolese territory by the M23.

Justice Minister Mutamba, who final month ordered the seizure of Kabila’s property, mentioned the previous president ought to return to the nation and “face justice… and current his defence”.

DR Congo and Rwanda, which denies accusations it backs the M23, could also be edging in direction of a peace deal to finish the preventing, which has seen a whole lot of hundreds of civilians pressured from their properties in latest months.

The 2 nations signed a preliminary settlement in Washington final week and mentioned they’d have a draft deal by Friday.

After being sworn in as president following his father’s dying, Kabila twice received elections. His second and last elected time period in workplace formally resulted in December 2016, however he refused to step down, saying it wasn’t potential to organise elections, resulting in lethal protests.

He stayed in energy for 2 extra years till elections have been lastly held in 2018.

In January 2019, he handed energy to Félix Tshisekedi, the official winner of a disputed election, which many election observers mentioned was rightfully received by Martin Fayulu.

He accused Kabila and Tshisekedi of agreeing a deal to exclude him from energy – one thing each males have denied.

However relations between the pair worsened and their events’ coalition was formally resulted in December 2020.

Kabila left DR Congo in 2023, formally to check in South Africa.

In January 2024, his doctoral thesis on the geopolitics of African relations with the US, China and Russia was validated on the College of Johannesburg.

Extra reporting by Aaron Akinyemi and BBC Monitoring