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Former president Joseph Kabila gathered opponents of the current government of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Kenya’s capital on Wednesday, unveiling a new initiative to “rescue” his troubled nation.
Kabila, who governed the DRC for almost twenty years until 2019, was sentenced to death in absentia for “treason” by a military court last month.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the former leader organised a gathering of notable Congolese opposition figures in Nairobi, including former Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo, who received a ten-year hard labour sentence in May.
Together, they declared the formation of a “Save the DRC” movement, criticising President Felix Tshisekedi’s “inability” to address various crises and urging citizens to “stand up and resist the dictatorship.”
They also condemned the “arbitrary incarceration of political leaders along with all the unjust verdicts issued by courts and tribunals against opposition figures” and dissenters.
Responding from Washington, Congolese Communications Minister and government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya dismissed the meeting of “fugitives and convicts” as stemming from a longing for lost privileges. He said that the Kenyan capital was transforming into a “hub of conspiracy against the DRC.”
Kabila, 54, who did not attend or have representation at the trial in Kinshasa, was found guilty of collaborating with the M23 anti-government militia, which has taken control of significant parts of resource-rich eastern Congo with assistance from Rwanda.
Kabila ruled the DRC from 2001 to 2019, ascending to power after the assassination of his father, Laurent-Desire Kabila, a former rebel who overthrew dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997.
The gathering in Nairobi took place as the Congolese government entered into an agreement with the M23 in Doha to create a ceasefire monitoring framework.
