DRC's former leader Kabila is Rwandan 'proxy,' Tshisekedi tells lawmakers

DR Congo's president has accused his predecessor Joseph Kabila, who recently took charge of the rebellion in the country's restive east, of being a Rwandan stooge.

Kabila this month joined forces with the Rwanda-backed M23 movement to take a direct role in the insurgency ravaging the DRC's mineral-rich east.

Taking aim at Tshisekedi's government in Kinshasa, the new Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN) has vowed to "pool their strengths, resources and means" with the aim of "putting an end to tyranny".

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame "asked his proxy, who had been lurking in the shadows, to come out and take the reins of this offensive", President Felix Tshisekedi told lawmakers in a speech broadcast on X by the Congolese presidency on Tuesday.

The FRN is to be headed by Kabila with M23 leaders serving as deputies.

"This is the sign of a side that is on the ropes," Tshisekedi said his address to MPs from his ruling coalition.

"It is quite simply because they were at a loss for solutions that they had to push my predecessor into the thick of it."

Kabila was condemned to death in absentia a year ago for "complicity" with the M23.

The 55-year-old Kabila, who ruled from 2001 to 2019, is accused by Congolese authorities of being behind the Congo River Alliance (AFC), the now dissolved political wing of the M23.

Kabila has denied the allegations.

After several years outside the country, Kabila reappeared in May 2025 in the major eastern city of Goma, under M23 control, and has since made regular visits to rebel-held territory.

In early 2025, a lightning offensive led by the M23 and the Rwandan army in the eastern DRC resulted in the capture of Goma and Bukavu.

Since then, the front line has stabilised, though at times intense fighting continues, particularly in South Kivu province.

Kabila's return to the political scene comes at a volatile time.

Opposition rallies in June and September protested against a proposed constitutional amendment that could pave the way for a third term for 63-year-old Tshisekedi.

Tshisekedi reaches the end of his second and constitutionally last five-year term in 2028.