Former DR Congo President Joseph Kabila was sentenced to death in absentia by a military court for war crimes, treason, and crimes against humanity.
His conviction could complicate Washington’s efforts to make peace between Kinshasa, M23 rebels in the east, and the rebels’ alleged backers in Rwanda, as the Trump administration seeks to invest in the resource-rich region’s mines and infrastructure projects.
Kabila — who was also convicted for his alleged support of M23 — was president from 2001 to 2019, but has largely been away from DR Congo since 2023 in self-imposed exile. He denounced the trial and prosecutor’s move for a death penalty as politically motivated, a stance that may also be adopted by his supporters.
Last week, Washington’s top Africa official told Semafor that a US-brokered peace deal has not been “fully” implemented. He was responding to skepticism about the deal, as fighting between M23 and Kinshasa’s forces is ongoing.