KINSHASA (Reuters) -Democratic Republic of Congo has launched a bid to strip former President Joseph Kabila of immunity so he can face trial on charges of supporting the M23 insurgency in the country’s east, where the government is seeking to draft a peace deal this week.
Kabila, who agreed to step down in 2018 after almost two decades in power, has been out of the country since late 2023, mostly in South Africa. He said last month he would return to help find a solution to the crisis in the east, where Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have seized large areas this year.
A return to Congo by Kabila, who has denied supporting the rebels, could complicate a U.S.-backed bid to end the rebellion in eastern Congo, which contains valuable minerals that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is keen to help mine.
Justice Minister Constant Mutamba told reporters in Kinshasa on Wednesday evening that the Congolese army’s attorney general has asked Congo’s Senate to revoke the immunity from prosecution Kabila enjoys as a senator for life.
Congo has amassed clear evidence of “war crimes, crimes against humanity and massacres of peaceful civilians and military personnel,” Mutamba said, adding that Kabila should return to Congo to face justice or risk being tried in absentia.
Congo and Rwanda have pledged to come up with a draft peace deal by May 2 and refrain from providing military support to armed groups, according to an agreement signed in Washington on April 25.
It was unclear on Thursday whether anything would be ready for signature by Friday and what the terms would be.
Kabila came to power in 2001 after his father’s assassination. He refused to stand down when his final term officially ended in 2016, leading to deadly protests, before agreeing to leave office following an election in 2018.
Last month, the interior ministry suspended his political party, while the justice ministry said it would seize Kabila’s assets and the assets of party leaders.
Ferdinand Kambere, permanent secretary of Kabila’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy, said the attempt to lift Kabila’s immunity showed the government feared Kabila’s return. He blamed President Felix Tshisekedi, a Kabila rival, for causing the crisis in the east.
(Reporting Sonia Rolley and Ange KasongoWriting by Jessica DonatiEditing by Robbie Corey-Boulet and Philippa Fletcher)
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