The Kinshasa regime orders Kabila to face legal action and property seizures

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) Kinshasa has “ordered” the seizure of all of former President Joseph Kabila’s properties, both immovable and mobile.

Kabila is accused by authorities of aiding and abetting M23 rebels in armed combat.

The Congolese ministry of justice said in a statement issued on Friday, April 18, that it had instructed the Prosecutor General at the Court of Cassation and the Auditor General of the DR Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) to start legal proceedings against Kabila for his alleged “direct participation” in the aggression committed by the AFC/M23.

It said, “All of his collaborators implicated in this case have also been subject to movement restrictions.”

Olive Lembe, Kabila’s wife, said last week that the nation’s security forces were persecuting her.

Although her husband has been in exile for more than a year prior to his latest announcement that he is returning to the country, Lembe, who married Kabila in 2006, still lives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In an interview with local media, Lembe stated, “We are being persecuted by the security services and this regime.”

In order to “deal with the worsening situation,” in eastern DR Congo, where a government coalition has been battling the AFC/M23 rebels for more than three years, Kabila announced in early March that he had halted his studies in South Africa. Goma and Bukavu, two important cities, are now under rebel control.

Ten days after declaring he would return to the nation following six years of seclusion and quiet, Kabila allegedly landed in Goma on Friday, April 18.

Congolese support for the rebel group, which includes the M23 rebels, has increased since the start of 2025 as more entrepreneurs and political figures have joined the fight.

The rebels, who struggle to safeguard Congolese Tutsi towns that have endured decades of ethnic bloodshed, have gained support from government troops, police, and various armed groups.

The mineral-rich nation has become unmanageable due to extensive corruption and poor government, which the AFC/M23 rebels also denounce.

The first direct negotiations between the Congolese government and the rebels since the M23 rebellion reappeared in late 2021 after over ten years of dormancy took place in Doha, Qatar, on April 10.