DRC seeks to lift ex-President Kabila’s immunity over alleged war crimes

According to the justice minister, the government has requested that the Senate remove former president Joseph Kabila’s immunity so that he can be tried for supporting a rebel uprising in the east.

Constant Mutamba told reporters in Kinshasa on Wednesday evening that authorities have gathered solid proof linking the former president to “war crimes, crimes against humanity, and massacres of peaceful civilians and military personnel” in the east.

Mutamba claimed that Kabila, a former president and senator, has requested that the army’s attorney general grant him lifetime prosecution immunity.

The justice minister added that the former president is accused of “treason, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and involvement in an insurrectional movement.”

Kabila allegedly supported the M23 rebels and “prepared an insurrection” with them, according to his successor, President Felix Tshisekedi, who earlier claimed this year.

Kabila served as president of the DRC from 2001 to 2019, taking office at the age of 29 and extending his mandate by halting elections for two more years. Laurent Kabila, his father, was killed in 2001, according to his father.

He left the DRC last month, largely as a result of deteriorating ties with the Tshisekedi government, and he returned there last month. One of his associates said that he planned to “participate in peace efforts” in the rebel-held eastern city of Goma.

The M23 have taken control of the important cities of Goma and Bukavu, leaving their resurrected after fighting broke out in the eastern DRC once more in January.

About 3,000 people have been killed in the fighting, which has worsened what is already one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world, leaving about 7 million people displaced.

About 200 armed organizations are vying for control in the mineral-rich eastern DRC near the Rwandan border. According to UN experts, Rwanda’s neighboring country has about 4, 000 soldiers supporting the rebels.

Fighting is still ongoing in the eastern province of South Kivu despite the DRC’s army and M23 agreeing to work toward a truce this month.

The justice minister’s actions amount to “relentless persecution,” according to Ferdinand Kambere, the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy’s deputy secretary-general.

The former president’s actions are “intentionally” seen as showing that the regime is about to end, according to us. According to Kambere, “they have nothing to use against Kabila.”