Former Congolese president Joseph Kabila takes charge of a new rebel coalition formed in Goma

12 October 2026

Former president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Joseph Kabila has been named leader of a new political and military movement called the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation, launched in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, on 12 October 2026. The new front marks the dissolution of the alliance between the Alliance Fleuve Congo and the March 23 Movement. Three of that alliance's leaders were named vice-presidents: Bertrand Bisimwa, Corneille Nangaa and Major General Sultani Makenga, who keeps his post as chief of the general staff of the Congolese Revolutionary Army. The statement on the formation of the front was read by Claude Ibalanky, a former adviser to President Felix Tshisekedi. The March 23 Movement has controlled Goma since January 2025. Kabila led the country from 2001 to 2019 after his father's assassination, and a military court tried him in absentia and sentenced him in September 2025 on treason charges.