Senior officials from former President Joseph Kabila’s political party faced military prosecutors in Kinshasa Monday, signaling a dramatic escalation in Congo’s political tensions amid the ongoing rebel crisis in the country’s eastern provinces.
Three high-ranking members of the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD) responded to summonses. These are Aubin Minaku, the party’s vice president; Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, former interior minister and presidential candidate; and Ferdinand Kambare, national executive secretary.
Prosecutors questioned the officials regarding Minaku’s February 26 statements where he declared “the time for silence, for clandestine actions is over, now is the time for open actions,” while referring to directives from Kabila. Though no charges were filed, the interrogation underscores deepening political fissures.
President Felix Tshisekedi has recently accused his predecessor of supporting M23 rebels, who have captured eastern Congo’s two largest cities since January. The Rwanda-backed insurgents’ sweeping advances represent the most serious escalation in a longstanding regional conflict rooted in the 1994 Rwandan genocide and competition for Congo’s vast mineral resources.
“We are taking a purely republican approach, not one of rebellion,” Minaku told Reuters before the questioning, denying any links to armed groups. “We clearly denounced any illicit presence of foreign forces.”
This confrontation comes as Kabila has increasingly reached out to opposition politicians and civil society members to discuss the country’s future amid mounting criticism of Tshisekedi’s handling of the security crisis.
Rwanda continues denying material support to M23, claiming its forces act only in self-defense against hostile militias and Congolese army actions.