Kinshasa, DR Congo – DR Congo security services have raided properties belonging to former president Joseph Kabila, who has said he will return to the country in its conflict-stricken eastern region, a family spokesperson said on Thursday.
Current leader President Felix Tshisekedi has accused Kabila of preparing « an insurrection » and backing an alliance that includes the M23 armed group that is fighting government forces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Security services told the manager of Kabila’s main property, Kingakati farm, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of Kinshasa, that « a raid was planned, » said Adam Shemisi, spokesman for Kabila’s wife, Marie-Olive Lembe Kabila.
Security services also staged raids at a compound belonging to the Kabila family in Kinshasa, the spokesman added.
According to Shemisi, investigators said they were looking for « stolen or hidden » military materiel but nothing was found.
Kabila was president for 18 years up to 2019 when he stepped down in the face of protests.
The spokesman said Kabila, 53, left DR Congo before the country’s last presidential election in 2023.
But last week, in a message released by staff, he would soon return through the eastern region because the country was « in peril ». No date was given however, and it was not known if he would pass through territory now controlled by M23.
The armed group is at the centre of a new surge in conflict in eastern DR Congo, having taken the key cities of Goma and Bukavu. UN experts and several international powers have said M23 is backed by Rwanda, which has denied the charges.
© Agence France-Presse
