Illustration of a volcano and lakeside city lights at dusk, evoking Goma where the Kabila FRN coalition was announced.

Kabila Launches FRN Front With M23 Rebels in Goma

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Former Congolese President Joseph Kabila has taken charge of a new political and military coalition that absorbs the M23 rebels, a move announced on the evening of Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, at his residence in Goma, the eastern city the rebels have held since January 2025. The Kabila FRN coalition, the Front pour la Refondation de la Nation, or Front for the Refoundation of the Nation, replaces the AFC/M23 alliance that has seized wide stretches of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the Associated Press, RFI and France 24.

The announcement puts a former head of state at the top of an armed movement fighting the government in Kinshasa. Kabila, who ruled Congo from 2001 to 2019, was sentenced to death in absentia by a military court in late September 2025 for treason and war crimes, France 24 reported.

Who Leads the Kabila FRN Coalition

Coalition adviser Claude Ibalanky read the founding declaration at a news conference at Kabila’s residence. He announced that a political-military movement called the FRN had been created and that Kabila would be its president, BBC News Afrique reported.

Corneille Nangaa, who until now coordinated the Congo River Alliance (AFC), and Bertrand Bisimwa, president of M23, become vice presidents. Gen. Sultani Makenga, M23’s military chief, was named chief of the general staff with the rank of vice president, Kivu Post reported. Freddy Kaniki, deputy coordinator of AFC/M23, becomes secretary-general, assisted by M23 permanent secretary Benjamin Bonimpa. France 24 said the AFC, the armed group’s former political wing, has been dissolved with the creation of the FRN.

Stated Goals: ‘By All Means, Including Force’

The FRN says its mission is to unite and coordinate “all resistance forces” in order to end what it calls tyranny “by all means, including force,” RFI reported, in a direct challenge to President Félix Tshisekedi. Its declared goals, according to BBC News Afrique, are to refound the nation, restore the functioning of the republic and end tyranny.

An analyst interviewed by BBC News Afrique said the wording suggests the front wants to extend the opposition’s political base beyond the territory AFC/M23 already controls, and that a push to take new towns, cities or even provinces is a strong possibility.

Kabila’s Path Back to Goma

Kabila re-entered Congolese territory in May 2025 through rebel-held Goma and has made numerous visits since, according to Kivu Post. In June 2026, the UN Group of Experts on Congo documented the extent of his ties to the rebel movement and warned that a “far-reaching reshuffle” of its leadership and structure was imminent, with Kabila expected to take a prominent role, the outlet reported.

The military court that convicted him in 2025 found that Kabila was one of the initiators of AFC/M23, France 24 said. The new front makes that link formal and public. Kinshasa has long accused the former president of sponsoring the rebels he now leads.

Eastern Congo’s War and the Peace Track

M23’s offensive in early 2025 captured Goma and Bukavu, the two largest cities of North Kivu and South Kivu, as Congolese forces were overrun and fled, France 24 reported. France 24 describes the group as backed by Rwanda. Rwanda has long denied supporting M23. The rebels control mineral-rich areas of the east, and fighting has continued around frontline towns, as The Boston Report covered in Eastern Congo M23 Fighting as Remeka Changes Hands.

The new coalition also complicates diplomacy. Congo and Rwanda signed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement in Washington in June 2025, and Qatar has hosted talks between Kinshasa and the rebels. A movement led by a former president and openly committed to ending the current government “by all means” changes who sits on the other side of that table.

Africa’s wider security picture is shifting as well, from Sudan’s war to the Sahel. Read our reports on the Sudan Kordofan corridor fighting and the Sahel states’ ECOWAS withdrawal.

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