US imposes sanctions on Kabila

The US has imposed sanctions on the DRC’s former President Joseph Kabila for his support of Rwanda-backed M23 rebels and for fuelling political instability in the DRC’s troubled east, reports The Herald. The US Treasury Department said M23 and its political-military arm, the Congo River Alliance (AFC), had been stoking violent conflict in eastern DRC, resulting in the deaths of thousands of civilians and a mass displacement crisis. The Treasury said Kabila had provided financial support to the AFC in order to influence the political situation in eastern DRC, while encouraging DRC troops to defect and join AFC forces. It also said Kabila was working to regain influence over the government by backing a candidate opposed to the current leader. DRC Deputy Prime Minister Jacquemain Shabani welcomed what he called a long-delayed US move against Kabila. The Treasury’s move to sanction Kabila is part of a broader push to maintain a US-brokered peace deal signed by Rwanda and DRC in Washington in December, which fell apart shortly after it was signed. Last year, Kabila was sentenced to death in absentia in a military court in Kinshasa for war crimes, treason and crimes against humanity. The case stemmed from his alleged role in backing the rebels. Kabila has denied wrongdoing and said the judiciary has been politicised. The Government of DRC President Felix Tshisekedi has moved to suspend Kabila’s political party and seize the assets of its leaders. The US sanctions, imposed by Treasury’s office of foreign assets control, will freeze any assets held by Kabila in the US and ban all transactions within the US financial system.