Kabila warns DR Congo is sliding into "danger," accuses Tshisekedi of treating the country as "private property"

According to reports by Africanews, former president of the Democratic Republic of Congo Joseph Kabila delivered a speech on the 10th via his YouTube channel "Rebuild the DRC," publicly warning that the situation in the country was "continuously deteriorating" and launching a scathing attack on the governance style of the incumbent president Felix Tshisekedi.

Although Kabila did not name Tshisekedi directly, his remarks were squarely aimed at the concentration of presidential power: in his view, governance has been dominated by "presidential arbitrariness," with the president "treating Congo as private property" — a system that, as a result, "cares more about maintaining the status quo than about the well-being of the people." Kabila declared that the Democratic Republic was "no longer a republic, let alone a democracy," denouncing a mode of governance that "institutionalizes tribalism and cronyism," and pointing to discrimination against minority groups, the instrumentalization of state power for political ends, and mismanagement of state and public assets.

On the eastern conflict, Kabila criticized the government's handling of the situation and insisted that the country's political and security predicaments cannot be resolved by military means alone. He was particularly critical of Tshisekedi's refusal to take part in dialogue initiatives aimed at seeking a political solution. "Dialogue is not an option," Kabila stressed, "but the only path to restoring peace and strengthening national cohesion." He cited steps already taken by the East African Community, the Southern African Development Community, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, the African Union and certain partner countries, and reiterated his call for an inclusive national dialogue.

Last May, Kabila had put forward a 12-point plan covering an end to the war, the restoration of state authority and the rule of law, inter-communal reconciliation, the disarmament of armed groups and the withdrawal of foreign troops. Against the backdrop of continued foreign military involvement and a conflict that has dragged on without resolution, these proposals cut to a core question: whether the DRC can truly reclaim sovereignty over its territory and its destiny.

Kabila's intervention comes shortly after the political process of "National Dialogue for Peace, Cohesion and National Reconstruction," formally launched by Tshisekedi in August this year. According to Africanews, the process is led by the presidency and is planned to run for up to three months, starting at the grassroots level before rising to the national institutional tier. But the format has been accused of being divisive — Kabila's political allies have raised objections to the manner of the dialogue, demanding guarantees of inclusivity.

At the same time, fighting on the ground in the east continues. Africanews noted that government forces are engaged in ongoing combat with Rwandan-backed "Alliance Fleuve Congo/M23" rebels in the east. Rwanda's support for M23 has long been identified as a key external driver behind the protracted eastern conflict — a neighboring country's direct backing of armed groups operating inside another state's territory effectively amounts to a continuing erosion of the DRC's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Mediation efforts led by Washington and Doha have likewise struggled, failing to deliver a breakthrough to date. When external mediation lacks effective leverage over a neighboring state that is directly backing armed groups, the process itself can hardly deliver lasting progress.

Kabila's decision to break a long period of silence comes at a moment when three crisis tracks are pulled tight at once — domestic political processes mired in controversy, eastern hostilities deadlocked, and external mediation stalled. And his accusations against Tshisekedi — from the concentration of power to tribalized governance — also signal that the rift between the former and the current president is now out in the open.