In a Nairobi hotel room, with yellow walls and carpeted floor, Corneille Nangaa stands straight as a ramrod to sing the Congolese national anthem. At his side is Bertrand Bisimwa, head of the M23’s political wing. On Friday 15 December, the former president of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) prepared to announce the launch of a new political-military coalition: the Congo River Alliance.
Nangaa cited article 64 of the Constitution to justify this shock move. This text, according to which “all Congolese have the duty to oppose any individual or group of individuals who take power by force or who exercise it in violation of the provisions of the present Constitution”, was already used by John Numbi in October in a long video message in which he violently attacked the Head of State.
Like ex-police chief Numbi, who is close to ex-president Joseph Kabila, Nangaa violently lashed out at Félix Tshisekedi, accusing him in no uncertain terms of having “established a regime of anti-value, corruption, tribalism and misappropriation of public property”, of having “chosen to subcontract national security”, of “using war as stock in trade” and of “deliberately violating the Constitution and all international treaties”.
Tshisekedi has taken “the decision to carry out an electoral coup d’état” – Corneille Nangaa
The man who announced Tshisekedi’s victory in the December 2018 presidential election now believes that the president has seized “the electoral process underway” and taken “the decision to carry out an electoral coup d’état”.
Alliance with the M23
Nangaa, who thanked the Kenyan authorities for their hospitality, assured the press conference that seventeen parties and three coalitions – as well as civil society platforms and no fewer than 267 political figures – had already agreed to join his movement. He has also chosen to ally himself with several armed groups operating in eastern DRC, the most significant of which is the M23.
In recent months, Nangaa has made a series of critical statements against the Congolese president. Interviewed in October by France 24, he claimed that Tshisekedi and Kabila had signed an agreement, following the 2018 presidential election, enabling the former to accede to the supreme magistracy.
His relationship with the current head of state began to deteriorate when the alliance with Kabila broke down. Nangaa entered politics in February 2023, founding his own party, Action pour la dignité du Congo et de son peuple (ADCP), and announcing his candidacy for the 20 December presidential elections. Deeming his life to be in danger, he then went into exile.
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