DRC: Kinshasa bans activities of Kabila's PPRD and twelve other parties

The Congolese Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the Interior, Jacquemain Shabani, has banned the activities of former President Joseph Kabila's People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD) and twelve other political groups across the entire territory of the DRC. The message, sent on Thursday, October 15, 2026, to provincial governors, instructs them to act "immediately," reports the Congolese site actualite.cd, which obtained the document.

The decision suspends their activities without dissolving the parties. Copies of the order were sent to the Presidency, the Prime Minister's office, the national police, the National Intelligence Agency, and the General Directorate of Migration.

Thirteen parties, including long-standing opposition figures

In addition to the PPRD, the list includes the LGD of former Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo, PISTE-E of Seth Kikuni, the AAP of Théophile Mbemba Fundu, the UDAO of Claudel Lubaya, the MPCR of Jean-Claude Vuemba, the ATD of José Makila, the PNEL of Michel Mwika Banza, the MLP of Franck Diongo, the UPC of Thomas Lubanga, the ADCP of Corneille Nangaa, the COFEDEC of Filia Tshipasa Kahindo, and the AARC of Élysée Minembwe.

According to actualite.cd, the document mentions neither a motive, nor a legal basis, nor a duration. Several of the targeted parties are led by civilian opposition figures who have never taken up arms: the ban therefore strikes far beyond the former president's inner circle.

Three days after the launch of the FRN in Goma

The measure comes three days after the announcement in Goma of the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN), a politico-military movement chaired by Joseph Kabila and intended to replace the AFC-M23 alliance. According to Al Jazeera, Corneille Nangaa and M23 spokesperson Bertrand Bisimwa are its vice-presidents, and Sultani Makenga leads its armed wing. However, the ministry's message does not cite the FRN.

Joseph Kabila had been sentenced to death in October 2025 by a military tribunal in Kinshasa for treason and war crimes, following his alleged collaboration with the AFC-M23.

The AFC-M23 controls North Kivu and South Kivu, including Goma and Bukavu. The United Nations counts more than 7.8 million internally displaced persons in the DRC and 28 million Congolese facing food insecurity.

What is at stake

Two peace processes are at stake: the agreement between Kinshasa and Kigali signed in June 2025 under American mediation, and the Doha framework agreement concluded in November 2025 between the Congolese government and the AFC-M23. For Bram Verelst of the Institute for Security Studies, quoted by Al Jazeera, it is the Doha process that is most weakened.

The question remains that the Congolese people will ask: by banning armed parties and peaceful opposition parties with the same stroke of a pen, is Kinshasa responding to a rebellion or shrinking the political space?