Jul 24. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The trial of Corneille Nangaa, former president of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), began on Wednesday in absentia before a military court for proposing from Nairobi a political coalition that included the rebel group March 23 Movement (M23), which led the Congolese authorities to recall their ambassador to Kenya for consultations in protest.
Nangaa, leader of the Action for the Dignity of Congo and its People (ADCP) party, will be tried along with 24 other people, including journalist Magloire Paluku, owner of Radio Kivu 1, for war crimes or participation in an insurrectionary movement, according to the news portal Actualité.
In December 2023, the politician announced the formation of a new opposition coalition, Alliance Rio Congo, which included the rebel group Movement 23 March (M23) and other armed movements such as the Popular Front for Justice in Congo (FPDC) or the Front de Resistance Patriotique de Ituri (FPRI), which signed a peace agreement with the government in February 2020.
The move, made from Nairobi, prompted the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to recall its ambassador to Kenya for consultations, since the M23 are participants in the huge crisis of violence in the Congolese province of North Kivu.
This also happened just days before the general elections of December 20, 2023 in the country, which he described as “an electoral coup d’état” aimed at keeping President Felix Tshisekedi, re-elected, at the head of the African country.
The accused, who was president of CENI between 2015 and 2021, is under US sanctions for alleged acts of corruption. He also announced in February 2023 that he would be a candidate for the December presidential elections at the head of the ADCP.
The M23 is a rebel group made up mainly of Congolese Tutsis and operating mainly in North Kivu province. Following a conflict between 2012 and 2013, the DRC and the group signed a peace agreement in December, although the rebels launched a new offensive in October 2022.
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