Targeting Kabila: A Risky Gamble

Siméon Ndaye K.  | April 2025

The decision to strip Joseph Kabila of his parliamentary immunity marks a risky shift in the management of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s political crisis. By targeting the former president through a Senate widely seen as politically manipulated, Félix Tshisekedi has opened a new front that could ultimately backfire.

Until now, Joseph Kabila had remained relatively discreet and withdrawn from the political spotlight. This judicial offensive provides him with a significant political pretext, a true casus belli, to reenter the national stage. By openly designating him as a target, President Tshisekedi is effectively offering Kabila the chance to re-emerge as a symbolic figurehead of an opposition struggling to find leadership.

Yet this maneuver goes beyond a personal confrontation. It reveals a deeper truth that the Kinshasa authorities have long tried to obscure: the Congolese crisis is not merely a security issue or an external conflict. It is primarily political, internal, and structural. By using judicial means against a former head of state, the current regime sends a troubling message: the justice system is being used as a political weapon.

This approach could prove counterproductive. On one hand, it risks radicalizing the opposition, which may now rally around Kabila as the victim of political persecution. On the other hand, it further undermines public trust in institutions, exposing the judiciary to growing suspicions of political manipulation.

By going after Kabila, Tshisekedi has unintentionally shifted the spotlight onto him. He is giving the former president the opportunity to once again become a central actor in a crisis that shows no sign of easing. Far from calming tensions, this move may in fact inflame divisions and further fragment Congo’s already fragile political landscape.