Former DR Congo president Joseph Kabila on Friday said he would soon visit a city occupied by the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group, branding the current government a "dictatorship" after he lost his immunity.
In a rare speech streamed live on the internet, the Democratic Republic of Congo's leader between 2001 and 2019 took aim at current President Felix Tshisekedi, who in turn has accused Kabila of conspiring with the M23.
A day after the Senate voted to lift his parliamentary immunity, opening the 53-year-old to prosecution for his supposed M23 support, Kabila hit out at "arbitrary decisions" by Kinshasa.
"Following a simple rumour from the street or social networks, about my alleged presence in Goma, where I will be going in the next few days... the regime in place in Kinshasa took arbitrary decisions with disconcerting levity, which testifies to the spectacular retreat of democracy in our country," Kabila said.
"The dictatorship must end, and democracy and good economic and social governance must be restored," Kabila added.
Tshisekedi has accused Kabila of plotting an "insurrection" with the M23 and has regularly named him as the architect of its lightning advance in the east, where the armed group has seized swathes of territory with Rwanda's help.
- 'Witch hunt' -
For more than three decades the eastern DRC has been riven by conflict, which has intensified since the M23's resurgence in 2021.
Since the beginning of 2025 the anti-government armed group has seized the key eastern cities of Goma and Bukavu, and set up to govern for the long term in the areas under its control.
Though a secretive character who keeps his own counsel, Kabila still enjoys some influence over Congolese political life and "never really left the stage", said Tresor Kibangula, political director at the Ebuteli research institute.
Kabila in April caused surprise across the DRC by announcing his grand return to the country.
Though he did not specify whether he would visit an area under M23 control, he nonetheless insisted he would come back via the conflict-riven east.
No concrete evidence of his return ever emerged.
Yet in the wake of the announcement the Congolese authorities raided several of his properties and suspended his party, which on Friday denounced a "witch hunt" of its leader.
"Although he no longer has any institutional leverage, he is still a shadow power which the government is clearly trying to keep at bay," said Kibangula.
- 'Against tide of history' -
While he has given interviews since leaving office, Kabila had not addressed the Congolese people directly since his speech in 2019 on the eve of his handover to Tshisekedi.
In his address Kabila argued he left the DRC in a far better state on leaving office than when he took power in 2001 on the assassination of his father in the middle of the Second Congo War.
"Barely six years after, this great inheritance... has been completely dilapidated," Kabila charged, accusing Tshisekedi of the desire to "concentrate power in the hands of one man".
The justice system meanwhile had become "an instrument of oppression for a dictatorship desperately trying to survive against the tide of history", he argued.
Following the vote on his immunity, Kabila faces the prospect of being dragged through the military courts on war crimes, crimes against humanity and treason charges.
In large part, the case against him hinges on testimony by opposition figure Eric Nkuba, who when questioned claimed to have overheard Kabila advise the M23's leader to remove Tshisekedi by coup rather than by assassination.
Senior political researcher Ithiel Batumike of the Ebuteli research institute told AFP that confession was extracted under duress.
Given the gravity of those accusations the former leader could even be handed a death sentence.
Despite fierce criticism from human rights groups the DRC government lifted a moratorium on capital punishment in force for two decades -- though no execution has yet been carried out since.
