The United States on Thursday sanctioned former Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila, whom they accuse of "sowing instability" in his country through support for the armed group M23, AFP learned from an official source.

Mr. Kabila, who led the DRC from 2001 to 2019, is now on the blacklist of individuals subject to economic sanctions by the US government agency OFAC.

"President Trump is working for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has made it clear that those who continue to sow instability will be held accountable," said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who heads OFAC, in a statement seen in advance by AFP.

In this text, Washington claims that the former leader seeks to "destabilize the DRC government by supporting the M23 and the AFC" (Congo River Alliance), its political arm.

"Thanks to Mr. Kabila's financial and political support, these groups are the main drivers of violence and instability in the region," State Department spokesman Thomas Pigott said in a separate statement, which was also released in French.

At the end of September, the Congolese justice system sentenced Mr. Kabila in absentia to death for "complicity" with the M23, which wants to overthrow President Félix Tshisekedi and is supported by Rwanda.

A few weeks later, Kigali and Kinshasa signed a fragile peace agreement in Washington under the auspices of President Donald Trump.

This agreement includes an economic component aimed at ensuring that the American high-tech industry has a supply of strategic minerals, of which the Congolese subsoil is abundant.

The son of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, a rebel who overthrew dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, Joseph Kabila inherited power in 2001 after his father's assassination.

In 2019, after two terms, he left power, handing the reins to Félix Tshisekedi.

An expert in the art of secrecy, he has remained very discreet in recent years about his new places of residence, making a few appearances in particular in South Africa and Namibia.

Last year, he made a surprise appearance in Goma, the M23 stronghold in eastern DRC, after the armed group and its allies seized large swathes of territory along the Rwandan border from an overwhelmed Congolese army.

He was described as a "Rwandan subject" by the authorities in Kinshasa.

The US sanctions involve freezing any assets Mr. Kabila may hold in the United States and prohibit American companies and citizens from trading with him.

The United States also recently imposed sanctions on the Rwandan army for its close ties with the M23, provoking anger in Kigali.

AFP