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Ex-president Joseph Kabila named leader of a new DR Congo rebel coalition

The Front for the Refoundation of the Nation replaces the M23-AFC alliance in eastern Congo and says it will pursue its goals by all means, including force.

ScrollBeat DeskPublished: 18 Oct 2026, 09:28

Joseph Kabila, who was president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2001 to 2019, pictured at the Pentagon in 2003. Photo: Helene C. Stikkel / U.S. Department of Defense (Public Domain) Helene C. Stikkel, U.S. Department of Defense (Public Domain)

Former DR Congo president Joseph Kabila has been named leader of a new political and military coalition challenging President Félix Tshisekedi, in the clearest sign yet of his direct involvement in the rebellion in the country's east.

The Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN) was announced at a press conference at Kabila's residence in Goma, the largest city in eastern DR Congo, which has been under the control of the M23 armed group since early 2025. The new group said it would seek to end "tyranny" and would pursue its goals "by all means, including force". It replaces the alliance between the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) and the M23.

Kabila, 55, ruled the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2001 until 2019. A Congolese military court sentenced him to death in absentia a year ago on charges including treason and war crimes over alleged links to the M23; he denies backing the group and his relatives called the conviction politically motivated. The United States sanctioned him this year, accusing him of providing support to the rebels.

M23 leader Sultani Makenga is one of four deputies in the new coalition, and Corneille Nangaa and Bertrand Bisimwa also take senior posts. Al Jazeera reported that residents of Goma fear the realignment will push a peace deal further away.

Eastern DR Congo has been unstable for decades: more than 100 armed groups are active there, and the fighting has displaced millions. The UN and Western governments accuse Rwanda of backing the M23; Rwanda denies it.

The FRN said it would honour the commitments made by its predecessors in Qatar-mediated talks in Doha, which have covered a ceasefire, the return of refugees and the release of detainees. The United States has separately pursued a deal between DR Congo and Rwanda.

The Congolese government has not publicly commented on the coalition's formation. A former speaker of the National Assembly, Vital Kamerhe, urged the new movement to give up armed struggle, and the International Crisis Group's Richard Moncrieff said Kabila's high profile was aimed at widening the rebellion's appeal and reducing its reliance on Rwandan backers.

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Trump mocks the name 'Mohammad' while joking about Iran at a Georgia rally

The US president told a campaign crowd to 'just say Mohammad' if unsure of a Middle Eastern name, drawing criticism from Muslim advocacy groups.

ScrollBeat Desk18 Oct 2026, 10:32Open this article

US President Donald Trump. Official portrait by Daniel Torok, released into the public domain. Daniel Torok, The White House

US President Donald Trump made a joke about the popularity of the name Mohammad in the Muslim world as he mocked Iran's presidency during a campaign rally in Dalton, Georgia, on 16 October, ahead of the 3 November midterm elections.

"You know, if you're in doubt about somebody's name from the Middle East, just say 'Mohammad,'" Trump told the crowd in a hangar at Dalton Municipal Airport. "You have about a 65% chance. 'Hello, Mohammad.' I've done it for years now. I've never been wrong."

Mohammad is one of the most common male names among Muslims, who often name their sons after the Prophet Mohammad, the founder of Islam.

After telling the crowd that "Iran is the only country where nobody wants to be president", Trump pretended to ask several people named Mohammad whether they wanted the job. Masoud Pezeshkian has been Iran's president since 2024. The Georgia crowd gave the joke a muted response.

Rights advocates and Muslim advocacy groups criticised the remarks. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose annual report this year attributed rising Islamophobia in the United States in part to Trump's crackdown on immigration and pro-Palestinian protests, has repeatedly faulted his rhetoric. He has intensified such comments during the midterm campaign season, particularly against Muslim Democratic US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and Representative Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, who came to the US as a Somali refugee.

Trump also repeated his vow that Iran would never get a nuclear weapon, seven months after the United States and Israel launched a war on Tehran aimed in part at crippling its nuclear programme.

NEXT STORY Business

Bangladesh cuts subsidised rice and flour targets as safety-net spending shifts

The Open Market Sale programme will target 240,000 tonnes of rice and 350,000 tonnes of flour this year, down from last year's sales, while its subsidy falls by Tk 685 crore.

ScrollBeat Desk18 Oct 2026, 10:32Open this article

Kalijira, a Bangladeshi rice variety. The government sells subsidised rice through Open Market Sale outlets. Photo: Masum-al-Hasan Rocky, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Masum-al-Hasan Rocky, Wikimedia Commons

Bangladesh has lowered its targets for selling subsidised rice and flour to low-income households through the Open Market Sale (OMS) programme, after the government cut the scheme's subsidy for the current fiscal year.

Food Ministry data presented at the first meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the ministry on 15 October set an OMS target of 240,000 tonnes of rice and 350,000 tonnes of flour for FY27, The Business Standard reported. In FY26 the government sold 304,000 tonnes of rice and 449,000 tonnes of flour.

The subsidy allocation for OMS was cut by Tk 685 crore to Tk 3,411 crore, down from Tk 4,096 crore a year earlier. A Food Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the allocation was adjusted as part of wider changes to social safety-net spending and that the decision was not final; more funds could be provided if needed.

Under the programme, rice sells at Tk 30 a kilogram, loose flour at Tk 24 a kilogram and a two-kilogram packet of flour at Tk 55, through 1,125 outlets run by dealers nationwide. The government has also stopped selling rice through the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh this year, after offering it at subsidised prices last year.

The move follows an existing slide in subsidised distribution. Food ministry data show the government distributed 7.55 lakh tonnes of grain in July-September of FY27, down 7 percent year on year, with OMS sales falling 22 percent to 2.05 lakh tonnes, The Daily Star reported.

Economists warned that the timing is difficult for poor households. "In view of inflation, food distribution should have been increased. We see the opposite," said Nazneen Ahmed, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue. Selim Raihan of the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling said cutting food distribution at such a time risks worsening food insecurity and indebtedness.

Trading Corporation of Bangladesh data around mid-October put medium-quality rice at Tk 56-65 a kilogram in Dhaka, while market visits found coarse and medium varieties had risen by Tk 1-2 a kilogram over the previous week.

Pressure on households remains high. September's 12-month average inflation was 8.65 percent, and the World Bank says about 6.2 crore people are one economic shock away from poverty, with national poverty projected to rise to 22.5 percent in 2026. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has projected that about 1.81 crore people would face acute food insecurity between September and December.