DRC's former leader Kabila is Rwandan 'proxy,' Tshisekedi tells lawmakers

DR Congo's former president, Joseph Kabila, is a Rwandan stooge, his successor, Felix Tshisekedi, told lawmakers on Tuesday. Kabila this month joined forces with the Kigali-backed M23 armed group that's been leading an insurgency in eastern DRC for more than a decade. The Rwandan president therefore asked his proxy, who had been lurking in the shadows, to come out and take the reins of this offensive because it was absolutely essential to give it a Congolese connotation given the sanctions raining down on his country. Further sanctions have in fact already been announced. He therefore had to step out of the shadows, take over and pass this off as an internal Congolese issue. Kabila's return to Congo's political scene comes at a volatile time, with the opposition protesting constitutional amendments that could allow Tshisekedi to run for a third term.