Congolese military court hands down death penalty to Nangaa, others

A Congolese military court in Kinshasa on Thursday handed down a death penalty to more than two dozen members of a rebel alliance, adopting a rarely used weapon to tame a group now declared a terrorist organisation.

The court handed Corneille Nangaa, the leader of the Alliance Fleuve Congo or Congo River Alliance (AFC), and 25 others, the death penalty for war crimes, treason and participation in an insurrection movement. His associates, leaders of the M23 rebel group, were handed the same fate. They included the M23 leaders Sultani Makenga and Bertrand Bisimwa, and their spokesmen Willy Ngoma and Lawrence Kanyuka. 

They were sentenced in absentia, but the court highlighted their leadership in the rebel alliance in committing what it labelled as "crimes against the existence of the State". 

The court said Nangaa and 20 of his associates, including his wife and brother, had led an insurrection and directly participated in activities seen as criminal.

The actual number of those to face the hangman’s noose is actually 26 but authorities have only arrested six. The other suspects remain at large, some living abroad or still leading the frontline. They have five days to appeal the decision.

This week, President Felix Tshisekedi expanded the purge to target his political rival and predecessor Joseph Kabila, whom he accused of leading the AFC. Kinshasa warned Kabila may face the same fate. The former President now lives in South Africa from where he is pursuing his PhD. 

Yet the decision itself is meant to send a chilling message to the rebels for a country that hasn’t hanged a criminal in nearly three decades. Until this year, the Democratic Republic of Congo often steered clear of sentencing people for hang and had in fact entertained the idea of abolishing the death penalty altogether.

However, when Nangaa and his associates formed the Alliance in Nairobi last December and declared intent to topple the government in Kinshasa, the DRC reacted by proscribing the group (it had already declared M23 a terrorist group), then warned it would fall back to the death penalty for anyone taking part in it.

Kinshasa sees M23 as a danger and has accused Rwanda of fueling the group, claims the neighbouring country has denied.

Nangaa, a former boss of the Congolese electoral commission (CENI) turned rebel, has since taken the route of toppling the government he accuses of mistreating the Congolese. When he announced the Alliance in Nairobi, he caused a diplomatic spat between Kinshasa and Nairobi, with the former asking the latter to deport him. 

Kenya declined while citing freedom of speech. The relationship between the two countries has not been smooth since.