Overview
- Kabila was targeted by the Treasury and State departments with measures that freeze any U.S. assets and make transactions with him in U.S. jurisdictions a crime.
- U.S. officials accuse him of funding and providing political backing to the Rwandan-linked M23 rebel movement and say he tried to spur defections from Congo’s army.
- Treasury says it believes Kabila has been living in Goma in eastern Congo and that he returned to the region with the intent to destabilize the country.
- The action follows earlier U.S. sanctions on Rwanda’s military after a U.S.-brokered peace deal faltered, while Rwanda denies aiding M23 and urges Kinshasa to confront Hutu militias.
- A DRC military court last year sentenced Kabila to death in absentia, and he still holds business interests in the country, raising risks for associates who keep working with him under the new U.S. penalties.