A military court in DR Congo on Wednesday, July 24, opened a case against Corneille Nangaa, the leader of a political-military coalition, Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), which is fighting the government of President Félix Tshisekedi, Xinhua reports.

The AFC, a politico-military coalition comprising the M23 rebel group which took up arms against the Congolese government in November 2021, was unveiled in Nairobi, Kenya, in December 2023. At the time, several Congolese political parties and rebel groups announced that they joined forces as a response to, among other things, the Congolese state’s "inability to restore authority... throughout the country" over three decades.

Lately, as reported, Nangaa, the former chairman of the Congolese electoral commission, and 25 others are prosecuted for war crimes, participation in a criminal group, and treason.

Corneille Nangaa's wife, Yvette Lubanda Nazinda, in exile in Europe, is also prosecuted for "treason, war crimes and participation in an insurrectional movement". The military commander of M23, Maj Gen Sultani Makenga, Bertrand Bisimwa, M23's political leader, and Willy Ngoma and Lawrence Kanyuka, M23's spokespersons, are also on the list of the defendants.

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In December 2023, several days before the DR Congo general elections, Nangaa formed a political-military alliance AFC, with M23 rebels and other armed groups, to "save the country."

Uncertainty and a humanitarian crisis loom in eastern DR Congo, despite an extended truce until August 3 between the Congolese national army and the AFC-led rebellion which controls nearly 100 villages in North Kivu Province after resurfacing in November 2021.

Many militia groups including FDLR, a genocidal group formed by remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, continue to roam freely in eastern DR Congo, wreaking havoc – plundering, killing and displacing people.

ALSO READ: Former FDLR deputy president on how genocidal militia was formed

The volatile region is also home to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia, a Ugandan armed group that pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group in 2019. The ADF, a branch of the Islamic State in Central Africa linked to the terrorists in northern Mozambique, is one of the more than 200 militia groups operating in the jungles of eastern DR Congo.

At least 35 people were killed overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday by ADF militia in North Kivu Province, Xinhua reports. In June, at least 16 people were reportedly killed by the Islamist rebel group based in North Kivu Province.

ALSO READ: Ugandan military captures key ADF militia commander in DR Congo

The Ugandan militia group has operated from the jungles of eastern DR Congo for almost three decades.