Former DRC President Joseph Kabila (2001-2019) has filed a lawsuit in a Washington court to challenge his designation on the US Treasury’s sanctions blacklist. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Kabila in April, accusing him of financing and politically supporting the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, who seized two Congolese provinces last year.

In his legal challenge, Kabila contends these allegations are unsubstantiated, asserting that the US government has not specified any actual transfer of funds or political incentives provided to the rebels. This legal action follows his recent emergence in Goma months after it fell to M23, and a death sentence in absentia from a Congolese military court for treason related to the insurgency. Despite a peace deal between Kinshasa and Kigali, violence persists in eastern DRC, with mutual accusations of violations.