The Democratic Republic of Congo has banned the party of former President Joseph Kabila, accusing him of links to the M23 rebel group which has seized large parts of the east of the country this year.

The ban comes amid reports that Kabila has returned to the country after spending two years in South Africa.

He is said to have returned to the town of Goma, which was seized by the Rwandan-backed M23 in January.

Kabila led DR Congo for 18 years, after succeeding his father Laurent, who was shot dead in 2001. Joseph Kabila was just 29 at the time.

An interior ministry statement said all activities of Kabila's PPRD party had been banned because of its "ambiguous attitude" to the occupation of Congolese territory by the M23.

It also noted that Kabila had chosen to return to Goma, where he was being protected by the "enemy".

The PPRD has not commented.

On Friday, the government accused Kabila, 53, of high treason and ordered the seizure of all his property.

Kabila has previously denied having links to the M23. He has not commented on the latest moves by the Congolese government, or confirmed that he has returned to DR Congo.

However, he did say earlier this month that he would be going back to the country. Senior PPRD officials have denied that Kabila is currently in Goma.

On Saturday, his spokesperson Barbara Nzimbi posted on X that Kabila would be addressing the nation in the coming hours or days.

Asked by BBC Great Lakes, the M23 spokesperson neither confirmed nor denied Kabila's presence in Goma, saying: "I don't see any problem him being here."

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Who is Joseph Kabila?

After being sworn in as president following his father's death, he twice won elections. His second and final elected term in office officially ended in December 2016, but he refused to step down, saying it wasn't possible to organise elections, leading to deadly protests.

He stayed in power for two more years until elections were finally held in 2018.

In January 2019, he handed power to Félix Tshisekedi, the official winner of a disputed election, which many election observers said was rightfully won by Martin Fayulu.

He accused Kabila and Tshisekedi of agreeing a deal to exclude him from power - something both men have denied.

But relations between the pair worsened and their parties' coalition was formally ended in December 2020.

Kabila left DR Congo in 2023, officially to study in South Africa.

In January 2024, his doctoral thesis on the geopolitics of African relations with the US, China and Russia was validated at the University of Johannesburg.

Why has Kabila returned?

In a written statement to announce his forthcoming return, Kabila said it was motivated by a desire to help resolve the worsening institutional and security crisis in DR Congo.

He also told the French-language magazine Jeune Afrique he wanted to "play a role in seeking a solution after six years of complete retreat and one year in exile".

But Ben Radley, a political economist and lecturer in international development at Bath University, noted that the leader of the political grouping which includes the M23, Corneille Nangaa, was the head of the electoral commission under Kabila and had been a "close ally".

"In addition, the historical continuity with his father Laurent Kabila, who also entered Congo from the east in the late 1990s in his eventual march to the presidency, is also on the minds of many Congolese," 

Story Source BBC Africa