Since the M23 group gained control over the North and South Kivu provinces, the situation in the country as a whole, and in the region in particular, has remained complex.

This has contributed to an increasing number of rumours of a potential coup d’état circulating in the capital. For instance, on February 18th, the Reuters agency reported that in the wake of the fall of Bukavu, in Kinshasa they “overtly talked about the possibility of a coup” against Tshisekedi, even within his inner circle, where “a mood of panic prevails.”

The South African publication Independent Online, which specializes in covering regional issues, when assessing the evolving situation in the DRC, comes to the conclusion that the widespread growth of discontent (not only among the traditional opposition, but within his inner circle, the ruling “Sacred Union” collation, which has lost its trust in the president) over the current authorities’ inabilities in Kinshasa, which have brought the country to the brink of collapse, is paving the way for a coup d’état.

Moreover, the events of May 19th, 2024, related to an attempted coup d’état, are still fresh in the memory within the ruling circles. Then, the leader of the United Congolese Party (UCP), Christian Malanga, and a group of his supporters orchestrated an attack on the presidential palace, repelled by security forces, with the leader of the putsch being killed.

According the experts from the American newspaper Foreign Affairs, the humiliating defeat suffered by the Congolese armed forces as a result of the M23’s rapid offensive in the eastern parts of the country at the beginning of the year is reminiscent of the events surrounding the collapse of Mobutu Sese Seko’s regime in 1996. Just as back in Mobutu’s times, thousands of demoralised soldiers from the current Congolese army have now taken off........

© New Eastern Outlook