UN adds Kabila’s FRN to sanctions targeting AFC in DRC
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Actualité.cd
The UN Security Council sanctions committee added the Front pour la refondation de la nation (FRN) on 11 November 2026 as another name for the Alliance Fleuve Congo to its sanctions list for the DRC. Kinshasa, which welcomed the update, will thus have both names to apply the asset freeze and arms embargo targeting Joseph Kabila’s movement, according to UN statement SC/16506.
The UN Security Council sanctions committee on the DRC added the Front pour la refondation de la nation (FRN), a politico-military movement led by former Congolese president Joseph Kabila, as another name for the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC). The amendment to listing CDe.010 allows member states to apply the measures targeting the AFC, notably the asset freeze and arms embargo, to both names, according to the committee in its statement SC/16506 published on 11 November.
The AFC’s listing date remains 14 July 2026. Corneille Nangaa, the AFC leader, and Sultani Makenga, the M23 military chief, are also on the UN sanctions list, while Joseph Kabila has been subject to US Treasury sanctions since 30 April 2026.
Congolese Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner said Kinshasa had taken an official approach to the UN before the list was updated. She presented the AFC/M23 and the FRN as two names for the same movement. The amendment comes after the FRN offensive in South Kivu, where fighters took several localities in the Bunyakiri area, according to Congolese military sources cited by RFI. The UN humanitarian office estimates that the fighting displaced more than 323,000 people between 6 and 9 November in the territories of Kalehe and Kabare.
The update comes two days after the announcement of the capture of Bunyakiri and Bulambika by the FRN in South Kivu, published on 9 November. It also comes after the creation of the new FRN politico-military front led by Joseph Kabila, announced on 12 October.
