A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday sentenced ex-president Joseph Kabila to death in absentia for “treason”.

Kabila, 54, who was neither present nor represented at the trial in the capital, Kinshasa, was found guilty of complicity with the M23 anti-government armed group, which has seized swathes of the resource-rich Congolese east with Rwandan help.

He left the vast central African country in 2023 and briefly reappeared in M23-occupied Goma in the volatile east in May, causing disquiet in Kinshasa.

Observers say the death sentence aims to remove the possibility he could unite the opposition within the country, despite his exact current whereabouts being unknown.

His parliamentary immunity as a senator for life was lifted at the end of May so the trial could

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