It was not immediately clear how the sentence could be carried out because the whereabouts of Kabila, who has been on trial in absentia since July, have been unknown since he last was seen in public in a rebel-held city earlier this year. The court in Kinshasa ordered his immediate arrest. The government said Kabila collaborated with Rwanda and the Rwanda-backed rebel group M23, which seized key cities in a lightning assault in January in Congo’s mineral-rich east.

The high military court in Kinshasa ruled Tuesday that Kabila was guilty of treason, war crimes, conspiracy and organising an insurrection together with the M23. It also ordered Kabila to pay $29 billion in damages to Congo, as well as $2 billion to the province of North Kivu and $2 billion to South Kivu. Kabila led Congo from 2001 to 2019. He took office at the age of 29 – after his father and former President Laurent Kabila was assassinated – and extended his mandate by delaying elections for two years after his term ended in 2017. His candidate lost in December 2018 to Kabila’s long-term political rival, Felix Tshisekedi, who has ruled the country since 2019. (Jamaica Gleaner)