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Former Democratic Republic of Congo President, Joseph Kabila, has filed a lawsuit in a Washington court seeking to have his name removed from a United States Treasury sanctions blacklist.
Kabila, who ruled the DRC from 2001 to 2019, argues that the sanctions imposed by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in April were based on unsubstantiated allegations, according to Africanews.
The US government accuses Kabila of financing and providing political support to the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, which seized two provinces in eastern Congo last year.
However, Kabila maintains that the US has failed to present evidence showing that he transferred funds or offered political support to the rebels.
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Kabila resurfaced in the rebel-held city of Goma last year after years in self-imposed exile, only months after the city was captured by M23 fighters.
Meanwhile, a Congolese military court has sentenced the former president to death in absentia after convicting him of treason and other offences linked to his alleged association with the M23 rebels.
Although Kinshasa and Kigali signed a peace agreement aimed at ending the conflict, violence continues to plague eastern Congo, with both governments accusing each other of breaching the deal.
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