Rare words, golden words, the voice of a sage: all of the DRC waits as Joseph Kabila Kabange prepares to speak on Friday 9 October 2026

Joseph Kabila Kabange, the former president of the Democratic Republic of Congo and a senator for life, is expected to address the nation in the coming hours, on Friday 9 October 2026.

He is a man of few public words, and when he does speak, it is out of urgency and necessity. Kabila led the DRC for 18 years, from 2001, when his father Laurent-Désiré Kabila died, until 2018.

During those 18 years in power, he reunified and pacified the country and built political institutions, including bodies meant to underpin democracy. Under his leadership, the DRC went through three cycles of democratic elections, which his supporters describe as free and transparent.

Kabila also reformed the army, the police and the security services. He gave the country a constitution and drove reforms in the justice system and many other sectors. His successor, Félix Tshisekedi, has since, in his view, undone it all through tribalism, lawlessness and arbitrary rule.

His address is awaited across the DRC, throughout Africa and by the international community.