The Forces for Renewal (), generally still known by its original name RCD-Kisangani-Movement for Liberation (RCD/K-ML), is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. The party originated as a breakaway faction of the rebel

Rally for Congolese Democracy The Congolese Rally for Democracy (; abbreviated RCD), also known as the Rally for Congolese Democracy, is a political party and a former rebel group that operated in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It was suppo ...

(RCD).

History

The RCD-K-ML was accorded 15 seats in the Transitional National Assembly and participated in the

Transitional Government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...

headed by

Joseph Kabila Joseph Kabila Kabange ( , ; born 4 June 1971) is a Congolese politician and former military officer who served as the fourth President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2001 to 2019. He took office ten days after the assassination o ...

. Human Rights Watch has accused RCD-K-ML of conscripting

child soldiers Children in the military, including state armed forces, non-state armed groups, and other military organizations, may be trained for combat, assigned to support roles, such as cooks, porters/couriers, or messengers, or used for tactical adv ...

.CHILDREN ASSOCIATED WITH ARMED FORCES AND GROUPS
, ''The Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict'', 2006-01-31, accessed on 2007-02-11 They were also involved in the

Ituri conflict The Ituri conflict () is an ongoing low-intensity conflict, low intensity asymmetrical warfare, asymmetrical conflict between the farmer, agriculturalist Lendu and pastoralism, pastoralist Hema (ethnicity), Hema ethnic groups in the Ituri Provin ...

. Their leader,

Antipas Mbusa Antipas Mbusa Nyamwisi (born November 15, 1959) is a politician and former rebel leader in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He leads the Forces for Renewal political party and was Minister of Decentralization and Urban and Regional Planning ...

came eleventh in the 2006 presidential elections with 96,503 votes and won 26 seats in the simultaneous election to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

. In the 2011 general election, the Forces for Renewal lost 20 seats in the National Assembly. It won seven out of 108 seats in the indirect elections to the Senate. It joined the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Antoine Gizenga Antoine Gizenga (5 October 1925 – 24 February 2019) was a Congolese politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 30 December 2006 to 10 October 2008. He was the secretary-general of the ...

where Mbusa became Foreign Minister. In 2022, the party condemned the violence during the

anti-MONUSCO protests In late July 2022, anti-MONUSCO protests manifested in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The protests were against MONUSCO, the United Nations' peacekeeping force in the country, which has been accused by Congolese politicians and civilians ...

in the eastern DR Congo.

References

2003 establishments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Factions of the Second Congo War Federalism in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Federalist parties Political parties established in 2003 Political parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo {{DRCongo-party-stub