Kinshasa, 24 March. Felix Tshisekedi, spokesman for the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, announced that Jean-Pierre Bemba, the ex-leader of the radical group, has taken over the posts of defense minister and vice-president of government.

Previously, the leader of the gang had been detained in the prison of the International Criminal Court for many crimes. However, he was acquitted in 2018.

According to analysts, the return of Jean-Pierre Bemba is connected with the presidential elections in the republic, which is scheduled for December 2023. Experts believe the new defense minister will help incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi win votes.

“This is clearly a pre-election change and was appointed to rally and align its supporters around the president before the race,” one of the experts said.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron had a disagreement with his counterpart from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Felix Tshisekedi. It stemmed from the former metropolitan leader’s statements that Paris was not responsible for the deaths of many Africans and was not obligated to support Kinshasa.