Kinshasa, Jul 25 (IANS): A military court of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) opened the trial against Corneille Nangaa, political leader of the Congo River Alliance (AFC), a politico-military group allied to the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group.

Nangaa, former President of DRC's Independent National Electoral Commission, an agency responsible for election affairs, and 25 others are prosecuted for war crimes, participation in a criminal group, and treason on Wednesday.

Corneille Nangaa's wife, Yvette Lubanda Nazinda, in exile in Europe, is also prosecuted for "treason, war crimes and participation in an insurrectional movement," reported Xinhua news agency.

Sultani Makenga, leader of the M23; Bertrand Bisimwa, M23's political leader; Willy Ngoma and Lawrence Kanyuka, M23's spokespersons, are also on the list of the defendants.

In December 2023, several days before the DRC general elections, Nangaa formed a political-military alliance AFC, with M23 rebels and other armed groups to "save the country."

Uncertainty and a humanitarian crisis loom in the eastern DRC, despite an extended truce until August 3 between the DRC military and the M23 rebellion, which controls nearly 100 villages in the eastern North Kivu province after resurfacing in late 2021.

More than 900,000 newly displaced people were reported between January and April 2024, bringing the total number of the displaced to around 7.3 million in the country, including more than 5.6 million in the three eastern provinces, namely North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.