Congo’s president warns next elections can’t take place unless the conflict in the east is resolved– abcnews.com

KINSHASA, Congo — Congo’s president warned on Wednesday that the African nation will not be able to organize and hold elections after his term ends in two years unless the conflict that has gripped the country’s east is resolved and stability returns.

The remarks by Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi, whose term expires in December 2028, came during a televised address to the nation in which he discussed a range of topics, including deportations of migrants from the United States under a deal with the Trump administration.

Congo’s decades-long conflict escalated in January 2025, when the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels advanced and seized the strategic city of Goma, followed by the town of Bukavu, which they took in February as they seek to expand their presence. The fighting has killed some 3,000 people and worsened what was already one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with around 7 million people displaced.

A U.S.-mediated peace agreement to end the fighting and other efforts have stumbled.