Attempted coup in Democratic Republic of Congo puts suspicion on US

There was uncertainty and gunfire in Kinshasa this morning, Capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uniformed men attacked the palace of the nation and the residence of the deputy prime minister and economy minister, Vital Kamare, at about 4:30 a.m., causing tense scenes that forced Congolese authorities to deploy troops at strategic points. Had to happen. Area. Capital. The attackers, led by exiled opposition leader Christian Malanga, had patches of the Zairean flag sewn on their uniforms. (the name of the Democratic Republic of Congo between 1971 and 1997), however, they have already been neutralized or arrested, and the situation is under control, an army spokesman said this morning.

The attackers broadcast a series of live videos, once inside the Palace of the Nations, where they displayed the Zairean flag and where their leader Malanga urged the Congolese population to stage a coup to overthrow the government of Félix Tshisekedi and form a new government. Urged to join the conspirators. Roadmap for a country considered to be one of the worst affected countries on the African continent. In his speech he encouraged the creation of “a new Zaire”. After initial surprise, Congolese authorities confronted the coup plotters in a brief gunfight, which ended with the death of two police officers along with one of the attackers, and the arrest of the surviving coup plotters. Local media claim that several of Malanga’s comrades tried to swim into the Congo River to Brazzaville in the neighboring Republic of Congo, but were also caught. Christian Malanga is also reported to have been killed during the clash.

Those arrested include the coup leader’s son Marcel Malanga, a 22-year-old who grew up in the United States and now faces the death penalty along with at least one other American citizen. (Several American and Canadian passports were found in the possession of the detainees.)He is also young and has no known connections to any armed organisation, named Benjamin Zalman-Polam. Congolese media report, although not yet confirmed, that Zalman-Polum will be a businessman in the cannabis world and a personal friend of Marcel Malanga. In photographs made public after his capture, the American can be seen with a bloodied face and expressions horrified by the situation in which he finds himself.

The United States Embassy in the DRC issued a statement “expressing concern over information regarding U.S. citizens allegedly involved in the incidents that occurred this morning in the municipality of Gombe. “The United States will cooperate with authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as They will investigate these criminal acts.”

It is currently unknown whether the attackers had external support. Felix Tshisekedi won the election Presidential elections in December 2023 and thus a second term secured amid a highly volatile environment in the country, particularly in the eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu. Many members of the opposition pointed to irregularities following the electoral process and threatened to reject Tshisekedi’s victory, but the political climate in the DRC calmed in the months following the presidential inauguration. Growing friendship with China and Russia to the detriment of Europe This is an open secret that has been paving the way for his foreign agenda for at least two years.

Christian Malanga, on the other hand, already made his first political appearance during the government of Joseph Kabila (2001–2019), against whom he launched a campaign without renouncing his status as “exile” and while living in the United States. Showed a firm position. He began close relations with the Western faction. In 2017 he was received at the Vatican along with Monsignor Mandio Akuma, the representative of the DRC to the Holy See., and decorated with the Cross of the Order of St. Peter and St. Paul. Furthermore, he assured in several interviews after the 2011 elections that he was confident that the West would support him if he took power in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2017, he also announced a “government-in-exile” in Brussels, where he would be president of a (fictitious) country, which he called “New Zaire”.

Despite his confidence in the future, his figure had weakened in recent years with the appearance of new political actors on the national arena. His return to the media spotlight can be defined briefly. The appeal he made to the Congolese people on the night of 18 to 19 May was received with indifference by a population already fighting against many odds and risking their lives for a man who, Who had not set foot in DRC for decades and who was broke. In the institutions of government, armed and displaying the official flag of the Mobutu dictatorship, as if from any other time.