A coup attempt in the capital of Kinshasa was thwarted, according to the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s ( DRC ) armed forces, and several “foreigners” were being detained on Sunday.
A coup attempt involving about 50 people was thwarted in the early days of Sunday morning, according to DRC Army official Gen. Sylavin Ekenge.
Ekenge said the revolt was led by a “naturalized National” named Christian Malanga, who was killed along with three co- accomplices. Three Americans and one English resident were among the other potential revolution suspects who were taken into custody.
The revolt, in the eyes of Ekenge, also targeted Vital Kamerhe’s mansion in Kinshasa and President Felix Tshisekedi’s. Two of Kamerhe’s troops were killed in a shootout with the intruders. Kamerhe appears to have been a major goal because he has been chosen as a member for president of the National Assembly.
The Congolese Republican Guard distracts visitors on May 19, 2024, from Kinshasa’s attempted Revolution site. ( ARSENE MPIANA/AFP via Getty Images )
The coup officials also made threats to harm Prime Minister Judith Suminwa and Defense Minister Jean-Pierre Bemba’s homes, but they apparently had difficulty finding Suminwa’s house because Bemba was not present when they knocked on his door.  ,
When they attacked the Palais de la Nation, the presidential mansion, the coup individuals reportedly brandished the Zaire symbol. Prior to 1997, rebel leader Laurent Kabila overthrew despot Mobutu Sese Seko, the region was known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Tshisekedi won a second four-year expression in December 2023 and was elected leader in 2019. The electoral commission rejected their needs for a repeat despite the Congolese opposition claiming that both of those elections were rigged. Tshisekedi has made little progress toward forming a government over the past six decades, aside from naming Suminwa as prime minister.
Felix Tshisekedi, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, via Getty Images ( CHRISTOPHE ENA/POOL/AFP).
The putschists were reportedly people of a group known as the New Zaire Movement, according to local media reviews.
Malanga, 41, styled himself as the” President of New Zaire” and head of a govt- in- captivity. He was born in the United States as a child and later re-entered the DRC as an child, according to his self-adopted history. He became a captain in the DRC infantry and ran for the presidency in 2011, only to be detained by then-President Kabila. When he was released, he went back to the United States and established a new opposition organization, the United Congolese Party (UCP), which appears to have slowly morphed into his” New Zaire” government in exile.  ,
One of the British people detained after the coup effort was Malanga’s child, Marcel. Another was a medical marijuana businessman by the name of Benjamin Zalman-Polun, who allegedly served as Malanga’s business companion in Congolese mining projects. Malanga has established a number of business enterprises in both the DRC and the United States as well as non-profit organizations called the Africa Helpline Society and Friends of America.
According to military spokesman Ekenge, Malanga has recently made one major attempt to overthrow the Tshisekedi authorities in 2017. He has issued numerous net threats to overthrow the Tshisekedi government.
Malanga and a number of of his soldiers, who appear to be in control of the Palais de la Nation, shared a video on Sunday. With Zaire banners waving behind him, Malanga declared,” Felix has fallen”, and” We are victorious”.
” We, the insurgents, are tired”, he said. We ca n’t continue to work with Tshisekedi and Kamerhe. There are too many terrible things they have done in this region.
” Long live Zaire. Long live the babies of Mobutu”, Malanga said in the picture.
Dans un live sur sa page Facebook, Christian Malanga ( membre de la diaspora congolaise résidant aux États- Unis ), qui a toujours prôné le retour au Zaïre, est accompagné de son fils et de quelques personnes portant des armes à l’intérieur du Palais de la Nation. Il a déclaré … pic. twitter.com/FTE8St0IjH
— The Voice Of Congo ( @VoiceOfCongo ) May 19, 2024
Security troops arrived shortly thereafter, killed Malanga, and took his countrymen into captivity. The rebel groups that attacked both the Palais de la Nation and Kamerhe’s home were greatly armed, and they engaged in a fierce fighting at the Kamerhe house. At least one shell detonated in the local Brazzaville neighborhood, injuring several people.
The DRC Communications Ministry uploaded a picture on Monday that shows the inmates still wearing their colour uniforms and carrying Zaire banners over their shoulders as they are surrounded by armed guards. Two of the prisoners had noticeable scars and terrible insinuations on their heads, and they both appeared to be white people.
” He indicated he had the support of the Americans, but we realize that he did n’t really have any”, one of the detainees said of Malanga’s coup plot.
Malanga’s gory body was discovered on the grounds of the presidential palace, according to the government, and he was shot while attempting to resist arrest.
U.S. Ambassador to the DRC Lucy Tamlyn said on Sunday,” I am shocked by the occurrences of this day and very troubled by reports of British people reportedly involved.”
” We will work with the DRC government to the fullest extent as they check these criminal acts and hold responsible any U.S. resident who engages in criminal works,” Tamlyn said.
The Congolese Republican Guard and officers strip a path around the image of an attempted Revolution in Gombe, Kinshasa, on May 19, 2024. ( ARSENE MPIANA/AFP via Getty Images )
Shyaka Kanuma, a journalist for the New Times of Rwanda, suggested on Monday that the United States or a number of other foreign powers may be interested in destabilizing the DRC to extract more of its precious metals, including those needed for the production of electric vehicles.
Kanuma espoused the satirical point of view of a French who is sick of seeing Rwanda fall victim to every bit of bad news coming from the Congo. The DRC government and numerous foreign spectators have accused Rwanda of supporting a brutal rebellion called M23 in an effort to wreak havoc on the country and seize its important mining country.
Kanuma accused Tshikesedi and his friends of “ethnic cleaning, yet openly murder” in the eastern Congo, where the M23 rebellion is based, in order to maintain control of the country’s material wealth so they can sell it off to American, Israeli, and other consumers. He railed against the U. S. for turning a “blind attention” to Tshikesedi’s reported crimes.  ,
