The navy of the Democratic Republic of Congo mentioned on Sunday that it had foiled a coup try involving foreigners, hours after a gunfight close to the presidential palace during which at the very least three folks have been killed.
In a short assertion on state tv, a military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Sylvain Ekenge, initially provided little element concerning the purported putsch within the capital, Kinshasa, apart from to say that the plotters and their chief had been “put out of motion.”
However he later informed The Related Press that three Individuals have been among the many perpetrators, and america ambassador to Congo, Lucy Tamlyn, acknowledged publicly that Americans might have been concerned.
America will cooperate “to the fullest extent” with the Congolese authorities “as they examine these prison acts and maintain accountable any U.S. citizen concerned.,” she mentioned on X, previously Twitter.
Her assertion got here hours after movies circulated extensively on social media displaying a white man with a bloodied face sitting on the toes of Congolese troopers — one in every of three Individuals the navy accused of involvement.
President Felix Tshisekedi, who was re-elected for a second time period after a chaotic vote in December, was unhurt within the incident. However its transient and apparently confused nature, in addition to many incongruous particulars, left many Congolese puzzled on Sunday and triggered intense hypothesis about who was behind it, or whether or not it was even a real coup try.
A wave of navy takeovers in central and western Africa in recent times has precipitated alarm in Washington as a result of they’ve undermined democracy within the area and given Russia alternative to extend its affect. In Niger, the place the navy seized energy final August, the federal government is urgent america to withdraw its troops from bases the place Russian personnel have began to reach.
Congo is a spotlight of American coverage in Africa for its deep reserves of cobalt, a key mineral within the manufacturing of electrical autos. China owns or controls most of Congo’s cobalt-producing websites, a supply of concern to the Biden administration.
However whereas a lot of the area’s current coups have been led by senior navy officers from these international locations, the purported one in Kinshasa on Sunday appeared to have been led by an obscure opposition politician primarily based in america, and appeared to have little prospect of succeeding.
It began round 4:30 on Sunday morning when a bunch of armed males attacked the Kinshasa residence of Important Kamerhe, a legislator and a candidate to be speaker of the Nationwide Meeting, which relies simply over a mile from the presidential palace.
A gunfight erupted during which two cops and one assailant have been killed, a spokesman for Mr. Kamerhe and, individually, Japan’s ambassador to Congo, mentioned on social media.
The assailants then moved towards the presidential palace, the Congolese information media reported. On the similar time Christian Malanga, an exiled opponent of the Congolese authorities who runs a minor opposition social gathering, posted a livestream video during which he seemed to be main the assault.
The video, which The Occasions couldn’t confirm independently, confirmed Mr. Malanga, 40, surrounded by males in navy uniform, some with American flags affixed to their vests. “Felix, you’re out,” he mentioned. “We’re coming for you.”
However when the assailants reached the close by presidential palace, troopers intercepted and arrested them, in line with the navy and native media stories. Photos of Mr. Malanga’s physique later circulated, and Common Ekenge, the military spokesman, informed The A.P. that he had been killed whereas resisting arrest.
The names of the suspects weren’t instantly launched, however photographs on social media supplied clues.
Along with the footage of a bloodied white man on the bottom, sitting beside somebody recognized as Mr. Malanga’s son, an American, photographs additionally circulated displaying the passport of one other American, Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, mentioned to be concerned within the episode. Information stories beforehand recognized him as a hashish entrepreneur concerned in gold mining with Mr. Malanga.
Dino Mahtani, a former United Nations investigator on Congo, mentioned the Congolese authorities informed him in 2018 that they suspected Mr. Malanga of a plot to kill the earlier president, Joseph Kabila.
President Tshisekedi didn’t seem like in any rapid hazard on Sunday; he’s well-known to dwell miles from the presidential palace, at his residence in one other a part of the town.
A web site in Mr. Malanga’s identify mentioned that his household settled in Salt Lake Metropolis within the Nineteen Nineties as a part of a refugee resettlement program. He participated within the U.S. Military Junior Reserve Officers’ Coaching Corps, it mentioned.
He returned to Congo to run for political workplace in 2011 however was arrested “on bogus prices” and held for a number of weeks by cops who beat him, it mentioned.
A yr later, he returned to america, the place he fashioned the United Congolese Occasion, “a grass-roots platform that unifies the Congolese diaspora all over the world opposing the present Congolese dictatorship,” the positioning mentioned.
