Three Americans have been arrested over their alleged involvement in a failed coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Video shows what is thought to be two of the men groveling for mercy on the ground as they were surrounded by government forces following a shootout in the capital Kinshasa on Sunday.
Reports in local media suggested the arrested men were CIA operatives although the US ambassador in the city was keen to distance the US from any involvement.
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) armed forces repelled an attempted coup d’etat involving Congolese and foreign fighters on Sunday morning, a DRC army spokesperson said in a televised address..The army announces the arrest of American mercenaries. pic.twitter.com/Lfsv5FvINw
— African News feed. (@africansinnews) May 19, 2024
‘I am shocked by the events this morning and very worried by the reports of American citizens allegedly being involved,’ Lucy Tamlyn, the US ambassador to the DRC, posted on X, formerly Twitter.
‘Rest assured that we are cooperating with authorities in DRC to the fullest extent possible, as they investigate these criminal acts and hold accountable any American citizen involved.’
The United Nations’ stabilization mission in the DRC said that its chief, Bintou Keita, condemned the incidents in the strongest terms and offered her support to the Congolese authorities in a post on X.
The DR Congo military named the coup leader as Christian Malanga, 41, a US educated former refugee who was a ‘naturalized American’ and had been ‘definitively neutralized’ by the security forces.
His son Marcel was among those accused of taking part and seized by the military as they retook control.
Footage on social media showed a passport allegedly seized from one of the Americans bearing the name Benjamin Zalman-Polun, a 36-year-old born in Maryland.
Zalman-Polun reportedly has a background as a cannabis entrepreneur and had been previously linked to Malanga.
The military said it thwarted the ‘attempted coup’ involving ‘foreigners and Congolese’ near the offices of President Felix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa.
It happened in the early hours of the morning outside the residence of Economy Minister Vital Kamerhe, in the Gombe area in the north of the capital, near the Palais de la Nation that houses the president’s offices, a spokesman said.
‘An attempted coup d’etat has been stopped by the defense and security forces,’ said General Sylvain Ekenge in a message broadcast on national television.
‘Around 50, including three American citizens – were arrested and are currently undergoing interrogation by the specialized services of the Armed Forces,’ Ekenge told Reuters.
Shots were also heard near the Palais de la Nation at the time of the coup attempt, according to a number of sources.
Later on Sunday, army spokesman General Sylvain Ekenge said a British man were part of the group involved in the operation.
Malanga, who went to school in Salt Lake City, posted a video to Facebook hours before the attack showing a group of heavily armed paramilitaries.
Another American voice can be heard, and one of the men seen begging for mercy in the later video, is pictured with a US flag on his uniform.
Videos on social media showed men in fatigues arriving at the Palais de la Nation, brandishing flags of Zaire – the name of the Democratic Republic of Congo under the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who was overthrown in 1997.
‘The time has arrived, long live Zaire, long live the children of Mobutu,’ a man who appeared to be the head of the group said in Lingala, a language spoken in parts of the DRC.
‘Felix has fallen… we are victorious,’ he added.
The group was made up of ‘several nationalities’, Ekenge said, and that four attackers including Malanga were killed.
‘We also have a naturalized British subject, the number two of the group,’ the spokesman added.
Kamerhe and his family were not harmed in the attack but two police officers looking after them were killed, said a source close to the minister.
The group had planned to attack the home of the new Prime Minister Judith Suminwa, and the residence of Defense Minister Jean-Pierre Bemba.
But they ‘could not identify the home’ of Suminwa and had not been able to find Bemba at his residence.
France’s ambassador had reported automatic weapon fire in the area, urging nationals to avoid it.
The central-African country has been racked by violence from paramilitary groups attempting to control its mineral-rich resources.
In February a US representative to the UN slammed the DRC for collaboration with the FDLR militia, warning it threatened all-out conflict with neighboring Rwanda.
‘We condemn any group that espouses genocide ideology and recognize that the FDLR remains a significant security threat to Rwanda,’ Robert Wood told the UN Security Council.
The attack took place just hours before the US announced it would comply with an order by the government of Niger to remove its troops from the West African country by the middle of September.
Last month neighboring Chad threatened to expel US troops amid alarm about waning US influence on the continent in the face of aggressive Chinese and Russian diplomacy.
But the US has a long history of clandestine military operations in Africa including in Congo where the CIA conspired to assassinate Patrick Lumumba, the country’s first democratically elected leader who was killed in 1961.
🇨🇩 Christian Malanga entrain d’implorer Dieu lors de l’attaque de ce matin au palais de la Nation : « Dieu tu nous a pas menti, Nous t’implorons Dieu, le Zaïre est là. Dieu, tu es un miséricordieux, écoute nos pleures » pic.twitter.com/yeRXUmX4Fb
— The Voice Of Congo (@VoiceOfCongo) May 19, 2024
The Intercept reported in 2022 that US trained officers had led seven coups attempts in the previous 18 months targeting countries including Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Mauritania, and Gambia.
In Congolese capital certain streets near the Palais de la Nation remained closed to traffic on Sunday, but the situation appeared calm, AFP journalists reported.
‘I’m a little afraid to move around like that in Gombe, there aren’t many people… But I have to sell my goods,’ bread-seller Jean-Mbuta said.
Tshisekedi was re-elected at the end of December when he received more than 70 percent of votes in the first round.
The parties backing him won around 90 percent of seats in the parliamentary elections held the same day.
But he is yet to form a government some five months after the elections.
Kamerhe on April 23 was named as a candidate for president of the National Assembly, the DRC’s main legislative body.
