{"id":54219,"date":"2024-05-19T19:27:18","date_gmt":"2024-05-19T19:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/19\/congolese-army-says-it-foiled-a-coup-involving-americans\/"},"modified":"2024-05-19T19:27:18","modified_gmt":"2024-05-19T19:27:18","slug":"congolese-army-says-it-foiled-a-coup-involving-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/19\/congolese-army-says-it-foiled-a-coup-involving-americans\/","title":{"rendered":"Congolese Army Says It Foiled a Coup Involving Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/19\/multimedia\/19congo-gvqp\/19congo-gvqp-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Congolese Army Says It Foiled a Coup Involving Americans\" title=\"Congolese Army Says It Foiled a Coup Involving Americans\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The military of the Democratic Republic of Congo said on Sunday that it had foiled a coup attempt involving foreigners, hours after a gunfight near the presidential palace in which at least three people were killed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a brief statement on state television, an army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Sylvain Ekenge, initially offered little detail about the purported putsch in the capital, Kinshasa, other than to say that the plotters and their leader had been \u201cput out of action.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But he later told The Associated Press that three Americans were among the perpetrators, and the United States ambassador to Congo, Lucy Tamlyn, acknowledged publicly that American citizens may have been involved.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The United States will cooperate \u201cto the fullest extent\u201d with the Congolese authorities \u201cas they investigate these criminal acts and hold accountable any U.S. citizen involved.,\u201d <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/USAmbDRC\/status\/1792160806030774647\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">she said on X, formerly Twitter.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Her statement came hours after videos circulated widely on social media showing <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/kabumba_justin\/status\/1792115205901529576\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a white man with a bloodied face<\/a> sitting at the feet of Congolese soldiers \u2014 one of three Americans the military accused of involvement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">President Felix Tshisekedi, who was re-elected for a second term after a chaotic vote in December, was unharmed in the incident. But its brief and apparently confused nature, as well as many incongruous details, left many Congolese puzzled on Sunday and triggered intense speculation about who was behind it, or whether it was even a genuine coup attempt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/07\/29\/world\/africa\/africa-coups-niger.html\" title=\"\">wave of military takeovers<\/a> in central and western Africa in recent years has caused alarm in Washington because they have undermined democracy in the region and given Russia opportunity to increase its influence. In Niger, where the military seized power last August, the government is pressing the United States to withdraw its troops from bases where Russian personnel have started to arrive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Congo is a focus of American policy in Africa for its deep reserves of cobalt, a key mineral in the production of electric vehicles. China <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/16\/us\/politics\/congo-cobalt-us-sanctions.html\" title=\"\">owns or controls most of Congo\u2019s cobalt-producing sites<\/a>, a source of concern to the Biden administration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But while most of the region\u2019s recent coups have been led by senior military officers from those countries, the purported one in Kinshasa on Sunday appeared to have been led by an obscure opposition politician based in the United States, and appeared to have little prospect of succeeding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It started around 4:30 on Sunday morning when a group of armed men attacked the Kinshasa residence of Vital Kamerhe, a legislator and a candidate to be speaker of the National Assembly, which is based just over a mile from the presidential palace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A gunfight erupted in which two police officers and one assailant were killed, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MichelMoto1\/status\/1792077238210289724\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a spokesman for Mr. Kamerhe<\/a> and, separately, Japan\u2019s ambassador to Congo, said on social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The assailants then moved toward the presidential palace, the Congolese news media reported. At the same time Christian Malanga, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/christianmalanga.com\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">an exiled opponent of the Congolese<\/a> government who runs a minor opposition party, posted a livestream video in which he appeared to be leading the attack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The video, which The Times could not verify independently, showed Mr. Malanga, 40, surrounded by men in military uniform, some with American flags affixed to their vests. \u201cFelix, you\u2019re out,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are coming for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But when the assailants reached the nearby presidential palace, soldiers intercepted and arrested them, according to the military and local media reports. Images of Mr. Malanga\u2019s body later circulated, and General Ekenge, the army spokesman, told The A.P. that he had been killed while resisting arrest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The names of the suspects were not immediately released, but images on social media provided clues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In addition to the footage of a bloodied white man on the ground, sitting beside someone identified as Mr. Malanga\u2019s son, an American, images also circulated showing the passport of another American, Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, said to be involved in the episode. News reports <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africaintelligence.com\/southern-africa-and-islands\/2022\/05\/24\/american-cannabis-entrepreneurs-and-congolese-politician-track-down-gold-together,109787002-art\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">previously identified<\/a> him as a cannabis entrepreneur involved in gold mining with Mr. Malanga.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dino Mahtani, a former United Nations investigator on Congo, said the Congolese authorities told him in 2018 that they suspected Mr. Malanga of a plot to kill the previous president, Joseph Kabila.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">President Tshisekedi did not appear to be in any immediate danger on Sunday; he is well known to live miles from the presidential palace, at his residence in another part of the city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/christianmalanga.com\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">website in Mr. Malanga\u2019s name<\/a> said that his family settled in Salt Lake City in the 1990s as part of a refugee resettlement program. He participated in the U.S. Army Junior Reserve Officers\u2019 Training Corps, it said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He returned to Congo to run for political office in 2011 but was arrested \u201con bogus charges\u201d and held for several weeks by police officers who beat him, it said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A year later, he returned to the United States, where he formed the United Congolese Party, \u201ca grass-roots platform that unifies the Congolese diaspora around the world opposing the current Congolese dictatorship,\u201d the site said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/19\/world\/africa\/congo-coup-americans.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The military of the Democratic Republic of Congo said on Sunday that it had foiled a coup attempt involving foreigners, hours after a gunfight near the presidential palace in which at least three people were killed. In a brief statement on state television, an army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Sylvain Ekenge, initially offered little detail about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/19\/multimedia\/19congo-gvqp\/19congo-gvqp-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3392,5779,53729,43937,14284,25911],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54219"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54221,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54219\/revisions\/54221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}