the army claims to have foiled a “coup attempt” in Kinshasa

The army of the Democratic Republic of Congo announced on Sunday May 19 that it had foiled a “attempted coup d’état” having involved Congolese but also several Americans and a Briton. This incident raises many questions against a backdrop of political tensions and conflict in the east of the country.

Around forty attackers were arrested while four others, including their leader, “a certain Christian Malanga, a Congolese naturalized American”have been “definitively neutralized” by the security forces, declared General Sylvain Ekenge, spokesperson for the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC). The government condemned in a press release this “attempt to destabilize the country’s institutions”. This attempted coup came five months after the re-election of President Félix Tshisekedi, at the head of this vast central African country since 2019.

The coup attempt was also condemned in particular by the head of the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the president of the African Union Commission, who welcomed “control of the situation” by the army. The ambassadors to the DRC of the United States and Great Britain, in messages on X, also condemned this attempted coup.

These events take place while political tensions are delaying the establishment of the government and the country is facing a serious security crisis in the east of the country. A rebellion – the M23 –, supported by Rwanda, occupies large parts of the North Kivu province.