{"id":8725,"date":"2024-05-20T09:03:42","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T09:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=8725"},"modified":"2024-05-20T11:45:49","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T11:45:49","slug":"dr-congo-army-quashes-attempted-coup-against-president-tshisekedi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=8725","title":{"rendered":"DR Congo Army quashes attempted coup against President Tshisekedi"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>3 Minute, 18 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

The DR Congo military on Sunday said it had thwarted an \u201cattempted coup\u201d near the offices of President Felix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa involving \u201cforeigners and Congolese\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s offices, a spokesman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn attempted coup d\u2019\u00e9tat has been stopped by the defence and security forces,\u201d said General Sylvain Ekenge in a message broadcast on national television.<\/p>\n

Shots were also heard near the Palais de la Nation at the time of the coup attempt, according to a number of sources.<\/p>\n

Later on Sunday, army spokesperson General Sylvain Ekenge alleged several Americans and a British man were part of the group involved in the operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe coup bid was led by Christian Malanga, a Congolese man who was a \u201cnaturalised American\u201d and had been \u201cdefinitively neutralised\u201d \u2014 killed \u2014 by the security forces,\u201d Ekenge said in a broadcast on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

The group was made up of \u201cseveral nationalities\u201d, Ekenge said, adding that around 40 of the attackers had been arrested, and four including Malanga, killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also have a naturalised British subject, the number two of the group,\u201d the spokesman added. \u201cMalanga\u2019s son, Marcel Malanga, was also among the attackers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKamerhe and his family were not harmed in the attack, but two police officers looking after them were killed,\u201d said a source close to the minister.<\/p>\n

The group had planned to attack the home of the new Prime Minister Judith Suminwa, and the residence of Defence Minister Jean-Pierre Bemba.<\/p>\n

But they \u201ccould not identify the home\u201d of Suminwa and had not been able to find Bemba at his residence.<\/p>\n

After the attack at Kamerhe\u2019s home, the group then went to 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am shocked by the events this morning and very worried by the reports of American citizens allegedly being involved,\u201d Lucy Tamlyn, the US ambassador to the DRC, posted on X, formerly Twitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cRest 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

France\u2019s ambassador had reported automatic weapon fire in the area, urging nationals to avoid it.<\/p>\n

During the day, certain streets near the Palais de la Nation remained closed to traffic, but the situation appeared calm, AFP journalists reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a little afraid to move around like that in Gombe, there aren\u2019t many people\u2026 But I have to sell my goods,\u201d bread-seller Jean-Mbuta said.<\/p>\n

Videos on social media showed men in fatigues at the Palais de la Nation, brandishing flags of Zaire. The Zaire flag was mostly green while the DRC one is largely blue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe time has arrived, long live Zaire, long live the children of Mobutu,\u201d a man who appeared to be the head of the group said in Lingala, a language spoken in parts of the DRC.<\/p>\n

\u201cFelix has fallen\u2026 we are victorious,\u201d he added. Meanwhile, AFP was also unable to verify the videos.<\/p>\n

President Tshisekedi was re-elected at the end of December when he received more than 70 percent of votes in the first round.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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Kamerhe on April 23 was named as a candidate for president of the National Assembly, the DRC\u2019s main legislative body.<\/div>\n
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The DR Congo military on Sunday said it had thwarted an \u201cattempted coup\u201d near the offices of President Felix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa involving \u201cforeigners and Congolese\u201d. It happened in the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"yes","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8728,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8725\/revisions\/8728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}