U.S. Department of Treasury. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

For more than 30 years the mineral-rich eastern DRC has been a battleground between various armed groups, vying for control of its many mines.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Kinshasa, DR Congo:

The DR Congo military on Sunday said it had thwarted an “attempted coup” near the offices of President Felix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa involving “foreigners and Congolese”.

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 defence and security forces,” said General Sylvain Ekenge in a message broadcast on national television. 

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 spokesperson General Sylvain Ekenge said several Americans and a British man were part of the group involved in the operation.

The coup bid was led by Christian Malanga, a Congolese man who was a “naturalised American” and had been “definitively neutralised” — killed — by the security forces, Ekenge said in a broadcast on Sunday evening.

The group was made up of “several nationalities”, Ekenge said, adding that around 40 of the attackers had been arrested, and four — including Malanga — killed.

“We also have a naturalised British subject, the number two of the group,” the spokesman added. Malanga’s son, Marcel Malanga, was also among the attackers, he said.

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 Defence Minister Jean-Pierre Bemba.

But they “could not identify the home” of Suminwa and had not been able to find Bemba at his residence.

After the attack at Kamerhe’s 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.

“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.”

France’s ambassador had reported automatic weapon fire in the area, urging nationals to avoid it.

During the day, certain streets near the Palais de la Nation remained closed to traffic, 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. 

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.

“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.

AFP was also unable to verify the videos.

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.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Clashes have broken out between government forces and M23 rebels leaving eight UN peacekeepers injured after a brief lull in fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations said.

One of the peacekeepers was “gravely wounded” in the attack on Saturday at Sake, said UN mission head Bintou Keita.

The strategic town lies 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of Goma, capital of North Kivu province, and fighting resumed in the area on Saturday, witnesses said, after several days of quiet.

By midday Sunday, a precarious calm had settled over the region, the witnesses added.

A Congolese security source told AFP the UN soldiers were wounded when two M23 shells landed on their camp in Sake’s Mubambiro district.

M23 was shelling the town after “patriotic” militia known as “Wazalendo” that support the army had attacked the rebels, the source said.

The Tutsi-led M23 (March 23 Movement) launched a new offensive two weeks ago against several towns, 70 kilometres from Goma, extending its control northwards in the Rutshuru and Masisi territory.

Keita, the UN secretary general’s special representative in the DRC, said in a statement the peacekeepers had been deployed in North Kivu for several weeks under Operation Springbok where the army and peacekeepers “are carrying out joint operations”.

Lieutenant-colonel Guillaume Ndjike, the province’s army spokesman, accused Rwandan forces of targeting the UN position at Sake during the clashes.

The 15,000 UN troops deployed in the DRC started to leave at the end of February at the request of the Kinshasa government which considers them ineffective. The withdrawal is due to be completed by the end of the the year.

After eight years of dormancy, the M23 rebellion took up arms again in late 2021, seizing large swathes of North Kivu — cutting off all land access to Goma except the Rwandan border road in early February.

According to Kinshasa, the United Nations and Western countries, neighbouring Rwanda is backing the M23, which Kigali denies.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the latest battles. The UN estimated at the end of 2023 that nearly seven million people were displaced in the DR Congo, including 2.5 million in North Kivu alone.