Three alleged CIA brokers, arrested in Congo after failed coup try
- Three US citizens seized by government forces in the Congolese capital Kinshasa after ‘failed coup attempt’
- Two bloodied and battered men pleaded for mercy following their arrest
- This is a breaking news story
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.
‘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 two men, thought to be Americans pleaded for mercy as they were surrounded by Congolese forces in the capital Kinshasa
The men appeared bloodied at battered as they sat in the street following the failed coup
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 later seen begging for mercy is seen in frame, with a US flag on his uniform.
A US passport reportedly recovered from one of the arrested men
Some local outlets claimed the men were CIA agents but the US ambassador denied any involvement in the coup
One of the alleged Americans was seen with Malanga’s men as they assembled at a Kinshasa location ahead of the coup attempt. Congolese TV station Actu30 said he was Marcel Malanga, the son of the coup leader
Christian Malanga and his son Marcel were named by Congolese authorities as among the coup leaders
The group filmed themselves as they arrived at the president’s office in the Palais de la Nation
Malanga posted a picture in August of his meeting with former US representative for Utah Rob Bishop
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.
Tshisekedi was re-elected at the end of December when he received more than 70 percent of votes
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.
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.
