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Multiple Americans Arrested in African Nation After Alleged Involvement in Deadly Coup Attempt that Left 3 Killed

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Violence flared Sunday in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo as what officials are calling a coup attempt crumbled, leaving the purported leader of the attempt dead, according to reports.

Army spokesman Sylvain Ekenge said Christian Malanga, a Congolese politician based in the U.S., was killed after he led the attempted coup in the capital of Kinshasa.

About 50, including three Americans, were arrested and are being interrogated, Ekenge said, according to Reuters.

He said the coup was “nipped in the bud by Congolese defense and security forces (and) the situation is under control,” according to The Washington Post.

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U.S. Ambassador to the Congo Lucy Tamly pledged the Biden administration’s cooperation with the government.

“I am shocked by the events of this morning and very concerned by reports of American citizens allegedly involved. Please be assured that we will cooperate with the DRC authorities to the fullest extent as they investigate these criminal acts and hold accountable any U.S. citizen involved in criminal acts,” she wrote  in French in a post on X.

(Thanks to its history as a former Belgian colony, French is the official language of the central African country.)

According to The New York Times, a video showed Malanga, with men in military uniform, some of whom bore U.S. flags on their uniforms.

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“Felix, you’re out,” he said in the video, addressing DRC President Felix Tshisekedi. “We are coming for you.”

According to the BBC a video showed Malanga saying,  “We the military are tired, we cannot march together with Vital Kamerhe and President Félix Tshisekedi.”

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Tshisekedi was unhurt.

The names of the three Americans arrested were not officially released.

The Times said one individual pictured in a video of two men sitting on the ground surrounded by soldiers was Malanga’s son.

The Times reported that the passport of Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, another American, was circulating on social media amid claims he was involved in the coup.

Zalman-Polun had previously been named as a cannabis entrepreneur who was part of a gold mining deal with Malanga, according to the Times.


This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

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