Congo names third American in foiled coup as mourners in Utah bear in mind plot chief

KINSHASA, Congo — Congo’s military spokesman on Tuesday launched the identify of the third American concerned a foiled coup plot in Kinshasa, whereas members of the family in Utah gathered to mourn Christian Malanga, the eccentric chief of the brazen and ill-fated assault focusing on the presidential palace over the weekend.

Brig. Gen. Sylvain Ekenge informed the Related Press the third American was Taylor Thomson. It wasn’t instantly clear whether or not Thomson was amongst these arrested or killed on Sunday morning following the assault on the palace and one other on the residence of an in depth ally of President Felix Tshisekedi.

Malanga, described as a naturalized American by Ekenge, was killed in a shootout on the palace after resisting arrest. The State Division stated it couldn’t affirm Malanga was a U.S. citizen. The opposite two confirmed People concerned had been a convicted marijuana trafficker, Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, and Malanga’s 21-year-old son, Marcel Malanga.

Authorities had been nonetheless making an attempt to untangle how Marcel Malanga went from enjoying highschool soccer in Utah to allegedly making an attempt to unseat the chief of certainly one of Africa’s largest international locations.

“My son is harmless,” his mom, Brittney Sawyer, wrote in an electronic mail to the Related Press on Monday, declining to elaborate.

Sawyer had recurrently posted proud household photographs on social media, together with one in December displaying Marcel Malanga, a younger sister and a toddler hugging in matching Christmas pajamas. In 2020, she posted photographs of Marcel Malanga lifting weights and dancing throughout COVID lockdown.

In a Fb submit early Monday, Sawyer angrily wrote that her son had adopted his father. “This was an harmless boy following his father. I am so bored with all of the movies being posted throughout and being despatched to me. (Expletive) will care for you individuals!”

‘Heartbroken’

One video that circulated on social media over the weekend confirmed her son alongside a bloodied white man, whose identification was unclear, each coated in mud and surrounded by Congolese troopers. Marcel Malanga has his palms raised and a frightened look on his face.

On Monday, on the West Jordan residence of Malanga’s mom, Chantal Malanga, family gathered to mourn the deceased chief. A gradual circulation of associates dropped by with plates of meals and to supply condolences.

A cousin of Christian Malanga’s who answered the door informed the Related Press the household was feeling “heartbroken” and “so uncooked” after studying of his demise. They had been discussing plans for a doable funeral in Utah, she stated, with out giving additional particulars.

It wasn’t clear how Malanga had recruited the opposite People for his ill-fated assault on the Congolese state. His connection to Zalman-Polun, who in 2015 pleaded responsible to trafficking marijuana, gave the impression to be via a gold mining firm that was arrange in Mozambique in 2022, in accordance with an official journal printed by Mozambique’s authorities, and a report by Africa Intelligence e-newsletter.

‘I had nothing to do with this’

American businessman Cole Ducey, additionally named as an official within the mining firm within the Mozambique journal, stated he met Christian Malanga when the 2 had been launched by a mutual acquaintance a number of years in the past and briefly explored investing collectively in mining concessions in Mozambique. Ducey stated he additionally met Zalman-Polun, whom Malanga had met in Washington.

Ducey stated they by no means mentioned the political scenario in Congo or Malanga’s want to be a part of the federal government there. Ducey stated he ultimately determined not to enter enterprise with the 2 males.

“We merely seen a pair mining concessions in Mozambique,” Ducey stated of Malanga. “I did not know him very effectively however from what I gathered he wasn’t very clever.”

He stated he had no contact with Malanga and Zalman-Polun in about two years and was shocked to examine their alleged involvement in a violent coup try.

“I had nothing to do with this and was not concerned in any manner,” stated Ducey, who was in Eswatini on Monday, referring to experiences within the Congolese media naming him among the many attackers.

Unsure plot

The alleged coup try started on the Kinshasa residence of Important Kamerhe, a federal legislator and a candidate for speaker of the Nationwide Meeting of Congo. His guards killed the attackers, officers stated.

Malanga, in the meantime, was live-streaming video from the presidential palace by which he’s seen surrounded by a number of individuals in navy uniforms wandering round in the course of the night time. He was later killed whereas resisting arrest, Congolese authorities stated.

Congo officers haven’t commented on how the attackers had been capable of get inside.

Dino Mahtani, who labored in Congo for years as a journalist after which a political adviser to the U.N. between 2015-18, informed the Related Press that Malanga had possible been tricked or betrayed.

“It is actually tough to think about how 20, 30 guys thought that by storming the presidential palace when no person is round at 4 a.m. within the morning might one way or the other take over the Congolese state,” he stated. “It may very well be exterior plotters, however given his earlier shut relationship with at the least certainly one of Tshiskedi’s present navy commanders, there’s some likelihood the plot was identified about internally.”

Contributing: Hannah Schoenbaum and Michael Biesecker