DRC; Congo Kinshasa; The New Zaire Movement & Attempted Coup

Sunday, 19 May 2024

By TB Obwoge

First I want to explain what a coup is, where as in the United States of America we have the January 6th incident. Where several hundred Americans tried to stop the declaration of the 2020 election. Many are trying to call that action a coup attempt but here is what coup means.

A coup d'état (/ˌkuːdeɪˈtɑː/; French: [ku deta]; lit. 'stroke of state'), or simply a coup, is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership.

"Counter-coup" and "Coup" redirect here. For the injury type, see Coup contrecoup injury. For other uses, see Coup (disambiguation) and Coup d'état (disambiguation).

General Napoleon Bonaparte during the Coup of 18 Brumaire in Saint-Cloud, detail of painting by François Bouchot, 1840

A coup d'état (/ˌkuːdeɪˈtɑː/ ⓘ; French: [ku deta]; lit. 'stroke of state'),[1] or simply a coup, is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership.[2][3] A self-coup is when a leader, having come to power through legal means, tries to stay in power through illegal means.[3]

By one estimate, there were 457 coup attempts from 1950 to 2010, half of which were successful.[2] Most coup attempts occurred in the mid-1960s, but there were also large numbers of coup attempts in the mid-1970s and the early 1990s.[2] Coups occurring in the post-Cold War period have been more likely to result in democratic systems than Cold War coups,[4][5][6] though coups still mostly perpetuate authoritarianism.

Source Wikipedia

There is a movement called the New Zaire movement, it is lead basicly by a man named Christian Malanga. Who happened to livestream several videos on his Facebook platform after several armed men took over the presidential palace in Congo Kinshasa.

In Democratic Republic of the Congo: Political process

The Popular Movement of the Revolution (Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution; MPR) was the sole legal political party from 1970 until 1990. It was presided over by then president Mobutu and had branches at every administrative level throughout the country. The MPR splintered into factions after Mobutu was overthrown in 1997.

At the time of the transitional government, some of the most prominent political parties were the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (Parti du Peuple pour la Reconstruction et la Démocratie; PPRD); the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social; UDPS); the Democratic Social Christian Party (Parti Démocrate Social Chrétien; PDSC); the Popular Movement of the Revolution–Fait Privé (Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution–Fait Privé; MPR-FP), a faction of Mobutu’s original party; the Congolese National Movement–Lumumba (Mouvement National Congolais–Lumumba; MNC-L); the Forces for Renovation for Union and Solidarity (Forces Novatrices pour l’Union et la Solidarité; FONUS); the Congolese Rally for Democracy (Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie; RCD); and the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo; MLC). The last two parties represented former rebel groups.

Source Britanica

The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) armed forces repelled an attempted coup d'etat involving Congolese and foreign fighters on Sunday morning, a DRC army spokesman said in a televised address.

"An attempted coup d'etat has been put down by the defence and security forces. The attempt involved foreigners and Congolese. These foreigners and Congolese have been put out of action, including their leader," spokesman Sylvain Ekenge said.

He did not specify whether this meant they had been detained or killed.

Tina Salama, a spokeswoman for President Felix Tshisekedi, also confirmed to Reuters that the presidential palace had been attacked on Sunday morning but the army had retaken control.

Earlier, two guards and an assailant were killed in an attack on the nearby home of Vital Kamerhe, a member of parliament who is tipped to become speaker, Kamerhe's spokesman and the Japanese ambassador said in posts on X.

Source Reuters

The United States embassy issued a security alert on Sunday warning of "ongoing activity by DRC security elements" and reports of gunfire in the area.

A Facebook page appearing to belong to Christian Malanga, a politician based in the United States, posted a live-streamed video in which he appeared to be leading the attack.

"We, the militants, are tired. We cannot drag on with Tshisekedi and Kamerhe, they have done too many stupid things in this country," he said in Lingala in the video, which has not been independently verified by Reuters.

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