Democratic Republic of Congo’s troubled president Felix Tshisekedi on Wednesday, May 22nd 2024, held a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken from his African Union City office in the capital Kinshasa.
Last Sunday’s coup d’etat attempt, the deteriorated security situation in eastern DR Congo as well as bilateral relations were at the center of the discussions between the two leaders.
On behalf of his country, Blinken condemned the deadly attacks and coup attempt carried out by Christian Malanga, a Congolese politician based in the USA, at the Palais de la Nation last Sunday.
“The United States of America has promised to cooperate with the Congolese authorities regarding the participation of alleged American citizens,” the U.S. Secretary of State said in his remarks as reported by Tshisekedi’s office.
On the deteriorated war in the East, the US Secretary of State assured Tshisekedi of the USA’s support for the Luanda Process aimed at attaining peace to that part of the country.
Blinken also seized the opportunity to reiterate the condemnation of the bomb attacks perpetrated on May 3 by alleged M23 rebels in the Mugunga and Lushagala refugee camps in Goma, North Kivu Province.
The Defence and Security Forces via the spokesman of the FARDC, Major General Sylvain Ekenge, announced on Sunday, May 19, 2024, that the army had foiled a coup d’état in Kinshasa led by Christian Malanga, a former FARDC captain and American citizen, in the company of about fifty individuals targeting the residences of Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka, Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo VPM, Minister of National Defense and Vital Kamerhe before proceeding to the office of the President of the Republic.
