Perhaps the most popular question in the Democratic Republic would be, who is Christian Malanga, the character who came out of almost nowhere and momentarily took control of the Congolese presidency, before the coup bid was finally averted?
On Sunday, 19th May 2024, Kinshasa woke up in anguish as, at around 4AM, the office of the Republican President, Palais de la Nation, was attacked by armed men who even took possession of it for at least three-quarters of an hour.
The scene was filmed live on the Facebook page of a certain Christian Malanga Musumari, followed by barely 9 thousand Internet users.
In the video, the leader of the commando unit is equipped with a Kalashnikov or AK-47 firearm, surrounded by at leat twenty soldiers in military uniform, most of whom are unarmed, and flying the old green, red and yellow flag of Zaire and repeatedly proclaims “God is great and never lies”, in a tone typical of a cry of victory.
Did he really believe that he had succeeded in his coup d’état? These were actually his last words before was killed a few moments later by Congolese army elements, who swiftly regained control.
Malanga’s surviving soldiers, including his 22-year-old son, and at least two men with American citizenship, have been arrested.
But what can we finally remember about this man who the general public has barely discovered and who wanted to overthrow Felix Tshisekedi?
Malanga who celebrated his 41st birthday on 2nd January, is a native of Ngaba, a commune southeast of Kinshasa. He was married and he leaves behind eight children who live in the United States where he has spent most of his life and was ultimately granted American citizenship. A former American soldier, he worked in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC).
He developed a particular passion for weapons: on his social media pages, he very often staged himself, handling weapons.
Although he is not very well known to the general public, Christian Malanga was very attentive to the political life of his country of origin, the DR Congo.
The President of the United Congolese Party (UCP) — his party — for the past ten years, he was an unsuccessful presidential candidate in the 2011 legislative elections and had since then not ceased to curse the national political class, all tendencies combined whom he branded “scum”, “predators”, and “corrupt”.
In 2015, Malanga delivered a video message in which he said he was carrying the torch of the fight to “liberate the country and bring about the real change of mentality where politics is at the service of the people and not the bestial interests of the so-called ruling class”.
In his messages, often with revolutionary overtones, he was indignant at the state of “impoverishment” and “dehumanization” of his compatriots, whom he called for revolt and went on to create the NewZaire movement in 2017.
