Briton involved in thwarted Congolese coup ‘duped’ by American putsch leader
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A British man accused of being a ringleader in a thwarted Congolese coup says he was duped by an eccentric former US car dealer who was leading the putsch.
Congo’s military says a British national who acted as number two in the plot against President Felix Tshisekedi is among 50 suspects held, including three Americans.
A video clip shared by the authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) shows a man identified as Ezangi Viatochir Youssouf who says he is “from England”.
The Telegraph was unable to independently verify his identity, or whether he was speaking under duress.
In the clip the man says that he followed Christian Malanga, an exiled opposition figure killed leading the brazen coup attempt in the early hours of Sunday.
Mr Youssoff, described as the plot’s “coordinator and recruiter”, said he had followed Mr Malanga because he had been told the plot had American support.
He said: “Coming from England, where I had followed his movement, he assured us that if we succeeded, he would henceforth be called president of the republic.
“We were only following his ideology when he told us that he is going to seize power, because he has Americans behind him. There were no Americans.”
Mr Malanga had planned to rename the country New Zaire, he said.
The DRC military has described the detained UK plotter as “a naturalised British subject, the number two of the group”.
The Foreign Office confirmed it was investigating reports a British national was being held.
DRC does not recognise dual nationals, meaning consular officials may be denied access to him.
As more details of Sunday’s failed coup emerged, the alleged plotters increasingly appeared to be an amateurish and ragtag bunch.
Short-lived uprising
The short-lived uprising began when conspirators attacked the house of Vital Kamerhe, the former chief of staff and close ally of President Tshisekedi, sparking a brief gunfight.
Mr Malanga was meanwhile live-streaming video from the presidential palace in which he was seen surrounded by several people in military uniforms wandering around in the middle of the night. He was later killed while resisting arrest.
A total of six people were killed, including at least two police guards.
Mr Malanga described himself on his website as a refugee who thrived after settling in Utah in the US with his family in the 1990s. He later described himself as the organiser of the United Congolese Party, aimed at organising émigrés against the “current Congolese dictatorship government regime” and described himself as president of the “New Zaire” government-in-exile.
He dabbled in gold mining and used cars before persuading his Utah-born son to join in the foiled coup, according to officials’ description of events.
His 21-year-old son, Marcel, is now among those being held in DRC.
In a Facebook post, Marcel’s mother, Brittney Sawyer, wrote that her son had followed his father.
She wrote: “This was an innocent boy following his father. I’m so tired of all the videos being posted all over and being sent to me. God will take care of you people!”
Court records showed Mr Malanga had faced a string of charges in America.
In 2001, the year he turned 18, he was convicted in Utah in incidents including assault with a firearm that resulted in a 30-day jail sentence and three years of probation. The same year, he was charged with domestic violence assault in one incident and battery and disturbing the peace in another. He pleaded not guilty and all counts in both cases were dismissed.
Later, in 2004, he was charged with domestic violence with threat of using a dangerous weapon, but the charges were again dismissed. Since 2004, records show several cases related to a custody dispute and a child support dispute.
Congolese media showed the passport of another American alleged to have taken part in the coup, called Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun.
The graduate from the University of Colorado later started a commodity trading business and worked as a courier and Uber driver. In 2015, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to ship 20kg of marijuana to customers across the United States.
Details of the outlandish plot have been met with scepticism in the DRC.
Dino Mahtani, an independent researcher into African issues, told Reuters that Mr Malanga may have been set up or betrayed in the weekend attack.
He said: “Somebody put him up to this. It could be external plotters, but given his previous close relationship with at least one of Tshiskedi’s current military commanders, there’s some chance the plot was known about internally and this allowed them to move quickly.”
