Congo

The president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Felix Tshisekedi, has switched the death sentences of three convicted Americans For positions to participate in an attempt with a failed coup in the capital of the Kinshasa country last year, an official said Wednesday. A switched presidential order Your death sentences For life imprisonment, Congolese presidential spokeswoman Tina Salama said more than six months after a military court condemned the three and more than 30 to another 30 to death for the failed coup d’etat.

Forgiveness occurred in the midst of the efforts of the Congolese authorities to sign a mineral agreement with the United States in exchange for security support that will help Kinshasa fight against the M23 rebels backed by Rwanda in the eastern region of conflict blows.

Six people were killed during the coup attempt last year, led by the figure of the little -known opposition Christian Malanga, which attacked the presidential palace in Kinshasa, as well as a nearby ally of TSHISEKEDI. Malanga was a fatal shot while resisting the arrest shortly after the live transmission of the attack on his social networks, said the Congolese army.

Malanga, who had declared “President of Nueva Zaire”, was a rich business man and former captain of the Congolese army. He presented himself to the elections in 2011, but was arrested and detained for several weeks.

The 21 -year -old son of Malanga, Marcel Malanga, who is an American citizen, was one of the Americans convicted of participating in the coup plot. The other Americans are Tyler Thompson Jr., 21, a high school friend of the young Malanga who flew to Africa from Utah for what his family believed they were a free vacation, and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, 36, who reports that he knew Christian Malanga through a gold mining company.

Marcel Malanga told the Court that his father had forced him and Thompson to participate in the attack.

“Dad had threatened to kill us if we didn’t follow his orders,” he said previously during hearings.

Most of the defendants were Congolese, but also included a British, Belgian and Canadian. Their positions included attempted coup d’etat, terrorism and criminal association. Fourteen people were acquitted in the trial.

Meanwhile, the United States Department of State announced Tuesday night that the new main advisor of President Trump for Africa, Massad Boulos, will travel to Congo already three other African countries: Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda, starting April 3.

Bouleos will advance the efforts for sustainable peace in the east of the Congo and will promote the investment of the American private sector in the region, the State Department said in a statement.

He United Nations in January expressed alarm In unbridled violence in the Democratic Republic of the East of the Congo, when the M23 armed group pushed the country more deeply, warning summary executions and generalized violations. The rebels will carry out their first direct conversations with the Congolese government on April 9.

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