| Christian Malanga | |
| Birth Date: | 2 January 1983 |
| Birth Place: | Kinshasa, Zaire |
| Death Place: | Kinshasa, DR Congo |
| Death Cause: | Gunshot wounds |
| Birthname: | Christian Malanga Musumari |
| Party: | United Congolese Party |
| Occupation: | Politician, businessman, military officer |
| Website: | https://christianmalanga.com/ |
Christian Malanga Musumari (2 January 1983 – 19 May 2024) was a Congolese-American[1] politician, businessman, and military officer. He was leader of the United Congolese Party (UCP), a national political party he formed after his experiences in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's widely disputed parliamentary elections in 2011. In 2017, he established the New Zaire Government in Exile and proclaimed himself its president. Malanga attempted to overthrow the government of the DRC on 19 May 2024. The attempt failed with Malanga being shot dead and his son Marcel being arrested.
Malanga was born to Chantal Kibonge and Joseph Itejo Malanga in the capital city of Kinshasa. His father was born and raised in Mangai. His mother was a local of Ngaba, where Malanga's parents met. They settled outside of the city of Kinshasa, where his mother worked at a local market and his father worked as a supervisor at a General Motors plant in Kinshasa proper. In 1993, Malanga's family relocated to a refugee camp in Swaziland. Malanga went to primary school at Saint Paul's Methodist Primary School in Swaziland.
In 1998, Malanga moved to Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States as a political refugee with asylum status. Malanga joined the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) program by the United States Armed Forces.[2]
Malanga had one son with Brittany Sawyer, Marcel. Malanga was convicted in 2001 of assault with a firearm and was given a 30-day jail sentence and three years of probation. He also faced charges of domestic violence and disturbing the peace which were dismissed. Legal records also showed that he had been involved in a custody and child support dispute.[3]
In Utah he owned several small businesses until 2006, when he cofounded the DRC non-profit Africa Helpline Society.[4] He worked directly with children at the on-site orphanage and with the organization's global outreach initiatives. Malanga used his experiences to simultaneously form his own non-governmental organization, Friends of America, during this time period.
In June 2006, Malanga returned to the DRC to participate in military service, and in 2007 he achieved the rank of captain in the Congolese Military. His principal duties during service included brigade morale officer and command of a training company with responsibility for approximately 235 men under his command.[5] [6]
After his tour of military duty ended in 2010 Malanga started his own company, Malanga Congo, which hired 250 employees in several sectors to perform public works and contracting projects. These projects included creating and maintaining water purification and bottling plants and several mining operations. These businesses proved profitable enough to provide the platform from which he launched his political career that same year.[7]
See main article: 2011 Democratic Republic of the Congo general election. In 2011 Malanga attended a general assembly meeting of all political opposition leaders to select a candidate to challenge the then President Joseph Kabila. When the general assembly proved to be indecisive, Malanga decided to run in the parliamentary election as an independent opposition candidate.[8] [9] He was detained two days before the parliamentary elections by government security forces and held for more than two weeks. Upon his release he was offered a position as National Youth President. He declined the position.
Malanga reported the situation to the U.S. Embassy and then returned to the USA where he lived with his family. He continued to raise awareness in Washington DC and throughout the US regarding the issues facing the Congo.[10]
See main article: United Congolese Party. Malanga returned to the United States in 2012.[11] He founded his own political party, the US-registered United Congolese Party (UCP). Malanga campaigned amid the Congolese diaspora in the United States, Europe and South Africa in preparation for the next round of national elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[7]
On 12 December 2013, Malanga participated at a convening of the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Roundtable, a coalition of NGOs in Washington DC. The IRF Roundtable[12] is an informal group of individuals from all faiths and none, including governments, who gather regularly to discuss IRF issues on an off-the-record basis. The IRF Roundtable has attracted representatives of 800 organizations and launched more than 200 multi-faith initiatives. These initiatives have been deployed by and for people from across the theological and political spectrum as well as across the globe.
Britain groomed him as a potential leader in waiting, sending him and a group of his supporters to a political conference in Tbilisi, Georgia in 2016. The African Leaders Programme was to learn how to fight against corruption, reform fiscal policy and tax systems, privatize state-owned enterprises, build a welfare system, create a competitive education and healthcare system, and streamline procurement. The conference took place at the National Parliamentary Library of Georgia. The delegation worked with policymakers to strengthen the party's economic plan.[13]
On 29 April 2017 at the basilica Santo Spirito in Sassia in Rome, Malanga received the rank of knight of the order of Saints Peter and Paul. After this distinction, he received the support of the Catholic Church in Congo.[14]
On 17 May 2017, Malanga created an alternative government, the New Zaire Government in Exile, in Brussels, Belgium. He declared himself to be the President of New Zaire.[15] [16] [17] [18] [19] The Democratic Republic of the Congo previously used the name "Zaire" between 1971 and 1997, during the rule of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, and New Zaire uses the national flag from this period.
Dino Mahtani, an independent researcher into African issues and former political adviser to the United Nations in Congo, reported that Malanga was obsessed with capturing power in Congo and in 2018 Congolese authorities suspected that he was involved in a purported plot to kill then-President Joseph Kabila.[20]
The New Zaire Government in Exile maintains a website where it details plans including creating business opportunities and reforming Congo's security services. As of 25 May 2024, the website still refers to Malanga as President of New Zaire despite the fact that he died on 19 May 2024.[19]
Photos on Facebook and the website show Malanga meeting then-senior American Republican representatives Rob Bishop and Peter King. Bishop has stated that he does not recall the meeting and couldn't tell when the photo was taken.
A DRC army spokesmen Sylvain Ekenge claimed that Malanga and the New Zaire Government in Exile had previously planned a coup in 2017 but that it was aborted in its early stages.
See main article: 2024 Democratic Republic of the Congo coup attempt. Forces loyal to the New Zaire Government in Exile attempted to overthrow the Congolese government on 19 May 2024. The attempted coup was quickly suppressed by security forces, with Malanga being killed and his 21-year-old son Marcel being captured in the process. Malanga was 41.[21] [22] [23] Due to the ability for the plotters to easily smuggle arms and ammunition into the DRC, as well as their ease at accessing important government buildings, the Lutte pour le changement assessed that Congolese intelligence was either involved in the coup attempt, or utterly inept.[24] A number of foreign individuals, including at least three American citizens, and one British citizen, was involved in the coup alongside members of the New Zaire Government in Exile.
The coup came during a crisis in sitting president Félix Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress party failing to form a governing coalition and naming a speaker of parliament.[25] During the coup, Malanga uploaded a video to his personal Facebook account inside the Palace of the Nation saying "Felix, you’re out. We are coming for you."[26]