US Charges Americans Over Role in Failed Congo Coup

The United States Department of Justice has just charged four of its own citizens for their alleged involvement in a failed coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And if you’re wondering how a group of Americans ended up plotting to overthrow a government halfway across the world—well, welcome to the tangled web of global politics, where minerals, money, and power make for strange bedfellows.

 Three Americans—Marcel Malanga, Tyler Thompson, and Benjamin Zalman-Polun—were convicted in the DRC over the failed May 2024 coup, which saw armed men storm government buildings and briefly occupy the presidential office in Kinshasa. Their mission? Allegedly, to assassinate President Félix Tshisekedi and install a new government. But instead of a triumphant revolution, they were swiftly captured, sentenced to death, and later handed over to U.S. authorities in a deal that conveniently coincided with Washington’s negotiations over Congo’s lucrative mineral resources.

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A fourth American, Joseph Peter Moesser, was arrested in Utah, accused of being the bombmaker behind the operation. According to a press statement, the four face charges that include conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, bomb government facilities, and kidnap or kill foreign officials.

The statement said, “The defendants planned, scouted out targets, and identified victims for the armed coup attack, with the purpose and intent to murder other persons, including high-level DRC government officials.”  “They recruited others to join in the armed coup attack as personnel for the rebel army and, in some cases, recruited personnel in exchange for money.”

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Congo’s history is littered with coups, assassinations, and power struggles, many of them with Western fingerprints all over them. The infamous Congo Crisis of the 1960s saw the CIA allegedly involved in the overthrow and assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, paving the way for the brutal dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko. And let’s not forget the decades of exploitation of Congo’s vast mineral wealth, with foreign powers scrambling for control over its cobalt, gold, and diamonds.

This case raises more questions than answers. Were these men rogue operatives, or were they pawns in a much larger geopolitical chess game? And if the U.S. is so committed to justice, will we see similar charges for other coup attempts—perhaps even ones with more direct government involvement?

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