Maputo, 23 May (AIM) – Retired general Alberto Chipande, a former defence minister and veteran of Mozambique’s liberation struggle, has denied any ties with the Christian Malanga, the leader of last Sunday’s abortive coup d’etat in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The denial came in a press release issued by the Alberto Chipande Foundation, of which he is the patron.
The Foundation was responding to photos and videos circulated by Malanga on social media, showing a meeting between him and Chipande in September 2023.
The Foundation recognises that Chipande did indeed receive Malanga that month, but claimed he presented himself as a businessman resident in Eswatini, who wanted information about the Foundation’s activities. The meeting was thus held “in good faith”.
Preliminary checks, according to the release, revealed that Malanga had travelled to various countries and had contacted respectable political authorities, in the Vatican and in the United Kingdom, among other places. “At the time, there was no evidence of involvement in illegal activities”, it said.
The release stressed that Chipande had nothing to do with the coup attempt. “The Foundation”, it said, “reiterates that it has no ties with illicit actions by Christian Malanga, and reaffirms its commitment to the promotion of peace, legality and social development”.
The foundation condemned the coup attempt, and encouraged the Mozambican authorities to investigate any other illicit activities that Malanga may have committed inside Mozambique.
But the Foundation’s release does not explain why Chipande agreed to meet with Malanga in the first place.
The video posted by Malanga on social media implied that the meeting was about security matters. He wrote “it was an honor to hold discussions with the revolutionary and founder of Mozambique, Gen Alberto Joaquim Chipande. The situations which Cabo Delgado and the eastern Congo face are very similar. I thank the Mozambican leadership for advising ‘’New Zaire’’ on reforming security”.
Malanga was a politician, a businessman and a one-time captain in the Congolese army. He was a resident of the United States where his family acquired political asylum when he was a child. He was arrested and detained for several weeks under the government of former Congolese president Joseph Kabila.
On his release, he went to the United States where he founded the United Congolese Party (UCP).
Malanga apparently wants the DRC to revert to its former name of Zaire. During the coup attempt, he was filmed chanting “New Zaire!”
Lutero Simango, leader of the country’s second largest opposition party, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) urged the country’s National Defence and Security Council to demand an explanation frimn Chipande for his links with Malanga.
“Any involvement of a citizen linked with Mozambique in an attempted coup d’etat in another country is a threat to our international relations”, said Simango. “Both Mozambique and the DRC are members of SADC (Southern African Development Community),and we are all committed to fighting against terrorism. So we have a legitimate concern and Gen Alberto Chipande has the obligation to explain to Mozambicans what he knows about this”.
(AIM)
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