Arrest of Tshisekedi’s adviser signals trouble in his inner circle

Just what triggered the arrest and detention of a key security advisor to President Felix Tshisekedi?

Investigators in the Democratic Republic of Congo say they have have uncovered "serious indications of actions against state security", following the surprise Saturday arrest of the president's special security adviser.

Attempted coup?

By Wednesday, officials had still not clarified what those acts were but said there was an active probe into the matter. 

"No attempt at destabilisation of our democratic institutions will be tolerated," said presidential spokesman Tharcisse Kasongo Mwema, in a statement read out on national television (RTNC).

“The investigations are continuing and are being carried out at different levels.”

A security source also told AFP on condition of anonymity that Beya was "suspected of wanting to try something in the absence of the head of state" on the weekend.

Beya’s arrest had raised suspicions of an attempted coup, happening at a time President Tshisekedi was in Addis Ababa handing over the chairmanship of the African Union to his Senegalese counterpart Macky Sall on Saturday.

President Tshisekedi cut short his stay in Addis Ababa, the African Union headquarters, where he was attending an AU Summit.

The National Intelligence Agency (ANR) has been holding on to Beya at their premises since Saturday without a formal public explanation on what he did.

On Tuesday, the Presidency said the spy agency will retain “exclusive competence” to investigate the matter, which was now being linked to “attempting to destabilise state security.”

Protests

Beya's arrest sparked violent demonstrations in Limete, a local commune near the headquarters of Tshisekedi’s UDPS party in Kinshasa.

Police used tear gas to disperse UDPS supporters who were protesting against a possible coup.

Georges Kapiamba, president of Congolese Association for Access to Justice (ACAJ), a civil society group, said he met François Beya in his place of detention.

The powerful adviser is accused of “having participated in meetings against the security of the country and its institutions,” Kapiamba said.

Beya hasn’t spoken publicly yet.

But Kapiamba says Beya has denied the allegations.

On Sunday, UDPS legislator Auguy Kalonji said “the country has escaped a coup”, without clarifying who was behind the plan.

Life seems to have continued normally in Kinshasa since the incident, with no excessive military presence in the streets.

However, the talk in town has it that there is a “war” between President Tshisekedi’s advisers with Beya belonging to a different faction in the presidency.

Beya's career

Beya built his career mostly as a security intelligence specialist. He was initially recruited by Seti Yale, the security advisor to former president Mobutu Sese Seko who was deposed in 1997 by Laurent Kabila.

Beya, who is also referred to as ‘Fantomas’, rose through the ranks at the National Documentation Centre (CND) and later joined the National Security Council.

He also headed the office of Honoré Ngbanda, one of Mobutu's most loyal security men.

At one time, he was sent to train at the Shin Bet, the Israeli internal intelligence service, before he attended further training courses abroad.

After Mobutu's flight in 1997, ‘Fantomas’ went into exile before returning to the DRC.

He was pulled back into the intelligence service by Didier Kazadi Nyembo, the General Administrator of the national intelligence agency, becoming Nyembo's chief of staff in the intelligence services during the rule of Laurent-Désiré Kabila.

Under the regime of Joseph Kabila, Beya was made Deputy Director General of the Directorate General of Migration (DGM), the agency charged with giving out passports and work permits. He was in the position from 2006 until President Tshisekedi came to power in 2019.

Tshisekedi the appointed him special adviser on security matters, marking him out as an influential man in the new regime.

Additional reporting by AFP.