Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2023 — military coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 30 May 2023 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and falls in a period of recurring alleged plots and arrests of senior officers around President Felix Tshisekedi, though no discrete coup plot precisely on that date is confirmed in the sources located for this entry. The DRC saw repeated coup-related episodes in this era: an alleged palace plot in February 2022 that centered on Tshisekedi's security adviser Francois Beya, mid-2023 arrests of senior military figures, and a dramatic armed attack in May 2024 led by the exiled politician Christian Malanga. In the mid-2023 window around this coded date, the army moved against senior officers accused of undermining state security.
In July 2023 the army arrested former army chief Lieutenant-General Christian Tshiwewe and several other military officers in Kinshasa on allegations of plotting to overthrow Tshisekedi, and generals and senior officers were placed under house arrest for what a spokesman called highly reprehensible acts undermining state security, with pre-trial detention extended at the prosecution's request. The 30 May 2023 coding is best understood against this documented climate of officer arrests and destabilization allegations rather than a single confirmed plot on the day.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
49005302023
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Tshisekedi's government arrested senior officers over alleged destabilization in this period.
Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
The Africa Report
Bwiza
Minembwe Capitol News
Voice of Nigeria
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →