The world and Congolese people are still living in suspense over an aborted coup orchestrated by the country’s most feared man François Beya Kasonga.
François Beya popularly known as “Mister Intelligence”, has been a key man in the national security system. He once headed the National Intelligence Agency (ANR), the Migration office and recently as special security adviser to President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo.
Taarifa Investigative desk has learned that François Beya is still detained at the premises of the tightly guarded headquarters of the National Intelligence Agency (ANR).
“No, he was not released, that’s not true. He is still being held at the ANR,” said Georges Kapiamba, president of the Congolese Association for Access to Justice (ACAJ).
Kapiamba says that François Beya has undergone an aggressive interrogation over security matters that climaxed into his arrest over the weekend.
“He is arrested for state security reasons. You cannot talk about [le coup d’état] without having something to link. When dealing with sensitive files, you must avoid trying to go into the smallest details. You have to give the information in a general way, that’s what is important. He is being held for an investigation that is linked to state security,” says Kapiamba.
Because of the weight of the matter, Beya will have to appear before another commission. “He will go before a commission of investigators, that’s the next step,” he added.
Why is Beya Feared?
Beya has served in such influential dockets under the successive regimes of Mobutu Sese Seko, Joseeph Kabila and the current government of President Tshisekedi. He knows everything in security that is why he is nicknamed “Mister Security” and has long remained a key man in the national security system.
Beya Kasonga had been for the past twelve years at the head of the General Management of Migration. He started work at the National Security Council under President Mobutu, then at the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) under Laurent-Désiré Kabila, before becoming the number one within General Management of Migration (DGM) under Joseph Kabila.
Last December, the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) got a new Director named Jean-Hervé Mbelu Biosha.
President Tshisekedi’s political party is currently suffering internal cracks and this puts him in a very complex situation. For example the deputy president of the national assembly Jean-Marc Kabund resigned early January over what he described as bullying, humiliation, and torture.
Biosha has been very active with his lenses focused on what this political crisis may breed, so he pounces on every target that could be trying to make a mistake that would undermine President Tshisekedi.
While President Félix Tshisekedi was away in Ethiopia handing over the AU presidency to Senegal, Biosha noticed something fishy was brewing in Kinshasa and ordered for swift arrest of François Beya and several senior army officers.
François Beya, who has rubbed shoulders with the high spheres of power in the DRC for decades, is often accused of being in the pocket of former President Joseph Kabila.
This security maestro was sold by the terrorist recently arrested in Beni and transferred to Kinshasa for interrogation. The terrorist cited two names: Joseph Kabila and François Beya as their finance providers from Congo-Brazzaville, Morocco and Tunisia.
Beya allegedly holds accounts in three banks of these well-stocked countries. He manages the assets of Joseph Kabila. This is a big concern to the intelligence : how can a special security adviser of the President continue to manage the assets of a former president accused of all the sins of destabilization in eastern DRC? In addition, Beya traveled outside the country without informing his leader and would have gone to Morocco to return to the country through Brazzaville.
Statements attributed to “security sources”, claim that François Beya would have been at the center of a “conspiracy” against President Tshisekedi who had to cut short his stay in Ethiopia.
However, the ruling party, the UDPS, denies these allegations. According to observers, the general context of alliances within power in the DRC, marked by the recent resignation of the Vice-President of the National Assembly Jean-Marc Kabund, but also by the numerous arrests of dozens of senior pro-Kabila officials these months, would have led to the arrest of François Beya.
