The United States says its embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to attend legal proceedings and closely follow developments in the case of three detained U.S. citizens who face the death penalty. The U.S. State Department declined to comment on whether negotiations are underway to secure their release.
Over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy for hostages, Adam Boehler, noted in a social media post that the three Americans are still being held by the DRC government.
In September 2024, a military court in the DRC sentenced 37 people to death, including three Americans — Tyler Thompson Jr., Marcel Malanga and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun — for their role in a failed coup in the Central African nation in May 2024.
A State Department spokesperson told VOA on Monday, "The United States supports DRC authorities upholding a fair and transparent legal process," adding that U.S. Ambassador to Congo Lucy Tamlyn and embassy staff in Kinshasa have been communicating with their counterparts at the highest levels of the DRC government throughout the process.
The U.S. State Department has not declared the three Americans to be wrongfully detained.
"The Department continuously reviews the circumstances surrounding the detentions of U.S. nationals overseas, including those in the DRC, for indicators that they are wrongful," the State Department spokesperson said.
"When making these assessments, the Department looks at the totality of the circumstances for each case individually," the spokesperson added, noting that the Secretary of State has the ultimate authority to determine whether a case qualifies as a wrongful detention.
Once the U.S. government designates an American detained abroad as wrongfully detained, the case must be transferred from the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs to the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. The U.S. government is then required to actively seek the release of wrongfully detained Americans.
The State Department refrained from commenting on whether discussions are in progress to repatriate the three American citizens.
"Due to privacy and other considerations, we have no further comment," said the spokesperson.
Minerals for peace?
Meanwhile, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi has reportedly proposed granting the United States access to its vast mineral resources as an incentive for U.S. intervention to help end the conflict in eastern Congo, where Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have captured two provincial capitals — Goma and Bukavu — and other territory.
Rwanda continues to deny backing the group in the face of evidence presented by United Nations experts and human rights groups. The United States has called on Rwanda’s leaders to end their support for M23 and to respect the DRC’s sovereignty.
In a social media post on X on Sunday, Tshisekedi’s spokesperson, Tina Salama, shared a photo from a recent meeting between the Congolese President and Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell. The post indicated that a proposal on DRC's rich mineral resources was "revealed" during the meeting.
She said Tshisekedi "invites" the U.S. to buy minerals directly from Congo instead of sourcing looted resources through Rwanda.
The State Department did not respond to questions from VOA about whether a mineral deal was in offered in the meeting.
