Move coincides with DRC’s drive to sign minerals deal with US in exchange for security in war with Rwanda-backed rebels.
Three US citizens, initially sentenced to death in the DRC for a failed coup, have been repatriated after their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. The men, including Marcel Malanga, son of the coup leader, will serve their sentences in the US as part of a transfer agreement, amid ongoing negotiations for a minerals deal between the DRC and the US for security assistance against M23 rebels. The repatriation has brought relief to their families, who had previously reported poor conditions in the DRC prison.