safe as a vault

DRC: 10 things about François Beya, the linchpin in the Tshisekedi system

By Romain Gras

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Posted on September 29, 2021 16:16

Nicknamed ‘Mr Security’, DRC’s François Beya is a man who is as discreet as he is indispensable, intervening in the most sensitive issues for the head of state. Here are ten things you didn’t know about him.

1. Mobutu

A product of intelligence, where he has spent his entire career, François Beya was first recruited by Seti Yale, Mobutu Sese Seko’s security advisor. On the side, he climbed the ladder within the Centre national de documentation (National Documentation Centre) – successor of  l’Agence nationale de renseignements, ANR (National Intelligence Agency) and the Conseil national de sécurité, CNS, (National Security Council).

Before the fall of the Marshal in May 1997, Beya headed the office of the Honoré Ngbanda, one of Mobutu’s most loyal ‘securocrats’.

2. Shin Beth

Mokolo wa Mpombo, who at the time headed the Marshal’s intelligence service, sent Beya to train with Shin Beth, the Israeli counterintelligence service.

In the following years, Beya multiplied his training courses and developed his network throughout Africa, Europe and the United States. His last training session – on

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