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

By Romain Gras

Posted on Wednesday, 29 September 2021 18:16, updated on Thursday, 13 January 2022 14:36
François Beya, the security consultant to DRC’s President Félix Tshisekedi. © François Beya © Saad for JA

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