The Israeli Military Firm Protecting Tshisekedi

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DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi

https://www.africaintelligence.com/central-africa/2024/09/16/the-israeli-military-firm-protecting-tshisekedi%2C110306085-eve

Published on 16/09/2024

The president of the Democratic Republic of Congo has for months been using the services of a discreet Israeli firm for his close protection. The company is also helping train soldiers from the DRC’s elite Garde Républicaine.

Several white bodyguards, dressed in unmarked military uniforms and their fingers on the triggers of their guns, helped provide protection for DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi during his visit on 20 June to Lubumbashi, the provincial capital of Haut-Katanga.

The bodyguards work for an Israeli contractor called Yariv Chen. Chen is a former member of Shin Bet, the Jewish state’s domestic intelligence service, and more specifically of unit 730, which provides security for senior Israeli officials. He also briefly served as head of security at the Israeli embassy in the United States during the 2000s.

Chen got into the private sector with the creation of a company called Yariv Chen Consultant & Security, and is now involved in the close protection of the Congolese head of state. This is a sensitive area in the DRC, where security services are on constant alert for attempts at destabilisation. It is usually the preserve of the Garde Républicaine (GR), an elite military unit.

Chen’s men are also involved in training around 1,600 members of the GR at a military camp near Lubumbashi. Such training had until recently been provided by Synrgai, another Israeli company chaired by retired major general Ronny Numa (AI, 18/04/24).

Numa’s good relations with the Congolese government were, however, damaged last year by rumours of Synrgai’s alleged involvement with Rwanda. These accusations were unsubstantiated but, in the context of the DRC’s battle against the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group, led Kinshasa in 2023 to turn to ditch Synrgai for another firm. Synrgai’s management did not respond when contacted by Africa Intelligence for comment.

A significant financial commitment

Tshisekedi has since coming to power in 2019 increased his use of private military arms brokers, particularly Israeli ones, to train the Forces Armées de la RDC. This has drained several hundred million dollars from state coffers and led to an investigation last year by the DRC’s financial intelligence unit CENAREF (AI, 18/04/24).

To replace Synrgai at a moment’s notice, Chen was helped by a Belgian diamond merchant, Philippe Heilmann, who is well connected in Kinshasa, where he travels with a personal security escort.

Heilmann told Africa Intelligence he had no links with the Israeli businessman and that he did not even know him. But his role as intermediary has been confirmed by several sources in the private security industry, as well as within the Tshisekedi presidency.

Heilmann is based in Antwerp, where he runs a small diamond company called Dreams of Africa, and is well known in the DRC. He is said to have close ties with the influential Defence Minister Guy Kabombo Muadiamvita.

He is best known for his diamond activities, but his name has come to light for his role in the tax on the register of mobile phones, which sparked fierce criticism during Tshisekedi’s first term in office. Heilmann was responsible for collecting the tax from consumers via 5C Energy RDC, a Congolese subsidiary of a Swiss company since renamed Veltio Consulting and run by his business partner, Jérôme Spaey, a Belgian living in Angola.