Kalev Mutond, ex-head of Congo's intelligence services, dies in Paris

The former head of the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) died in the French capital on Monday, a source close to the family said this morning

A native of southern Katanga, Kalev Mutond had risen steadily through the ranks of the agency before taking the helm in October 2011. He stayed on for nearly eight years, an unmatched tenure at the head of the service.

Among Joseph Kabila's most loyal lieutenants, the man nicknamed the "super cop" was the very face of the old regime's security apparatus.

Washington blacklisted him in 2016, and the European Union followed suit in 2017, over human rights abuses. After the change of power, Congolese prosecutors went after him on charges of torture and arbitrary arrests, and a warrant was issued for his arrest, suspended in August 2023. The cause of his death has not yet been disclosed.