Congolese authorities have confirmed that the security threat against the United States government facilities that has kept its embassy in the country closed all week was real and serious.

The US embassy in the country’s capital, Kinshasa has been under lock and key since last weekend due to what it said was a “credible and specific information of a possible terrorist threat”.

Earlier in the week, Democratic Republic of Congo’s government spokesman said US officials were keeping the government in the dark and questioned whether the threat was just an imaginary alert.

But in a news conference on Friday, DR Congo’s Foreign Minister, Leonard She Okitundu, who met with US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Elizabeth Fitzsimmons on Wednesday said the threat was real.

“It’s clear these threats are serious. The US and our services have serious information regarding the validity of the threat. For the moment, there is coordination between the security services of the US, regional countries and Congo,” Okitundu said.

Although US officials have remained tight-lipped about the nature of the threat, they have however have informed foreign diplomats that the embassy closure was due to last week’s arrest of a cell of Tanzanian jihadists from a Ugandan Islamist group called the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

The officials believe the cell members were planning to strike US government facilities in Kinshasa, which lies just across the Congo River from their base in Congo Republic’s capital, Brazzaville.