Murder took place during an armed attack on a UN convoy, which was part of the World Food Program
The ambassador of Italy on Democratic Republic of Congo, Luca Attanasio, was murdered this Monday, 22, during an armed attack on a convoy of the United Nations (UN) in the city of Goma. According to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ambassador was traveling with an Italian security agent, who was also shot dead during an international mission of the World Food Program. “I learned with great consternation and immense pain, the death today of our ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo and a police officer. Two state employees were violently murdered in the line of duty, ”said Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio.
Di Maio added that “the circumstances of this brutal attack are not yet known and no effort will be spared to clarify what happened.” However, the Reuters news agency claims that the ambassador and other members of the international mission, including the head of the European Union, would have been victims of an attempt to seizure. The northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been plunged into armed conflict between dozens of national and foreign rebel groups for years. Despite the presence of the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the more than 15,000 soldiers sent by the UN, these organizations frequently attack the civilian population and ONGs providing humanitarian aid to the African country.
* With information from international agencies
