ITALIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE DRC, LUCA ATTANASIO KILLED IN NORTH KIVU

A tragic event occurred on Monday February 22, 2021 in the DRC territory. A field mission of the World Food Program (WFP) was attacked in North Kivu, on the road to Rutshuru, Kibumba group, in Nyiragongo territory. Italian Ambassador to the DRC Luca Attanasio, one of his bodyguards Vittorio Lacovacci and a Congolese WFP driver Mustapha Milambo were killed, and several injuries were reported. The delegation was traveling from Goma to Rutshuru to visit a WFP school feeding program when the incident occurred. This despicable assassination caused a great shock in diplomatic and consular circles. The UN, Spain, etc., have deeply deplored this heinous crime. In Kinshasa, outgoing Prime Minister Ilunga Ilunkamba called an emergency government meeting. The identification and tracking of the perpetrators of this crime is strongly required.

The WFP convoy consisted of two vehicles carrying a total of seven people. Four of the latter were kidnapped but one was found by the FARDC.

According to a statement from the DRC’s Ministry of the Interior and Security, the provincial authorities in North Kivu were not aware of the presence of the Italian diplomat in their entity. This did not allow them to provide him with security measures.

“The security services and the provincial authorities were unable to ensure specific security measures for the convoy, nor to come to their aid for lack of information on their presence in this part of the country which is considered unstable and beset by certain groups. armed national and foreign rebels ”, indicated the press release of the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the Interior.

“Shot in the abdomen, Ambassador Luca Attanasio , then transported to Goma by guards from the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) to the hospital of the United Nations Mission for Stabilization in Congo, where he succumbed to his injuries a few hours later, ”the statement continued.

The Congolese government “ensures that it is making every effort to restore security in this region of the country plagued by national and foreign armed groups supported by people and entities benefiting from the illegal exploitation of our natural resources to the detriment of the local population bruised ”.

However, authorities in Kinshasa cite rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) as the perpetrators of the attack that claimed the life of Italian Ambassador Luca Attanacio on Monday in North Kivu.

Several personalities and international organizations have castigated this attack and expressed the wish to do what is necessary to put a definitive end to the insecurity that has reigned for many years in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Civilians are being killed almost every day by often unidentified armed groups which spread terror there. For the first time, an accredited Ambassador is killed there.

For some Congolese politicians, it is a call for the central power to concentrate efforts on the security challenge, the damage of which goes beyond the limits.