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Italy’s ambassador to DR Congo killed in attack on UN convoy

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Italy’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo was shot and killed Monday when his UN convoy was ambushed by militants as it traveled close to the borders of Rwanda and Uganda, Sky News reports.

Ambassador Luca Attanasio, 43, and Italian military policeman Vittorio Iacovacci, 30, were killed while on their way from Goma to view a feeding program in Rutshuru. An unnamed Congolese driver who worked for the World Food Programme was also killed. A third Italian, Rocco Leone, survived the attack, which took place in the territory of Nyiragongo, in North Kivu.

According to a report by Italy’s Corriere della Sera on Tuesday, the ambassador’s small convoy was traveling through a forested area when around seven armed men appeared and began shooting in the air as a warning. The militants then made Attanasio, Rocco Leone, and Iacovacci get out of their car and start walking, in what appeared to be an attempted kidnapping of white men. However, the ambassador and the other men had only gone a few meters when government forces and park rangers reportedly arrived on the scene and began shooting at the militants, who shot back. “It is not clear who killed whom,” Corriere della Sera said.

It is still not known what happened to the other Congolese driver or the two Congolese bodyguards who were on the convoy. Moreover, it is not known who the attackers were or what their ultimate objective was, Corriere della Sera reports. In a statement, Italy’s foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, described the incident as a “brutal attack” and said, “no effort will be spared to shed light on what happened.” Italian officials have now been sent to DR Congo to investigate.

The killings of civilians by militants in DR Congo is an ongoing crisis in the country: the UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) said militias murdered at least 2,487 Congolese civilians in 2020, up from 1,029 in 2019. Concerning the killing of Ambassador Attanasio and his colleague, DR Congo foreign minister Marie Ntumba Nzeza, said the Congolese government would “do everything to discover who is behind this awful murder.”