The Italian ambassador to Congo was killed in an ambush

Luca Attanasio, Italian ambassador to Congo, and a Carabinieri soldier who was part of his escort lost their lives during an attack on the United Nations convoy on which they were traveling

(photo: Alexis Huguet / Getty Images) The Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Luca Attanasio, and a carabiniere of his escort were killed during an attack on a United Nations convoy. The attack took place in the Eastern Congo area, inside the Virunga National Park, in the context of an official operation by Monusco, the United Nations Stabilization Organization mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Luca Attanasio, Italian ambassador to Congo The news was given by the spokesman of the Virunga and confirmed by sources of the Italian government, writes the Republic. The head of the European Union delegation for the stabilization of the Democratic Republic of Congo was also traveling in the convoy and the attack seems to have been aimed at a kidnapping. The ambassador was in fact wounded and taken away by the attackers. Immediately, the Virunga rangers launched an operation to free him, but once recovered, Luca Attanasio was already dead from his injuries.

The testimony of a European aid worker who works in the city of Goma came from the Congo. He told us that he met the ambassador and the carabiniere last night and heard from them that they were heading to the Virunga National Park area, north of Goma, for an official visit. The ambassador, he told us, was on board a jeep of the World Food Program, with a driver and the carabiniere. Although the WFP vehicles had already suffered attacks in that area, the diplomatic delegation was proceeding without an armed escort, without an armored convoy or tinted windows. It is not yet clear whether the EU Head of Delegation was traveling in the same vehicle, but he was certainly in the same convoy. The dynamics of the firefight, which began when the Virunga rangers arrived, were clear. Our source also specified that no helicopter or emergency personnel were sent to rescue the ambassador, despite the fact that the Monusco headquarters are located only 20 km away from the place of the attack. Attanasio was thus loaded onto a normal jeep and transported in critical condition to the Un hospital in Goma.

“It is with deep sorrow that the Farnesina confirms the death, today in Goma, of the Italian Ambassador in the Democratic Republic of Congo Luca Attanasio and a soldier from the Carabinieri "reads the statement in which the Italian Foreign Ministry officially confirmed the death of Ambassador Attanasio and an Italian soldier.

Only last year, the UN denounced the increase in violence by independent armed groups in the eastern part of the Congo. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said he was "alarmed" by the growing number of attacks on civilians.


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