Luca Attanasio
Kinshasa/Rome/New York: Unidentified armed combatants attacked a joint field mission of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Kibumba, near Goma in eastern part of the country, killing of three people, including the Italian Ambassador to the DRC, Luca Attanasio, his bodyguard and a WFP driver, Mustapha Milambo Baguma, who hailed from Goma, today. They were travelling from Goma, the capital of North Kivu province of DRC, to visit a WFP school feeding programme in Rutshuru, when they were attacked. A number of other passengers travelling with the delegation sustained injuries during the attack.
“WFP will work with national authorities to determine the details behind the attack, which occurred on a road that had previously been cleared for travel without security escorts,” the WFP stated today in Rome. It said that it was in close contact with the Italian authorities through its offices at its Rome headquarters and in the DRC.
The North Kivu Governor Carly Nzanzu declared to Al Jazeera that the seven-member convoy was not escorted by any security forces when the incident happened. He said local security forces had not been informed of the delegation’s presence in the area. “The rebels stopped the WFP convoy with bullets, before bringing down the passengers on board including the ambassador. According to survivors, the rebels wanted money from the ambassador,” Nzanzu told Al Jazeera.
According to some reports, the Ambassador was taken out of the car and asked for money, when apparently some other forces arrived…rangers from a nearby park. And then there was a shooting‑out, and then that’s when the Ambassador and his escort were killed.
Sources at the WFP said the group comprised five employees of the World Food Programme who were accompanying the Italian Ambassador to Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as his security escort. The group had left Goma at approximately 9 a.m., local time. At approximately 10:15 a.m., local time, their two vehicles were stopped by an armed group and all passengers were forced to disembark from the cars. The World Food Programme driver of one of the vehicles, Mustapha Milambo, was killed at this time. The remaining six passengers were then forced into the surrounding bush at gunpoint where there was an exchange of fire. During the exchange of fire, the Italian Ambassador, Luca Attanasio, and his security escort, Vittorio Iacovacci, were mortally injured and subsequently died. The four other passengers in the group — all World Food Programme staff — evaded their abductors and are safe and accounted for. They include the World Food Programme Deputy Country Director in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rocco Leone; WFP School Feeding Programme Assistant, Fidele Zabandora; World Food Programme Security Officer, Mansour Rwagaza; and the World Food Programme driver, Claude Mukata.
While the UN Department of Safety and Security is leading a detailed review of the incident, questions are now being raised on how the road, where the attack took place, could be cleared for travel without security escorts? The road on which the delegation was travelling had been deemed to be safe, officials in the WFP said. The decisions about areas being safe or not safe, it may be mentioned, are internal decisions made by the UN for the security of the whole of the UN family.
At the United Nations headquarters in New York, to a pointed question in this regard that wasn’t it a rule to provide escorts to officials, like an ambassador, the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, said, “Look, I think the whole system is looking into exactly what happened, obviously, with the Congolese authorities. As to details on how this joint mission was put together, I would ask you to talk to the World Food Programme.” Replying to another question in the context of the local governor’s statement, Dujarric said there were still a lot of details that need to be clarified: “Investigations will have to be taken on by the Democratic Republic of the Congo authorities, as well as by the Italians and by the UN. So, I think, we need to wait a little bit until initial findings can be confirmed.”
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Some reports from Italy suggest the role of Rwandese rebels in the attack, however Dujarric said he could not confirm these reports: “There are a number of rebel groups operating in the area, so I think, at this point, it’s… I don’t want to point in one direction or another,” he said.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres meanwhile issued a statement condemning the attack against the WFP joint field mission. While expressing his condolences to the families of the deceased, he called on the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to investigate “swiftly this heinous targeting of a UN joint field mission and to bring the perpetrators to justice”.
Guterres reaffirmed that the United Nations will continue to support the Congolese Government and people in their efforts to bring about peace and stability, especially in the east of the country.
– global bihari bureau
