Italian ambassador killed in Congo while in UN convoy

The Italian ambassador to Congo and an Italian carabineri police officer were killed Monday during an attack on a UN convoy in an area that is home to myriad rebel groups, the Foreign Ministry and local people said.

The ambush on the World Food Program convoy that killed Ambassador Luca Attanasio and the officer occurred near Goma, Congo’s eastern regional capital in the territory of Nyrangongo, in North Kivu, Congolese civilians said.

It is the same area, known as the "three antennas,” where two Britons were kidnapped by unidentified armed men in 2018, said Mambo Kaway, president of a local civil society group in the Nyrangongo territory.

"There were five people aboard the vehicle, including the Italian ambassador,” Kaway said. "The driver died after being shot with several bullets, and others were wounded,” he said. 

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"The situation is very tense," he added.

The wounded were taken to a nearby UN hospital.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell informed the bloc’s foreign ministers of the incident at a meeting he is chairing in Brussels and presented his condolences to Italy and the United Nations.

"The news (is) extremely worrying, and we are following the situation closely with the EU delegation" in Congo, EU Commission spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said. She provided no details about those killed or injured.

Congo’s east is home to myriad rebel groups all vying for control of the mineral-rich land.

Associated Press